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

What is a purchasing internship and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

In a Purchasing Internship, you may need to have analytical skills, communication, and interpersonal skills. You will also need to have supplier experience and know-how to track purchase orders. You may need experience as a cashier or a buyer. You will need to manage the inventory of goods and ensure supplies are right. You will work under the guidance of a purchaser and know how to collaborate with the project leader.

You will also need to know how to manage budgets and follow time constraints. You may also be needed to do comparative studies of different providers, negotiate with providers, and follow up on invoices and payment methods and terms. You will need a degree in supply chain management or logistics with procurement as a specific course. A bachelor's degree in these fields is preferable. In a Purchasing Internship, you could make an annual salary of $42,000.

ScorePurchasing InternshipUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,527

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate 11%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.78%

Asian 7.74%

Black or African American 8.95%

Hispanic or Latino 12.31%

Unknown 4.40%

White 65.83%

Gender

female 42.58%

male 57.42%

Age - 49

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 - 49

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.9

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.1

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a purchasing internship

Explore purchasing internship education requirements

Most common purchasing internship degrees

Bachelor's

76.2 %

Associate

9.6 %

Master's

8.7 %

Start to develop specific purchasing internship skills

Skills	Percentages
Purchase Orders	20.57%
Logistics	9.69%
Cost Savings	5.34%
Supplier Quality	5.31%
Data Entry	5.08%

Complete relevant purchasing internship training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New purchasing interns 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 internship based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real purchasing internship resumes.

Research purchasing internship duties and responsibilities

Help manage all aspects of the MRO department which include purchasing new and need parts to meet daily production requirements.
Prepare RFQ, RFI, and RFP for supplier selection, reporting directly to senior manager.
Create RFPs and score-card RFP responses of solution vendors.
Complete purchase order process; review overstock reports, open orders and expedite reports.

Prepare your purchasing internship resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your purchasing internship 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 internship 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 internship resume templates

Build a professional purchasing internship 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 internship resume.