Here are the keywords and skills that appear most frequently on recent Strategic Sourcing Specialist job postings. In other words, these are the most sought after skills by recruiters and hiring managers. Go to Sample Templates ↓ below to see how to include them on your resume.
Remember that every job is different. Instead of including all keywords on your resume, identify those that are most relevant to the job you're applying to. Use the free Targeted Resume tool to help with this.
Does your resume contain all the right skills? Paste in your resume in the AI Resume Scan ↓ section below and get an instant score.
Paste your resume below and our AI will identify which keywords are missing from your resume from the list above (and what you need to include). Including the right keywords will help you get past Applicant Tracking Systems (i.e. resume screeners) which may scan your resume for keywords to see if you're a match for the job.
Go through the Strategic Sourcing Specialist posting you're applying to, and identify hard skills the company is looking for. For example, skills like Supplier Negotiation, Supply Chain Management and Global Sourcing are possible skills. These are skills you should try to include on your resume.
The following word cloud highlights the most popular keywords that appear on Strategic Sourcing Specialist job descriptions. The bigger the word, the more frequently it shows up on employer's job postings. If you have experience with these keywords, include them on your resume.
Here are examples of proven resumes in related jobs and industries, approved by experienced hiring managers. Use them as inspiration when you're writing your own resume. You can even download and edit the resume template in Google Docs.
A strategic sourcing director is a senior-level role that consists of getting the best suppliers and vendors for a particular company. They compare different vendors to spot the ideal match for the company. It must meet the quantity, quality, and price criteria. As a strategic sourcing director, you must reduce costs in the supply chain and maintain a long-term relationship with these vendors. Some skills might set you apart for this role. You must have excellent project management skills as you might develop and follow improvement strategies. You must also have strong communication skills and logical thinking.
You must demonstrate seniority and high-end qualifications in your resume. That’s why it is crucial to include your accomplishments in the industry. When adding your achievements, you can illustrate them with metrics. Quantifying your accomplishments will help you describe your potential. You can mention how you reduced costs or improved the delivery time, etc.
As a strategic sourcing director, you must have some knowledge of basic financials. This is crucial for identifying trends in the market, negotiating with vendors, and managing contracts. When developing your strategic sourcing director resume, talk about your financial skills and the tools you use. Knowledge of financial software is also important.
A strategic sourcing director is responsible for obtaining materials, goods, and supplies for a manufacturing or reselling company. Unlike purchasing managers that work on multiple areas, strategic sourcing directors focus on the procurement process. They must conduct research to find the best suppliers in terms of price, quality, and service. To become a strategic sourcing director, you should have a bachelor’s degree in Finance, Logistics, Economics, or Business. You can also obtain industry-relevant certifications that validate your skills to increase your odds of getting a strategic sourcing director role.
Strategic sourcing directors negotiate with vendors and suppliers to get the best prices and services. In this negotiation, both parties will have to follow contractual terms and conditions. To ensure they both have the best corporate relationship, the strategic sourcing director must understand basic legal regulations and ensure vendors comply with the agreements. That’s why it is crucial to mention your knowledge of contract management in your resume.
Strategic sourcing directors’ main role is to conduct research to find the best vendors and prices. You should be able to interpret and analyze large sets of data to identify the right match. If you want to stand out in your job hunt, indicate your research and analytic skills.
Strategic sourcing managers make data-driven decisions when estimating which supplier is the best match. They evaluate factors that go beyond quality and price, such as relationship risks, the vendor’s reliability, and intangible value. These factors are crucial for the negotiation process because it gives sourcing specialists something to hold onto. Additionally, this role is highly related to finances and administration. You can mention your familiarity with financial operations in your resume.
Strategic sourcing managers are very focused on data-backed decisions. They assess opportunities using valuable data and come up with actionable insights. That’s why research and data analytics are definitely worth mentioning in your resume.
As a strategic sourcing manager, you will often develop reports for stakeholders. This way, they know how supply chain operations are doing and how they can improve them to reduce costs and increase value. Hence, you must be proficient at reporting and data visualization to illustrate your discoveries.
A strategic sourcing manager is a key player in the supply chain management of any organization. Your resume should reflect your ability to strike the best deals with vendors, balancing quality and cost. With companies increasingly implementing sustainable procurement strategies, having a handle on green sourcing is a significant advantage. Tailor your resume to demonstrate how you've effectively navigated these dynamics to optimize a company's procurement process. In our rapidly evolving digital world, data-driven strategies are growing in prominence. As such, proficiency with data analysis tools and techniques is a characteristic many companies are seeking for this role. Your resume should demonstrate how you've leveraged data to make informed sourcing decisions and drive efficiency in the procurement process.
Within a strategic sourcing manager's role, negotiation is a crucial skill. On your resume, provide specific examples of how your exceptional negotiation skills have led to cost savings, improved vendor relationships, or resulted in beneficial contracts for your company.
Data analysis is increasingly becoming a vital part of strategic sourcing. Therefore, outline your familiarity with data analysis tools and experience using data to inform sourcing decisions. Point to specific instances where data-driven strategies have improved procurement processes or resulted in significant cost savings.
This resume template is suitable for experienced hires or mid-level hires. The education contains two examples of an education experiences, but only include one (your most recent one) if you're a senior level employee.
It strikes the right balance between white space and content, and doesn't waste space on unnecessary images and icons. Remember, recruiters aren't looking at how creative you are when it comes to your template. Your content is core and should be the focus.
This job seeker uses resume bullet points that uses strong action verbs, and most importantly, contain numbers that demonstrate the significance of their accomplishments.
This template is clean, readable by resume screeners, and is effective at calling out key accomplishments and projects from specific work experiences. This would be useful if you have been at a company for a while, or been in a consulting-type of role, and want to point hiring managers to your most impressive accomplishments.
Action verbs are important on your resume are vital. They evoke strong imagery to your reader, and this resume does an excellent job by using words such as “spearheaded,” “managed,” and “drove.” These words will help you to put your achievements in perspective, in conjunction with measurable results. Use action verbs relating to the skills you want to highlight.
Many of your accomplishments will involve your responsibilities in your employer's high-level projects. Recruiters want to see what you’ve completed in previous roles -- such as the Operations Improvement Project and new iPhone app launch highlighted in this resume. The numbers make your experience real, rather than a vague “oversaw several teams for a project.” What did you do specifically? Be specific.
The most common skills and keywords we found on Strategic Sourcing Specialist resumes and job postings were Strategic Sourcing, Procurement, Supply Chain Management, Sourcing, Global Sourcing, Contract Negotiation, Supplier Negotiation and Purchasing.
Skills like Lean Manufacturing, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Supply Management, Supplier Relationship Management and Continuous Improvement also appeared on related job postings.
While the keywords above are a good indication of what skills you need on your resume, you should try to find additional keywords that are specific to the job. To do this, use the free Targeted Resume tool. It analyzes the job you are applying to and finds the most important keywords you need on your resume.
It is personalized to your resume, and is the best way to ensure your resume will pass the automated resume filters.
Thank you for the checklist! I realized I was making so many mistakes on my resume that I've now fixed. I'm much more confident in my resume now.
