You may have heard the term buyers a lot but it doesn’t actually always stand for customers! A professional buyer is a person who specializes in buying raw materials or stock of products to be used in a large retail or manufacturing company. They are the ones on whom the company relies to negotiate for the best price with the vendor and bring in maximized profits for the company.
How to Make your Buyer Resume Unique?
Things you should put on a Buyer Resume:
1. Objective:
This is often the only section most recruiters read when they are going through piles of buyer resumes. So you need to highlight your strengths, experiences and aspirations here in brief. Three lines make the optimum length for this section. If you have professional experience of many years in this field, you can opt for a Summary section instead.
2. Skills
A buyer’s job mainly focuses on the soft skills like negotiation and communication since they have to regularly convince the vendors for the desired price. Besides, they also need to be proficient in calculations and evaluating trends in the industry. They will have to develop seasonal strategies based on those trends and maximize profit for the company.
In short, communication, negotiation, calculation, market research, data analysis and computer skills are a must for a retailer or wholesale buyers.
3. Work Experience
If you have work experience in related fields, you are already ahead of the game than most. But the catch is, all those professional experiences need to be listed properly with necessary details. These include the full name of that company, the job title, the time period of your employment there, followed by your responsibilities. Use action words like budget development, cost optimization, inventory control etc to draw more attention to your CV.
4. Achievements
In case you have any mentionable achievements – in your professional or student life – list them down here. It can be an award, certification or numerical accomplishments like an OTB of a million units, increasing sales by 15% etc.
5. Education
For a buyer’s position, you should have a high school diploma degree at minimum. A Bachelor’s degree in the relevant area is more encouraged. Mention the university or college’s name, its location, the full title of the degree you earned and the year of your graduation. You may also include the phone number or email address of the institution in case the potential recruiters want to verify this information.
Future job expectations
It is expected to grow by 2% in the USA job market by 2024 and thus, you may want to try your luck here. To make sure your luck strikes gold, follow the suggestions mentioned above to construct a great buyer’s resume.
Things you should avoid on a Buyer Resume
1. Money Motivation
Never include statements like “will do harder for more money”. No employer wants to recruit people whose main motive is just money. Surely we all look for jobs in search for a stable source of income or validation of some sort. But put yourself in the employer’s chair. Would you rely on someone that hungry for money with responsibilities of maintaining quality and decency of the company? Of course not! So avoid statements where your desperation or dedication to money seems clear.
2. Poor Calculation and Negotiation Skills
Since you will need to quickly figure out the total price of the products or raw materials you are buying, you need to be good at performing such calculations. The company will rely on you to get the best material at most affordable price points. Thus, hints of poor negotiation and calculation skills should not be on your resume.
3. Lack of Relevant Knowledge
You need to have proper knowledge about the fashion and merchandising industry. The current rates of particular raw materials, the upcoming trends and similar information need to be in the palm of your hand. If your buyer resume cannot reflect your expertise in these areas, you will definitely not get a call from these recruiters.
A Full Buyer Resume Sample
John Williams
(214) 748-3647 | johnwilliams@gmail.com
Summary
Focused, analytical and four years’ experienced retail buyer with friendly but professional personality. Proficient in predicting and implementing market trends along with OTB and seasonal strategies. Expert in negotiation resulting in maximization of unit volumes and profits.
Professional Experience
KING RETAIL SOLUTIONS
Albany, NY
Retail Buyer
2013-2016
• Networked with more than a hundred vendors
• Negotiated for best prices in merchandise
• Filled an OTB of 2 million units
• Increased sales by 20%
FLORIDA HOUSE OF FASHION
Miami, FL
Head Buyer
2017-Present
• Conceptualized and implemented special sales like Black Friday and Christmas
• Doubled volume for all departments for Summer 2017
• Train new recruits to handle vendors efficiently
Skill Highlights
• Clear communication
• Strong negotiation
• Cost optimization
• Inventory control
• Time management
• Sales expertise
• Goal-oriented
• Market research
• Data analysis
Accomplishments
• Dean’s List
• Award for Academic Excellence 2010, 2011
• Top Performer Award 3 times
• Increased sales by 15-20% per month
Education
Bachelor of Arts in Communication
2009-2012
University of California
San Francisco, USA
+1 415-476-9000