Procurement Clerks
Compile information and records to draw up purchase orders for procurement of materials and services.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Writing
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
- Complex Problem Solving
Key knowledge
- English Language
- Administrative
- Customer and Personal Service
- Economics and Accounting
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Computers and Electronics
- Transportation
What the work involves
- Prepare purchase orders and send copies to suppliers and to departments originating requests.
- Determine if inventory quantities are sufficient for needs, ordering more materials when necessary.
- Respond to customer and supplier inquiries about order status, changes, or cancellations.
- Perform buying duties when necessary.
- Contact suppliers to schedule or expedite deliveries and to resolve shortages, missed or late deliveries, and other problems.
- Review requisition orders to verify accuracy, terminology, and specifications.
- Prepare, maintain, and review purchasing files, reports and price lists.
- Compare prices, specifications, and delivery dates to determine the best bid among potential suppliers.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (48.2% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (28%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (28.4%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Procurement Clerks is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 67% of occupations compared | 64% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Lower on dealing with the public than 50% of occupations compared | 58% of surveyed respondents chose “Important” |
| Teamwork | Moderate | Lower on teamwork than 52% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 70% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 81% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 68% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 75% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 89% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 5.71%
- Contact with others most of the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Constant contact with others: 63.58%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 9.5%
- Important: 58.14%
- Very important: 15.46%
- Extremely important: 16.9%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2022
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very important: 15.32%
- Extremely important: 55.42%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2022
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 14.65%
- Some freedom: 35.89%
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2022
Time pressure
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 9.5%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 12.01%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 11.46%
- Every day: 43.49%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2022
Conflict situations
- Never: 6.89%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.04%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 16.36%
- Every day: 0.78%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 12.59%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a week or more but not every day: 14.32%
- Every day: 0%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2022
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 37.4%
- Fairly serious: 23.13%
- Serious: 33.41%
- Very serious: 6.06%
- Extremely serious: 0%
n = 20, Incumbent 08/2022
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O*NET-SOC 43-3061.00 · SOC 43-3061 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8