5 Things To Include In A Resume For a Procurement Officer

A procurement officer is responsible for evaluating products, suppliers and services, negotiating contracts, while also ensuring that the purchases are high-quality and cost efficient. In order to ace the job competition, with the right resume there are a few tips and tricks to include in your resume for the procurement officer job. Let’s start with the key tips to writing the perfect procurement officer resume:

Add the right skills

This is the part to run wild with the relevant keywords from the job description. For instance if they are looking for someone with experience in purchase orders, ensure that it is listed in your resume skills section. E.g. – manage a team of buyers to efficiently procure the material for the cost requirements.

Add the relevant experience

It is ideal that the jobs, accolades and experience relevant to the position. E.g. – released and developed RFQ, RSP and RFI, by analysing bids for the procurement requirement.

Note down the achievements quantifiable

The previous workplace accomplishments tell a unique story, and bring value to the next organisation. Don’t include boring descriptions of job duties, instead quantify your accomplishments using numbers. E.g. – applied cost benefit analysis and lean principles to the P2P process, thereby reducing the supplier cycle by 50% and cost by 30%.

Make sure the formatting is impeccable

Making sure the resume is formatted to look attractive and professional is highly important. Also, proof read for any errors or repetitions, to maintain a proper flow.

The resume should be ATS friendly

The applicant tracking system or ATS is a unique software that the employees recently used to scan, collect, rank and organise the applications. The key to getting your resume through the applicant tracking system, is to use smart keyboard usage. We will get into more about that in detail later.

5 things to include in a procurement officer resume

1. Add the relevant contact information

• The name should be the biggest font on the page, and should be placed near or at the top of the document.

• The address does not necessarily need to include your house number or street name! Just the state or your city is enough.

• The email address provided should be professional, but do not include your current work email address. It looks unprofessional if you use your work email for personal use, or other than your previous company.

• Finally the social media profiles can also be included, in case of having a quality and well maintained LinkedIn page. Any other social media page that can showcase the relevant skills can also be added.

2. Add the relevant education details to the resume

The education section of the resume should include:

• The name of the school
• The date of graduation (Year, and month)
• The name of the degree

In case the graduation is more than 15 years ago, you can drop off the graduation date in order to avoid age discrimination.

Other subsections to include in the education sections are:

• GPA (if you’re a recent graduate with a GPA of 3.5+)
• Academic projects (dissertation, theses, projects etc.
• Academic awards (Honours, dean's list, etc)
• Extra certification

Other important tips to consider when writing the education section are:

• In case of a recent graduate, place the education section above the experience section.
• The more work experience, the shorter the education section must be!
• List the education in a reverse chronological order, with the high-ranking degrees and the recent ones first.
• In case of barred graduation, mention the expected graduation date from the particular school.

Example of education section in the procurement officer resume:

Bachelor's degree in business 2018-2020

XYZ University   New Delhi

Masters degree in business 2018–2020

XYZ University  New Delhi 

3. After this, add the skills section on the resume

The resumes skills section must include the most relevant and important keywords from the job description, as long as you do have the skills. If any doubt regarding the types of skills needed for the job, look over the resume examples to get an idea.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind, while writing the resumes skills section:

• List mostly the hard skills as soft skills are hard to test
• Include about 5 to 10 skills in a bullet point format.
• Study and emphasise the skills that are required for the job

Hard skills are the most important when it comes to hiring managers, as it can relate to the job knowledge and the specific experience with a certain process or technology.

Example of skills section in the procurement officer resume:

• Procurement policy skills: The procurement policy features the standard or guideline of a business or industry, to ensure that all the services and products are bought accordingly. It is one of the major skills when it comes to selling and buying products in order to make a more profitable implementation and increase sales.

• Purchase requisition skills: a purchase requisition skill is also one of the key skills for a procurement officer. It is a document created by the employee to request a purchase of services or goods on behalf of the entity.

• Purchase order skills

• Office supplies skills

• Vendor skills

• Contract management skills: A contract management skill refers to the systematic procedure in obtaining a contract.

• Logistic skills: Logistics is a complete implementation and organisation of a problem. They are often considered in a complex business of operation, as few works need detailed planning.

4. List your experience as procurement officer

The most important part of any resume is without any doubt the experience section. Hiring managers and recruiters always expect to see your experience listed in a reverse chronological order. This means that you should begin with your recent experience and then go backwards.

Don’t simply list the job duties below each entry, but instead make sure the points discuss and show your achievements from the past work position. Whenever or wherever necessary, use numbers to give a detailed insight of your achievements, so the hiring manager can easily understand your ability.

It is okay if you cannot get the exact percentage or cost figures. But that is a huge difference between saying managed a team of designers and managed a team of eight designers over a period of 12 months.

Also, make sure that the experience included is relevant to the job description. 

Example of work history section in the procurement officer resume:

Purchasing agent

XYZ company

• Developed manufacturing process orders within the given MRP system.
• Procured raw materials and components to meet the MRP demands in production.
• Work along with the logistics department, to organise the inbound freight shipments.
• Improved, deployed and standardised metrics method to garment affiliate site coordinators and trained them in the new procedures and policies.
• Trained new associates and developed documents on receiving and purchasing procedures for expense and capital related orders.

5. Highlight the procurement officer certification is on the resume

Certifications can be a powerful thing to showcase to employers that know your job. In case of having any of the certifications, make sure to put them down on the procurement officer resume: 

• Certified supply chain professional (CSCP)
• Certified professional in supply management (CPSM)
• Certified professional contracts manager (CPCM)
• Certified purchasing professional (CPP)
• Certified management accountant (CMA)

Finally conclude the resume with a summary statement that is at least 3 sentences at the top of your resume. This quickly summarises the skills, and abilities. In the section the job title, years of experience and any other key accomplishment can be noted.

Conclusion: 

When applying for a procurement officer job, it is essential to know the responsibilities as well. It includes supervising staff, maintaining a positive supplier relation, approving purchases, evaluating supply options and maintaining accurate records. Along with following the steps to curate the resume, the candidate should have an analytical mind, and keep up with the latest service trends as well as the product. Following these key tips and sections mentioned above, while curating a resume, will surely help in finding the right procurement officer job! 

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