Clinical Dietitian
Advise people on a proper diet to improve their health.
Materials Buyer
Order the materials a company needs to keep production going.
When a clotheshorse stumbles across a great buy, the heart leaps and the hand dives for the wallet. Finding just the right item at just the right price makes the day seem brighter and the victory all the more sweet.
A Materials Buyer experiences this feeling each and every day. That’s because it’s the job of the Materials Buyer to purchase the raw materials a company uses to make products. When the day goes right, the Materials Buyer can save the company a lot of money, and feel the thrill of the kill in the process.
When you’re a Materials Buyer, keeping close tabs on your Warehouse Manager, Production Manager, and Marketing Director helps you do your job with ease. These people can tell you how much raw material the company already has, how much is needed in the future, and what will never be needed again.
With this information, you search for good deals. If you’re lucky, you have suppliers you work with on a regular basis, and you can simply phone in an order and wait for it to arrive. If you’re searching for an item that others also want, it might be tougher to make the buy, and you might have to call many suppliers and sweet-talk your way into a deal.
Some raw materials—such as lumber, corn, and wheat—are sold directly on the stock market, and your job is to buy those items when prices are low. To do that, you read news reports about the local and international markets, and you keep a ticker of prices going across your computer at all times. When the price is low, you jump in with an order.
Personality Traits
Team Player: You're able to listen, communicate, and work with tons of different people.
Detail Oriented: You pay close attention to all the little details.
Reliable: You can always be counted on to do a good job.
Salary and Education
How much does a
Materials Buyer make?
Nationally: $31,000 – $101,000
Main education level: Associates
source: US Dept of Labor
Become a Materials Buyer
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