Procurement Clerks Interview Questions
1. Tell me about a few difficulties you have had, dealing with suppliers, and how you overcame them.
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1. Lack of seriousness among-st themselves, blacklisting them.
2. The customer is always right. I would just try to deal with them in a professional manner and satisfy their needs within a real perspective.
3. - Timeliness - They were delaying in deliveries so I had to try and place my orders early enough to give them time to also prepare their deliveries and make them in good time
- Quality - I had to have them adhere to my specifications and I had to check them before delivery.
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2. Are you efficient with your time?
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1. Very well. I meet deadlines.
3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
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1. I guess I will be a consultant in the purchasing field as I will have gained the necessary experience and educational background.
2. I see myself becoming a Procurement Agent as I will have gained the experience and education required for this position.
4. What qualifies you for this job?
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1. My experience and educational qualifications.
2. I'm determined, goal orientated and eager to learn new skills every day. I'm also a team worker and loves challenges. I also have the knowledge and experience to do this job to the best of my knowledge.
3. My education and my past experience as an administrative assistant/secretary and also my ability to pay attention to detail and follow up on vendors invoices and payments.
5. How do you handle stressful situations?
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1. Professionally by evaluating all the best possible options and coming up with the best alternative.
2. By finding the most stress free way of working it out i. E by talking to colleagues who are able to relief the situations.
6. What have you done in the past year to better yourself as a Procurement Clerk?
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1. Undertaken my undergraduate course.
2. I've helped out at SC management and transport and always ask question on how procurement are done.
3. I had a three month experience working in the Procurement office as a Procurement administrative secretary and I learnt procurement procedures.
7. Tell me about yourself.
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1. I am haron njuguna born 32 years ago. I am married with one lovely daughter. I have managed to attain 7 years experience working as a purchasing officer during my career at this job I have managed do develop my self by attaining other professional qualifications which proves am a hardworking person. I have also developed other skills like being honest, teamplayer that make me excell in this field.
2. I'm a 42 year old divorced women with three children of which one is already self sustained. I'm a confident easy-going person who loves people around myself. I'm determined to make a success of my career before I reach the age of 60.
3. I am patient, hardworking and I detail oriented.
8. Do you have experience in this field?
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1. 7 years progressive experience.
2. Yes a little. I'd say about two years experience whilst working at the local municipality.
9. What are your career goals?
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1. To be a person to reckon with in the procurement field.
2. My career goals are to be the best every where I am.
3. To go into the film industry and produce films.
10. What is your greatest weakness? What are you doing to improve it?
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1. My greatest weakness is that am impatient with slow progress. I am learning on how to be patient and let things flow.
2. My greatest weakness is that I do like delegating my responsibility to others, but I come to realise in order to succeed in you need to team work so that you can improve work perfomance.
3. New to uae job. As im a easy learner, it will be recovered within small time lines.
11. What is your greatest strength?
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1. My greatest is I like team work also Iam on time at the job, Iam honesty person.
2. I am well organised, polite and patient. I have already worked as a clerk where I have obtained clerical skills. I am able to sort out problems under high pressure.
3. Once I set my mind to what must be done, I complete it to the best of my ability.
12. Why are you the best candidate for us?
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1. My experience and academic qualifications make me fit for this position.
2. I'm self-motivated, hard working and will defeinitely be the best candiate to do this job.
3. I am the best candidate because of my past experience working in this office as a procurement administrative assistant and also the experience gained in various capacities that are in line with the requirements for this position.
13. What do you know about our company?
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1. Its a third party logistics service provider.
2. I know that it is a government communications company, whichj distributes news for government also magazines, banners, advertising.
3. It is the best place to work if you want career growth in the procurement area as it sources both locally and internationally.
14. Describe a situation where you felt you had not communicated well. How did you correct the situation?
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1. The lack of a sound system at a community event. The supplier did not acknowledge the request for a sound system. I had an alternative supplier who could supply the goods within half an hour and was able to submit the order during he event to the supplier.
2. I was required to change the number of items to be delivered but I did not communicate effectively - I did it on phone and forgot to do it in writing. I immediately remembered and send in an email immediately to affirm my intention of having the number of items changed.
3. Where I sent out a communication via email and it did not reach the recipients, I had to follow up with a phone call.
15. How do you evaluate the productivity of your subordinates?
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1. Currently I do not have any subordinates, but will motivate my team on a daily basis and reward them according to their productivity.
2. By delivery; timeliness and attention to detail.
16. Tell me your duties at your last job.
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1. Purchasing products for the organization, fleet management, commodity management between our ware houses and field offices.
2. My duties were to maintaining files, issuing of materials to user department and controlling stocks to maintain the desired level.
3. Maintenance of files and up stocking cards.
17. Have you ever had to locate new suppliers at your previous job?
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1. Yes as there are special / technical purchases that need to be purchased.
