Purchasing Agent Interview Preparation Guide

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This illustrates how a candidate will go about building relationships and how he approaches dealing with resistance.

If you are seasoned procurement professional it is very likely that you would know the answer of this question and may talk for hours, if there is no time limit! However, don’t take this question lightly. Here, the interviewer is trying to understand your ethos and technical knowledge of how you would manager supplier relationship.

Also try to look for news articles about the company, their recent successes and challenges, any information in the press about the developments of the industry they work in. Come up with concrete reasons which show your interest and enthusiasm for why you want to work for the company,

Enjoying the job is one aspect not everyone finds easy. A real expert always loves the job yet would still have their likes and dislikes about procurement. Also, do not forget to ask questions which could ensure their integrity of dealings most importantly.

There are logic & Principle for goods and services procurement applied by most firms, and you would want to know how they work to arrive at the best deals.

This reveals how often candidates “roll up their sleeves,” as MRA said. It can also reveal their analytical skills.

This Procurement Interview Questions aims to gauge the depth and breadth of information they have coming in. A Buyer and Or Commodity Manager is only as right as the information they use to lead financial decisions they are tasked to make. If they just react to demand from a system database and supplier feedback, you are interviewing a Procurement coordinator not a Buyer.

This shines a light on what a candidate considers to be an accomplishment and what aspects of the job they feel are most important. Is it cost-savings? Is it the fact they connected their company to the right supplier?

Understanding the concept of buying and the processes involved while buying any product or service is essential. With this Procurement Interview Questions, you should be able to know the difference between procurement and purchasing with the provided response. Part of your response should include how suppliers are compared and awarded, specifications, which internal customers are involved, etc. With this, you also get to know if internal stakeholder’s negotiations are allowed.

Describing a successful experience in which he/she was a significant partaker in coordinating the activities speaks volume of his/her style and personal touch. Also, this Procurement Interview Question, would mainly tell if he/she has the required experience level you are looking for in a procurement professional.

Since I am a supply chain guy and my focus is primarily on KPI’s like Inventory, On-Time Delivery, lead time reduction and so on and so forth, which, at times, I find it contradictory to the procurement guys main aim of cost reduction.

For example, I have gone into battle with some commodity managers who have agreed a very high batch size of machined parts to get the best price, which throws my Just in Time, lean means supply chain design out of the window! So, we need to find the right balance between cost reduction and best supply chain design to meet customer service targets and operational goals.

This question covers the kind of commodities the procurement expert prefers and what level of understanding he possesses on past trends which can be applied to the here and now. A good expert always has a strategy or action plan in place to minimize risk on cost and zero shortage concerning the plan.

Over my three years experience I have accumulated extensive knowledge of procurement policies, practices and procedures and also knowledge in tendering procedures and systems. In my previous job I successfully prepared suitable contracts in close consultation with the user departments and I also obtained competitive bids and quality discounts which reduced the company losses by 50%

☛ What do you know about marketplace trends for this industry? What direction do you think the market is going for this industry? (The industry refers to the client’s industry.)
☛ How do you predict shifts in market trends? How successful are your predictions?
☛ How experienced are you at writing profit and loss reports?
☛ What cost savings did you achieve at your last position? How did you reduce costs?
☛ What part of this career stresses you the most?
☛ Describe your negotiation skills and tactics.
☛ How do you negotiate with a difficult supplier?
☛ How do you work with a supplier who is unwilling to negotiate?
☛ Tell me about a negotiation that went poorly? What went wrong? What would you do differently?
☛ Tell me about your most successful negotiation.
☛ How do you go about researching new vendors?
☛ Walk me through your typical sourcing strategy.
☛ What factors do you consider when making a purchasing decision? (This might include loyalty to a vendor, location, price, quality of the products, etc.)
☛ Do you belong to any professional organizations?
☛ What do you do for continued professional development in this industry?

☛ What steps do you take to make a decision?
☛ What is the most difficult decision that you’ve made at work? How did you make your decision?
☛ Have you ever made a decision at work that you regretted? Why?

☛ 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?

☛ How do you prefer to communicate with co-workers?
☛ Was there ever a time when your communication failed? Why did it fail?
☛ Have you ever given a speech or presentation for your job? How did you prepare? How did it go? Is there anything you would do differently?

☛ Have you had a conflict with a boss? How was it resolved?
☛ How do you handle conflict among your team?
☛ How do you communicate with people who dislike you?
☛ How do you maintain relationships with your co-workers?

☛ Can you tell me about a problem you solved in a unique way?
☛ How do you handle resistance to your ideas?
☛ Has there ever been a project where your normal processes didn’t work? What did you do instead?

☛ 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?

☛ What experience do you have?
☛ How have your previous jobs prepared you for this job?
☛ Tell me about your management experience.
☛ How does your previous education improve your job skills?

☛ What is your greatest weakness?
☛ What are you looking for from this position?
☛ What are your professional goals?
☛ What do you know about the company?
☛ Why do you want to work here?
☛ Why should we hire you?

☛ Tell me about a time when you were leading a difficult group. How did you manage them?
☛ What is the most difficult part of being a manager?
☛ What is your greatest achievement as a manager?
☛ How do you motivate your team?
☛ Describe your management style.
☛ How do you choose goals to set for your team? How do you keep the team on track to meet those goals?

☛ When you schedule out your tasks, how do you decide what to do first?
☛ Can you tell me about a time when you were behind on a project? What did you do?
☛ How do you manage multiple projects at the same time?

☛ 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?