A few days ago, I put out the word with fellow Purchasing professionals asking them to contribute material on the subject of A Day in the Life of a Buyer.
Charles Dominick, the president of Next Level Purchasing, Inc. is the first person to contribute his thoughts, which are posted below. I have to say that I agree 100% with all his points. Thank you, Charles!
Sometimes it scares me when I think back to the days when I started my career and told people I was a buyer. "Oh, that sounds like fun," they'd say. "I should do that."
I think many of these individuals equated corporate purchasing to shopping. And I'd bet that many people get into the purchasing profession thinking that their days will be spent like someone who gets paid to leisurely shop in a mall.
Of course, that's not the case.
If you've thought about becoming a buyer, but don't really know what it entails, here are some truths that you must know:
1. You don't just pick out what to buy. You are accountable for getting that product delivered or that service performed on a usually aggressive timeline. And if things are running late (as they often do), there are going to be a lot of people breathing down your neck!
2. When you have this level of accountability, you have no choice but to work really hard at getting vendors to do what you need them to do. You sometimes have to be very tenacious when dealing with vendors.
3. Historically, other people in the organization view Purchasing as a bureaucratic corporate function and buyers as obstacles in getting what they want, when they want it, from whom they want it. You have to be very good at interacting with your customers and changing the negative stereotypes they have about you. You are a service provider and you should approach the buyer position accordingly.
I don't mean to scare you away from becoming a buyer. There are a lot of great aspects of a career in purchasing and, hey, that's the profession I've chosen! But you should be aware that there's a lot more to corporate purchasing than filling a shopping cart and handing over a credit card!
Good luck!
Respectfully,
Charles Dominick, SPSM
President
Next Level Purchasing, Inc.
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