New Buying / Procurement Officer Interview Preparation Guide

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I want to always be pushing forward, I don't want to hit a point where I feel I've learned all I can in this field. I'm striving to continually improve both myself and my output at work.

This illustrates how a candidate will go about building relationships and how he approaches dealing with resistance. “ A good answer should include signs of empathy.”

Inventories represent a sizable investment for businesses. The higher the inventory turns, the lower the inventory carrying costs.

I think I have a good experience and need to learn a lot of things quickly and I have ability to work under stress and I have a talent to filling the orders form and send the order and follow it till delivery to warehouse and make po's at mr's system and pricing the items and calculate the margin.

A method used to calculate inventory turns is to divide the average inventory level into the annual cost of goods.

Its good as long as every material received on time with good quality and competitive prices.

Life cycle costing is the total cost of purchasing, operating, maintaining, supporting and disposing of a product.

I hope to improve my skills and I want to be part of it.

Very friendly and professional working envoirnment.

I have a strong negotiating skills and convincing ability to get the agreement with suppliers.

Offering the incentives and leaves it they complete their targets on time.

An extremely valuable asset they won't be happy to lose.

Just by relaxing and have a meeting with my team.

Yes am much experienced in managing a company with 140 employees and taking care of all the trades.

Yes I work well on team but little demanding towards their duties.

Changing supplier due to poor quality of product ALONE is not a good way to practice. You have to consider the other aspects of their existence to your company using KPI. If your criteria comprise of product quality, timely delivery and communication, better think first. Is your supplier delivery habit always on time? Is your supplier observe the highest ethical standard in communication? If all no, then change your supplier. If yes, then better request for a meeting how to mutually solve the issue.

As I will be working in purchase department, its my duty of cost cutting and sourcing the best products with competitive prices.

Some employers may ask you this to check your knowledge in purchase. It can be quite difficult for prospective employers to work out whether potential candidates are good, so this is your chance to shine.

When answering this question you could split up into following points:

☛ By alternative procurement
☛ Alternative supplier sourcing
☛ Vendor increases in different items
☛ Reducing production cost
☛ Procure best quality products
☛ Procure by ensuring product lifetime by supplier, which is most effective way of cost minimization.

☛ Walk me through the purchasing process
☛ What criteria do you use to evaluate a supplier?
☛ What is a QPL (Qualified Products List)?
☛ How do you go about finding new suppliers?
☛ What is your supervisory experience?
☛ Have you used a vendor management software?
☛ What is a purchase requisition and how would you process it?
☛ What is your experience with contract management?
☛ What are some questions you could ask when getting supplier references?
☛ Are you familiar with UCC (Uniform Commercial Code)?

☛ Imagine a batch of products that was just delivered doesn’t meet specifications. How do you handle it?
☛ If an order of raw materials is delayed, there may be a stop in production. How do you ensure this doesn’t happen?
☛ If I asked you to achieve cost savings in a limited time, what would you consider?
☛ Imagine one of the departments are asking for equipment that exceeds budget claiming they really need it. How do you resolve this?
☛ If a buyer or purchasing agent was consistently underperforming, what would you do?

☛ Have you ever had to cancel a supplier contract? What happened?
☛ Were you ever faced with a disagreement with a supplier? How did you resolve it?
☛ Describe a time you achieved a significant discount to a supply contract
☛ Have you ever made an unsuccessful purchase? What did you learn?
☛ Tell me about a time you had to lead a team of buyers for a project. Were you successful?
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☛ Describe a time when a buyer was under-performing. What did you do?
☛ How do you resolve disagreements with suppliers? Give some examples.
☛ Describe a situation where you achieved a discount.
☛ Have you ever had to cancel a vendor contract? What happened?
☛ How do you grow your network of industry professionals, like suppliers?

☛ How do you perform market analysis? What tools do you use?
☛ What would make you search for a new supplier?
☛ What kind of supplier or third party management software have you experience working with?
☛ How do you ensure on time delivery of orders?
☛ If a supplier informs you that there will be a delay in their shipping, how would you deal with it?
☛ If a department wants to order equipment that’s beyond budget, what would you do?
☛ How do you evaluate product quality? If you receive a defective product, how do you handle it?

☛ Can you explain the purchasing process step-by-step?
☛ When choosing suppliers, what are the most crucial criteria to consider?
☛ What is a Qualified Products List (QPL)?
☛ Which are the key procurement metrics?
☛ How do you keep records of supplies?
☛ What is risk management?
☛ Are you familiar with warehouse safety regulations?

☛ What tools do you use to keep track of progress on your projects?
☛ What are your career goals?
☛ What type of experience do you have in creating budgets?
☛ How do you prioritize your work?
☛ If we buy a customized product from a single source, how will you know if the price is fair?
☛ How would your former employer describe you?
☛ Give an example when you have had a dispute with a supplier? How did you handle it?
☛ What is the most difficult situation you have had to face and how did you tackle it?
☛ What do you enjoy about this industry?
☛ What kind of work environment do you thrive in?
☛ Do you work well on a team or prefer to work independently?
☛ What kind of pressures have you encountered at work?
☛ Why are you the best purchasing manager for us?
☛ How will you go about determining this company's purchasing patterns?
☛ When will your current project be completed, or when will be the next logical time to be able to leave on good terms with your team?
☛ How do you ensure successful tracking of inventory?
☛ Have you completed your Bachelor's Degree in Supply Management or Operations Management? If not, are you interested in obtaining your degree?
☛ Are you a CPM (Certified Purchasing Manager)?
☛ If hired, how long do you plan on working for us?
☛ When have you had to change suppliers due to poor quality of their product?
☛ Do you manage your time well?
☛ How do you handle stressful situations?
☛ Give an example of how you dealt with a supplier who did not deliver on the agreed upon date?
☛ Do you have experience visiting a suppliers plant before purchasing? What are the things you are looking for when considering their products?
☛ Are you open and available to travel for work?
☛ What steps do you take to determine whether or not a price the suppler is offering is reasonable?
☛ When have you negotiated a much lower price with a supplier?
☛ What makes a great Purchasing Manager?
☛ Tell me what you know about us.
☛ Why did you choose to apply at our company?
☛ Tell me something about yourself that I wouldn't know from reading your resume.
☛ If hired, how do you intend on making a difference with our company?
☛ What aspect of supervision do you find most difficult?
☛ Do you have managing experience?
☛ What techniques do you use in motivating employees?
☛ Tell us about your experience in negotiations.
☛ What are your long term goals as a purchasing manager?
☛ If you could change one aspect of the purchasing process, what would you change?
☛ What will bring purchasing to the C-Level dialog?