Purchasing Manager Question:

Employers want to know details about your experience conducting strategic sourcing activities. This provides an opportunity for you to explain how organization's divide their spending into categories that relate to supplier markets and how categories are then further divided by business or function. This helps to identify the best supplier. Once you fully understand the categories, you can assess the supplier market by preparing a survey to evaluate supplier capabilities. Then, you can build a strategy, request proposals or bids, and select and negotiate a contract. Finally, communicate with your new suppliers. Your ability to explain this clearly can get you the job.