Purchasing Agent Resume—Sample and 25+ Writing Tips

There’s so much that goes into procurement and supply chain management—

It becomes tempting to make long, detailed lists of duties in your resume.

But that’s not how you convince hiring managers to ask you in for an interview.

Instead—

Use your purchasing agent resume to show them the results you’ve achieved—

And they’ll figure out the rest.

In this guide:

• A purchasing agent resume sample better than most.
• How to create the perfect purchasing agent job description for resumes.
• How to write a resume for purchasing agent jobs that stands out.
• Expert tips and examples to boost your chances of landing a purchasing agent job.

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Purchasing Agent Resume Sample

Now here’s how to write a purchasing agent resume they’ll love:

1. Choose the Right Purchasing Agent Resume Format

Purchase orders written on the backs of napkins.

Trade shows without a floor plan.

Guesstimated inventory levels.

No?

Then make sure your resume formatting is as clean and clear and you’d like any of the above to be.

Here’s how:

Purchasing Agent Resume Format

• Use the reverse-chronological resume template to show your most recent stuff first.
• Choose an understated resume font like a Noto in 11–12 pt.
• Leave your resume margins at one inch all round and don’t crowd the page.
• When it comes to length, submit a one-page resume. Purchasing agents rarely need to go to a second page.
• Include at least these sections: Resume Header, Profile, Experience, Education, and Skills.

Does the job ad include a file-format preference?

If not, then save your resume in PDF before sending it through.

However, always go with whatever is required by the job ad:

Some ATSs (Applicant Tracking Systems) can’t handle resume PDFs. In that case, the job ad will specifically ask applicants to send their resumes as Word files. Remember that the machine-readability of an ATS resume is more important than preserving its formatting, so if a company's ATS can't read PDF files, don't send them PDF files.

2. Start With an Attention-Grabbing Purchasing Agent Resume Objective or Summary

The best way to make your purchasing agent resume stand out?

Start strong, be confident, and get straight to the point.

Your resume profile is basically your job application in a nutshell.

Been working as a purchasing agent for a year or more?

Make your profile a resume summary statement. It’s your ticket to making full use of all that experience.

Use:

1. One adjective (efficient, dedicated, dynamic)
2. Job title (Purchasing Agent)
3. Years of experience (4+, 6+)
4. How you’ll help (provide excellent procurement and supply chain management support)
5. Two or three of your most relevant achievements (trained and evaluated 11 workers in Accounts Payable, improved vendor relations through plant visits, in-house meetings, and follow-up phone calls, maintaining a 95% vendor retention rate)

These purchasing agent resume examples show how:

Purchasing Agent Resume Samples—Resume Summary

Dynamic purchasing agent with 5+ years’ experience, skilled in developing procurement processes. Seeking to help Company ABC lower procurement and inventory control costs. At DH Morton, maintained a 95% vendor retention rate by improving vendor relations and lowered costs by over 15% by negotiating terms with material suppliers and vendors.

Purchasing agent with 5 years’ experience. Seeking to join a company with good promotion pathways. At DH Morton, improved vendor relations through plant visits, in-house meetings, and follow-up phone calls and negotiated prices and terms with material suppliers and vendors.

Who would you choose?

The first of these purchasing agent resume examples does two things that really set it apart:

It’s all about what the candidate can do for the company, not the other way around and—

It manages to put numbers to duties, supercharging them into achievements.

Only just starting out as a purchasing agent, with little or no experience?

Make your resume profile a resume objective statement instead. Talk up relevant achievements from non-purchasing agent jobs.

Purchasing Agent Resume Objective—Samples

Dedicated purchasing agent with 10+ months’ experience, skilled in ERP systems. Seeking to help Company ABC lower procurement and inventory control costs. At the City of Richmond, initiated competitive bid on key components reducing material costs by 9–11% p.a. and maintained a minimum 90% in-stock rate for 24+ consecutive months.

Not much experience working as a purchasing agent or buyer, but liking what I’ve seen so far. Looking to join a company with decent prospects. Can work a maximum of 34 hours per week.

Once again:

Focus on quantifying the value you brought to previous employers and on what you can do for this employer—

And you can hardly go wrong.

Struggling?

That’s understandable, luckily there’s an easy fix:

Write your purchasing agent resume objective or summary last of all.

3. Create the Perfect Purchasing Agent Job Description and Skills Sections

The best way to make them call you?

Show them you have a track record of handling the ins and outs of operations like theirs.

Turn your resume job description section into a showcase of achievements.

