Purchasing Agent
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
Responsible for sourcing and purchasing goods or services on behalf of another party.
Job Outlook
There were 441 Purchasing Agent job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 11459 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Buyer / Purchasing Agent industry, which includes the Purchasing Agent career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2012:
Salary
Many new Purchasing Agent jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $49,708.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $49,056.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Purchasing Agent postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $42,246.
Education and Experience
Posted Purchasing Agent jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 11% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 41% |
| Master's Degree | 3% |
| Doctoral Degree | 0% |
| Other | 46% |
Posted Purchasing Agent jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 52% |
| 3 to 5 years | 44% |
| 6 to 8 years | 3% |
| 9+ years | 1% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Purchasing Agent positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication Skills (43%)
- Microsoft Excel (34%)
- Organizational Skills (32%)
- Microsoft Office (29%)
- Detail-Oriented (27%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Purchasing (92%)
- Procurement (44%)
- Expediting Orders (8%)
- Contract Review (7%)
- Contract Negotiation (7%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Scheduling (18%)
- Budgeting (16%)
- Inventory Management (16%)
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) (15%)
- Negotiation Skills (13%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Price Negotiation (7%)
- Purchase Order Preparation (6%)
- Purchase Requisitions Processing (6%)
- Procurement Contracts (4%)
- Contract Management (4%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed along with the marginal value: the average salary difference between postings that request that skill and those that do not.
- Supplier Selection (2%) – marginal value $7,176
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Purchasing Agent skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Buyer Agent
- Purchasing Agent/Buyer
- Buyer/Purchasing Agent
- Buyer/Purchasing
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Purchasing Agent jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Schnitzer Steel Industries (184)
- Marriott International Incorporated (135)
- Department of Veterans Affairs (120)
- D.R. Horton (89)
- Bunzl (63)
North Carolina
- D.R. Horton (8)
- Mac Papers And Packaging (8)
- Vanir Installed Sales (7)
- Romanoff (7)
- Sandhills Pick N Pull (6)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.