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

What is a purchasing/receiving and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a purchasing/receiving. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.64 an hour? That's $32,524 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -3% and produce -38,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePurchasing/ReceivingUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $32,524

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate -3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.73%

Asian 7.05%

Black or African American 10.49%

Hispanic or Latino 20.45%

Unknown 4.15%

White 57.12%

Gender

female 45.59%

male 54.41%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a purchasing/receiving

Explore purchasing/receiving education requirements

Most common purchasing/receiving degrees

High School Diploma

30.1 %

Associate

27.8 %

Bachelor's

24.8 %

Start to develop specific purchasing/receiving skills

Skills	Percentages
Purchase Orders	36.21%
Shipping Receiving	9.42%
Computer Programs	8.24%
Delivery Schedules	8.18%
Inventory Reports	7.36%

Complete relevant purchasing/receiving training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New purchasing/receivings 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/receiving based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real purchasing/receiving resumes.

Research purchasing/receiving duties and responsibilities

Manage the outgoing FTL and LTL shipments.
Monitor and manage inventory levels after final assembly and inspection to ensure on time delivery in a warehouse setting using WMS.
Work with owner to set-up and analyze QuickBooks accounting package.
Update BOM of vendors, dates, prices and add product.

Prepare your purchasing/receiving resume

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

Build a professional purchasing/receiving 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/receiving resume.