Procurement Specialist

Explore employment trends, required job duties and skills for this career. ASU offers a variety of degrees that can help you prepare for and meet your career goals. Visit ASU's Career and Professional Development Services to learn how to develop your career plan.

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Potential job titles in this career

Buyer, Procurement Assistant, Procurement Officer, Procurement Specialist, Purchasing Assistant, Purchasing Associate, Purchasing Clerk, Purchasing Coordinator, Purchasing Specialist, Warehouse Clerk

* Additional schooling, certification, or degrees maybe be required for some of the potential careers that are listed.

What will I do?

Track the status of requisitions, contracts, and orders.

Perform buying duties when necessary.

Prepare purchase orders and send copies to suppliers and to departments originating requests.

Calculate costs of orders, and charge or forward invoices to appropriate accounts.

Compare prices, specifications, and delivery dates to determine the best bid among potential suppliers.

Approve and pay bills.

Maintain knowledge of all organizational and governmental rules affecting purchases, and provide information about these rules to organization staff members and to vendors.

Determine if inventory quantities are sufficient for needs, ordering more materials when necessary.

Check shipments when they arrive to ensure that orders have been filled correctly and that goods meet specifications.

Contact suppliers to schedule or expedite deliveries and to resolve shortages, missed or late deliveries, and other problems.

In this career, it is important to know

English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

It's useful to be good at

Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.

Employment trends

Location	Pay period	2022
Location	Pay period	10%	25%	Median%	75%	90%
United States	Hourly	$15.60	$18.18	$21.75	$25.53	$29.94
United States	Yearly	$32,450	$37,800	$45,240	$53,100	$62,280
Arizona	Hourly	$18.00	$19.81	$22.47	$26.19	$28.91
Arizona	Yearly	$37,440	$41,200	$46,750	$54,480	$60,130

2022 Median%
United States	$21.75 Hourly	$45,240 Yearly
Arizona	$22.47 Hourly	$46,750 Yearly

Employment (2022)

65,300 employees

Projected growth (2022 - 2032)

Decline (-2% or lower)

Projected job openings (2022 - 2032)

5,400

* Data obtained from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) under sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA).

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