Essential Purchase Executive Interview Questions & Answers:

1. Tell me do you have any experience building a procurement team from the ground up?

Is the candidate a change agent? How do they work with high levels of autonomy? Sometimes, it's important that a candidate can create processes to drive the strategic vision of the organization

2. What are your career goals as Purchase Executive?

"I plan to be a PM for the next three to five years and then move to either a more specialized commodity role or a higher leadership role in the purchasing area. Ultimately, which role and when will be determined on where I can add the most value to the organization." This question is asked to determine if your career goals align with the career path that the company offers. It's important to think about how the position you are interviewing for will fit into your long term goals even as you apply for jobs

3. Why should we hire you as Purchase Executive?

This is a very common question that is asked in almost every interview. I love this question because it gives you the opportunity to sell yourself. Discuss what makes you standout from the crowd and show them how you can help advance their company. Remember to be specific. This is where all the company research you have done comes into play. You should have an idea as to why the company is hiring or looking to hire someone for that position. What problem do they have that they are looking for people to help them solve? And once you can establish this, you are to show them how you can solve this problem for them.

4. Explain what are the top three accomplishments in your career?

This shines a light on what a candidate considers to be an accomplishment and what aspects of the job they feel are most important. Is it cost-savings? Is it the fact they connected their company to the right supplier?

5. Explain me how do you keep staff members motivated?

Questions about delegating tasks and motivating staff are quite common in management job interviews. Your emphases should be on team building when answering this question. You can say something like “I always endeavor to show recognition to members of staff that meet goals and in my experience, I have seen that this keeps them motivated to take on more tasks. Where possible, I make the tasks delegation interdependent so that staff members can learn to work with each other and improve one another to get the best out of themselves.”

6. Please explain me how to control the purchasing price?

Some employers may ask you this to check your knowledge in purchase. It can be quite difficult for prospective employers to work out whether potential candidates are good, so this is your chance to shine.

When answering this question you could split up into following points:

☛ By alternative procurement
☛ Alternative supplier sourcing
☛ Vendor increases in different items
☛ Reducing production cost
☛ Procure best quality products
☛ Procure by ensuring product lifetime by supplier, which is most effective way of cost minimization.

7. How do you prioritize your work as Purchase Executive?

"My priorities are the organization's priorities and can change based on this fact. I have to manage short-, mid- and long-term initiatives and prioritize my work according to them. Prioritizing is part of my daily planning process and I adjust as needed to serve the organization." The key to answering this questions is showing that you have daily time and prioritization period, that you use it, and that it is accommodating to changes.

8. Tell me how do you motivate people?

Understand their goals and needs. Align the vision of the work to their goals. Inspire them through a speech or by example.

9. Tell us what is your leadership style?

Does the candidate have leadership qualities? Can they articulate this?

10. Explain me what is your viewpoint of management as Purchase Executive?

The aim of this question is to ascertain the kind of leader you are. If you ever get to hold a management position in their firm, how would you handle issues of workload delegation or teach your subordinates?

I am of the opinion that a team should have specific individuals who are experts or most qualified to handle certain tasks, so as a leader, I would distribute the workload as evenly as possible to ensure that the best hands for different tasks are put where they are most effective. This will be done by ensuring that every member of the team has the skill and resource needed to complete his/her tasks.