Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products

People in this career often have these skills:

• Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
• Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

• Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

People in this career often know a lot about:

• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

People in this career often have talent in:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.

• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

People in this career often do these activities:

• Purchase stocks of merchandise or supplies.
• Negotiate contracts with clients or service providers.
• Discuss business strategies, practices, or policies with managers.
• Purchase products or services.
• Provide information to coworkers.

• Determine the value of goods or services.
• Advise others on business or operational matters.
• Confer with personnel to coordinate business operations.
• Authorize financial actions.
• Disburse funds from clients accounts to creditors.
• Analyze market conditions or trends.
• Analyze consumer trends.
• Obtain information about goods or services.
• Train personnel to enhance job skills.
• Supervise employees.
• Create marketing materials.
• Research issues related to the environment or sustainable business practices.
• Evaluate logistics methods to reduce environmental impact.
• Develop business or market strategies.
• Identify strategic business investment opportunities.

• Administrative Services Managers

• Buyers and Purchasing Agents, Farm Products

• Property, Real Estate, and Community Association Managers

• General and Operations Managers

• First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

• Procurement Clerks

• Real Estate Brokers

• Loan Officers

• Customs Brokers

• Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products