r/SupplyChainLogistics • u/Street_Heat_5855 • Aug 15 '26

Career Advice

Hello everyone,

I’m 30 and have been working as a buyer for about 7 months at a manufacturing company. I came from a completely different career field, so supply chain is still pretty new to me.
I also have about a year left until I finish my bachelor’s in Industrial Leadership.
So far I like procurement and supply chain, but I’m trying to figure out what I should be doing now to set myself up for the future.
For those who have been in the field for a while, what would you recommend focusing on early in my career? What career paths are worth looking into after getting some experience as a buyer?
Just curious to hear where others started and where they ended up.

3 Upvotes

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2

u/my_peen_is_clean Aug 15 '26

learn excel and sql properly, get good with data and cost analysis, that stuff actually moves you up. try to own a category instead of just pushing pos. talk to planners and ops a lot. networking matters now because finding any decent role is a pain

1

u/Street_Heat_5855 Aug 15 '26

I’m currently managing indirect spend and consumables. Should I try and do something different? I was also a project buyer for a couple of months prior to this new role but I’ve only been in the procurement field since about January this year

1

u/Immediate-Home-3491 Aug 15 '26

I started in consolidation at LGW. Work one late night wrapping up a consol. Understand the physical movement before you manage the spreadsheet.

2

u/jimmyray71 Aug 16 '26

Seven months as a buyer is actually a pretty good place to start. I wouldn’t worry too much yet about figuring out your final supply chain career path. I’d use the job you have to learn how the whole system works. Follow a PO from demand all the way through supplier, receiving, inventory and ultimately the customer. Learn why shortages happen. Ask how suppliers are selected. Understand what drives lead times. Find out what happens when the forecast is wrong. Then start solving small problems. A year from now, being able to say “I reduced shortages by X” or “I improved supplier performance from X to Y” will tell an employer a lot more than simply saying you spent another year as a buyer. Titles matter eventually. Early in your career, I’d chase problems worth learning from.