What the pros say

Wendy, purchasing and inventory clerk for a Toronto supermarket

 
Counting, adding, subtracting. . . the work of purchasing and inventory clerks often involves number-crunching to do.

When an order comes in, Wendy, a purchasing and inventory clerk in a Toronto supermarket, counts and checks the products in the store and those that have just arrived by comparing them to a specific list. "After warehousing, if all the stock could not be put on the shelves, we put what's left over in the backstore," she specifies. The purpose of this exercise is for supply to perfectly match customer demand.

"Inventory levels and orders have to be managed. We have to avoid surpluses, because if we get too much of something, we have to liquidate it after a week or two. It's a loss," explains Wendy.

With one to two orders a week, Wendy works full time. "Being fast is very important in this job, and on a daily basis, you have to pay attention to sales and products that are short, and be able to analyze the whole thing to know what to order." Proficiency in accounting databases and analytics is an asset for this line of work.

This type of job can usually be obtained following a contract as a floor clerk, which allows you to get to know the store and the products better.