How to write a job description for purchasing agents:

1. Read over the job ad again.
2. Spot the purchasing agent skills and duties in it.
3. Think of times you’ve wowed employers using those skills and performing similar duties.
4. Write resume bullet points that put numbers to those success stories.

These purchasing agent resume examples show how:

Purchasing Agent Job Description for a Resume

Purchasing Agent

DH Morton

December 2019–present

• Prepared purchase requisitions, RFQs, and purchase orders, achieving 96% correct delivery.
• Negotiated prices and terms with material suppliers and vendors to lower costs by over 15%.
• Trained and evaluated 11 workers in Accounts Payable.
• Improved vendor relations through plant visits, in-house meetings, and follow-up phone calls, maintaining a 95% vendor retention rate.

Purchasing Agent

DH Morton

2019–present

• Prepared purchase requisitions, RFQs, and purchase orders.
• Negotiated prices and terms with material suppliers and vendors.
• Trained and evaluated workers in Accounts Payable.
• Improved vendor relations through plant visits, in-house meetings, and follow-up phone calls.

Big difference.

It’s OK to estimate some of these numbers—

Just keep it realistic and be ready to justify your calculations if asked.

Don’t have enough work experience to pull this off?

Use accomplishments from non-purchasing agent jobs.

One more thing:

You need a section with skills for resume.

But—

Cargo space is limited, less is more.

Aim to cover what the job ad requires with hardly any margin of safety besides.

This breakdown of hard and soft skills will help you maintain a good mix of the two:

Skills for a Purchasing Agent Resume

Hard skills

• Procurement
• Project management
• Business administration
• Supply chain management
• ERP systems
• Relationship management
• Inventory control
• Vendor management
• Purchasing
• Preparing purchase orders

Soft skills

• Customer service
• Interpersonal skills
• Communication skills
• Analytical skills
• Negotiation skills
• Time management
• Organization
• Prioritization
• Teamwork
• Attention to detail

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4. Turn Meh Education Into a Reason to Hire You

Being a purchasing agent is not something you just fall into—

It takes preparation and a plan.

There’s a range of education options to becoming a purchasing agent—

So your resume education section can either set you apart or leave you overlooked.

First:

List degrees (with majors), schools, and graduation years.

Then:

Add supplementary bullet points that speak to key skills.

This purchasing agent resume example shows how:

Purchasing Agent Resume Sample—Education Section

BS in Supply Chain, Logistics and Maritime Port Management

New Jersey City University, Aberdeen, NJ

2015

• Pursued a passion for business statistics coursework.
• Maintained a 3.89 GPA.

Short on purchasing agent experience? 

Include projects, classes, and accomplishments that show purchasing agent skills like negotiation or project management.

5. Stock Your Purchasing Agent Resume With Added Sections

Here’s an expert tip:

Most resumes for purchasing agent jobs stop with experience, education, and skills sections.

So—

Doing so is a great way to end up looking like most other candidates.

Add one or two extra resume sections:

• Additional Activities
• Foreign Languages
• Classes Taken
• Awards for a Resume
• Hobbies and Interests
• Volunteering
• Certifications
• Professional References

These two purchasing agent resume examples show yes vs no:

Purchasing Agent Resume Samples—Extra Sections

Certification

• Certified Purchasing Professional (CPP)

Languages

• English – native proficiency
• Spanish – advanced
• Italian – communicative

Hobbies and Interests

• Collecting wine bottles
• Collecting corks
• Cultivating hydroponic grapevines

Languages

• English, Spanish, Italian

Night, meet day.

There’s nothing wrong with including a list of hobbies and interests on a resume—

They’re on the list of suggested sections, after all.

But everything you add to your purchasing agent resume has to be relevant to the job ad.

Nearly there—

One last thing:

You need a cover letter to go with your purchasing agent resume.

The only way around this is having been explicitly told not to include one.

Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter generator and make your application documents pop out.

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Key Points

For a purchasing agent resume that gets interviews:

• Use the purchasing agent resume template up top. It checks all the right boxes while being as clean and clear as possible.
• Put purchasing agent achievementsin your resume profile, work experience, and education sections to show what you’ve handled before.
• Include only the right purchasing agent skills. A careful reading of the job ad will tell what skills those are.
• Write a purchasing agent cover letter. Take the opportunity to put your passion on display as you showcase your achievements.

Have some questions about our purchasing agent resume examples? Got any advice to share with up-and-coming purchasing agents? Drop us a line down below.

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