Purchasing Clerk

Prepare Purchase Orders
One of the biggest responsibilities of a purchasing clerk is preparing accurate and complete purchase orders for supplies, materials, and raw goods. Purchasing clerks work closely with specific departments by placing orders, ensuring that purchases are recorded at the time of request, and submitting these orders to get approval from the department or from the purchasing manager or buyer.

Schedule Shipping
Purchasing clerks schedule incoming and outgoing shipments. A major part of this duty is preparing records to reflect when purchased items arrive and ensuring that all materials arrive. Purchasing clerks may also schedule outgoing shipments for returns or when handling purchasing for companies with multiple locations. Additionally, purchasing clerks follow up with vendors to check in on late or missing shipments or to report damaged goods.

Coordinate Vendor Activities
In many cases, purchasing clerks support vendor relations and profitability by managing vendor relations and preparing bid requests and contracts. Purchasing clerks speak directly with vendor representatives to gather pricing data, compare vendor offers for shipping rates and material prices, and maintain vendor contract information. Under the supervision of the purchasing supervisor, purchasing clerks may also evaluate vendor bids.

Maintain Purchase Records
In this role, purchasing clerks maintain detailed records of purchases, including quantities, shipping information, and costs associated with the purchase. They may provide these records to department heads to aid in budget and financial management or maintain purchasing department files to support future activities. The purchasing clerk may also submit these records to the company's financial departments to aid in budget resolution.

Manage Inventory
Purchasing clerks also manage the company's inventory levels to determine when new purchases are needed. In this aspect of the role, the purchasing clerk may use computerized inventory management software and also conduct visual inspections of inventory levels. Purchasing clerks use the inventory information to determine when to place replenishment orders and determine scheduled purchasing activities.

Purchasing clerks provide administrative support to the purchasing department and to the company as a whole. Most purchasing clerks have at least a high school diploma and the following skills:

Clerical skills - clerical skills are key in this role, since purchasing clerks prepare orders and reports and ensure that information is correctly entered in the company's system
Mathematics - purchasing clerks should possess good mathematical skills to ensure that their calculations are correct when determining costs and completing purchase orders
Relationship management - because they support vendor relations and contracts, purchasing clerks should have strong relationship development and management skills
Client service skills - client service skills are also important in this role, since the purchasing clerk needs to work with multiple departments to complete orders and maintain records
Communication skills - purchasing clerks are effective verbal and written communicators, able to speak with and write to vendors, shipping companies, and internal personnel