Purchasing Agents, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products

1. 01Monitor and follow applicable laws and regulations.People already use AI for this at work
2. 02Purchase the highest quality merchandise at the lowest possible price and in correct amounts.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
3. 03Formulate policies and procedures for bid proposals and procurement of goods and services.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
4. 04Prepare purchase orders, solicit bid proposals, and review requisitions for goods and services.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
5. 05Write and review product specifications, maintaining a working technical knowledge of the goods or services to be purchased.People already use AI for this at work
6. 06Analyze price proposals, financial reports, and other data and information to determine reasonable prices.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
7. 07Hire, train, or supervise purchasing clerks, buyers, and expediters.Mostly human for now
8. 08Research and evaluate suppliers, based on price, quality, selection, service, support, availability, reliability, production and distribution capabilities, and the supplier's reputation and history.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
9. 09Evaluate and monitor contract performance to ensure compliance with contractual obligations and to determine need for changes.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
10. 10Negotiate, renegotiate, and administer contracts with suppliers, vendors, and other representatives.AI could speed this up, with extra tools

Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.

The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.

1. Hire, train, or supervise purchasing clerks, buyers, and expediters.

What you can do next