18. Tell me about a time when you had to research the best bid possible for a new order your company was about to make.
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1. Researched on a reverse osmosis machine.
2. I did research on the company's past dealings with government and their success rate.
3. When we had various bidders for some office cabinets; I had to research on the type being offered by the bidders and also to see the advantages of each bidder. The best bidder was to be able to have all the qualifications we had put down and meet all the requirements.
19. Have you ever had to resolve a dispute with a buyer or supplier? What happened?
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1. Yes, the sispute was with the purchase specification where by a supplier had delivered a previous model of a printer and there was an upgrade of the same we had to renegotiate on the purchase price.
2. Yes, when a supplier was not meeting their date lines arguing that they have not been contacted officially. We had to send in official documentation to have the supplier deliver.
20. Give me an example of when you took a risk to achieve a goal. What was the outcome?
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1. I risked to use my money to salvage a situation where a supplier did not deliver and it saved the situation.
2. I took a risk to secure a meeting facility without a Purchase Order (I knew the Purchase Order would be ready soon) and our high profile meeting was time bad and I had to request the providers to let us use the facility and on the other hand I was pushing for the Purchase Order to be processed as the meeting was taking place.
The outcome was fantastic as in by the time the meeting was concluding the Purchase order was already in place.
21. What do you do when you are faced with an obstacle to an important project? Give an example.
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1. Seek possible solution from my line manager example when a supplier exceeds the lead time stipulated.
2. I consider differentways to overcome the obstacle. Like a big event. There are no consultation room or space available for the MEC. I'll use my resources on hand and create a solution for this obstacle.
3. I would seek assistance from experts. When I had to come up with a way of filing our documents I was faced with the challenge of getting all the documents in one place to enable good filing system and I had to request my team members to find a way of locating the documents and availing them for me to file them accordingly.
22. Have you ever had to introduce a policy change to your work group? How did you do it?
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1. Yes I had to introduce the change gradually and later to the whole organization.
2. Yes, by giving each other a task to take care during work time, by selecting team leaders.
3. No. I never had to do that, but if I have to I would first of all get inputs from my work group and consider their inputs before changing the policy.
23. Give two examples of things you've done in previous jobs that demonstrate your willingness to work hard.
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1. Negotiated deals for the organisation and.
2. Worked even while hospitalised and did not let and decision slip.
3. I'm always helping out at other units and are prepared to work outside office hours. I also always meet the deadlines set for me.
24. Describe a time when you made a suggestion to improve the work in your organization.
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1. There is a time when I suggested that instead of giving children food we giv them snacks and the rest of the budget balance we purchase some learning materilas for them.
2. The last improvement suggestion was given 6 months ago. It was about consolidation of adhoc services.
3. During the profiling of the Balelapa War on Poverty families, I created an action plan and divided the officials in groups on how to profile these families.
25. What was your biggest challenge working across departments at your previous/current position?
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1. My biggest challenge was some staff taking too long to react to a problem or issue that is raised.
2. As a store keeper I found it challenging since the users requested for things not found within my custody as they did not include them during departmental annual procurement plan.
3. Other departments requested for goods and materials they never included in their departmental procurement plan that made it difficult in management of store difficult.
26. How would you rate your PC skills? Such as Office, Excel, Word, etc.
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1. Good as I used excel in preparation of the procurement plan, word for writing requisitions and daily file management update.
2. Perfect I used excel and word in preparation of procurement plan.
27. How would you rate your communication skills?
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1. I have excellent communication skills as this can be viewed in on the strong negotiation skills that I have.
2. I cant tell exactly but I have never heard customers and my seniors complain as I strike company deals whenever I am sent to represent the company.
3. Excellent, by striking deals for the organisation.
28. Are you familiar with any ordering software?
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1. Am not familiar with the ERP systems but am sure given a chance I can learn quickly as I am familiar with a payroll system.
2. For now I can say no, but I know given an opportunity I can learn, because we are changing to on line purchasing, previously we used manual systems on ordering for goods.
3. No we used manual ordering procedures but we changing to e- procurement.
29. Are you detail oriented?
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1. Yes, I analyze a problem thoroughly and the possible recommended solutions.
2. Sure ,I do follow procedures when it comes to ordering of goods since we have to use qualified suppliers to deliver goods at a fair price to cut the organisation cost and other laws governing procurement.
3. Yes, by following procedures in purchasing and issue of materials to user department.
30. Give me a few reasons why you are a great hire for our company.
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1. Energetic and productive.
2. I am dedicated, fast learner, great analytical skills, good communication skills, great negotiater.
3. I am a great hire for my company because I have vast experience in this field and I am a fast learner and an asset as I have had various trainings within the company that prepare me well for this position and tasks.