Procurement Clerks

Compile information and records to draw up purchase orders for procurement of materials and services.

Tasks

• Prepare purchase orders and send copies to suppliers and to departments originating requests.
• Determine if inventory quantities are sufficient for needs, ordering more materials when necessary.
• Respond to customer and supplier inquiries about order status, changes, or cancellations.
• Perform buying duties when necessary.
• Contact suppliers in order to schedule or expedite deliveries and to resolve shortages, missed or late deliveries, and other problems.
• Review requisition orders in order to verify accuracy, terminology, and specifications.
• Prepare, maintain, and review purchasing files, reports and price lists.
• Compare prices, specifications, and delivery dates in order to determine the best bid among potential suppliers.
• Track the status of requisitions, contracts, and orders.
• Calculate costs of orders, and charge or forward invoices to appropriate accounts.
• Check shipments when they arrive to ensure that orders have been filled correctly and that goods meet specifications.
• Compare suppliers' bills with bids and purchase orders in order to verify accuracy.
• Approve bills for payment.
• Locate suppliers, using sources such as catalogs and the internet, and interview them to gather information about products to be ordered.
• Maintain knowledge of all organizational and governmental rules affecting purchases, and provide information about these rules to organization staff members and to vendors.
• Monitor in-house inventory movement and complete inventory transfer forms for bookkeeping purposes.
• Monitor contractor performance, recommending contract modifications when necessary.
• Prepare invitation-of-bid forms, and mail forms to supplier firms or distribute forms for public posting.

Abilities

• 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.

• Written Comprehension

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

• Deductive Reasoning

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

• 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.

• 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 there is a problem.

• Near Vision

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

• Speech Clarity

  The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

Knowledge

• Clerical

  Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and 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.

• English Language

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

Skills

• Time Management

  Managing one's own time and the time of others.

• Reading Comprehension

  Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

• Speaking

  Talking to others to convey information effectively.

• Active Listening

  Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

• Critical Thinking

  Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

• Writing

  Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

• Monitoring

  Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

• Management of Material Resources

  Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.

• Judgment and Decision Making

  Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

• Service Orientation

  Actively looking for ways to help people.

• Instructing

  Teaching others how to do something.

• Coordination

  Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

• Persuasion

  Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

• Mathematics

  Using mathematics to solve problems.

• Active Learning

  Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.

• Negotiation

  Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.

• Management of Financial Resources

  Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.

Detailed information about this career can be found at the ONET Online website.