How To Become A Purchasing Department Clerk: What It Is and Career Path

What is a purchasing department clerk and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a purchasing department clerk. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.12 an hour? That's $37,684 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -38,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePurchasing Department ClerkUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $37,684

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.7

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.65%

Asian 7.06%

Black or African American 7.78%

Hispanic or Latino 17.60%

Unknown 5.31%

White 61.60%

Gender

female 71.54%

male 28.46%

Age - 46.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46.5

Stress level

7.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.2

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a purchasing department clerk

Explore purchasing department clerk education requirements

Most common purchasing department clerk degrees

Bachelor's

40.9 %

Associate

23.8 %

High School Diploma

14.0 %

Start to develop specific purchasing department clerk skills

Skills	Percentages
Purchase Orders	51.79%
Data Entry	38.22%
Expedite	3.13%
Computer System	2.52%
Surgery	2.37%

Complete relevant purchasing department clerk training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New purchasing department clerks learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a purchasing department clerk based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real purchasing department clerk resumes.

Research purchasing department clerk duties and responsibilities

Manage activities of purchasing, production planning and scheduling, inventory management, warehousing and logistics.
Check stock levels through use of MRP.
Process MRO orders and consumable material requisitions.
Review requisitions for MRO inventory and facilities maintenance agreements.

Prepare your purchasing department clerk resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your purchasing department clerk resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a purchasing department clerk resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable purchasing department clerk resume templates

Build a professional purchasing department clerk resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your purchasing department clerk resume.