Vendor Management Resume: Guide With Examples & Key Skills

Table of Contents

Vendor management is a wide-ranging profession that encompasses many roles—from determining requirements and setting up efficient procurement processes, to building relationships and maintaining high service standards.

This guide will show you how to write a vendor management resume that maximizes the value of your soft and hard skills and shows the recruiters you’re the optimal choice for their needs.

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Vendor Management Resume Example

Cory Parks

Senior Vendor Manager

325-365-6272

cory.parks@email.com

linkedin.com/in/cory.parks87

Summary

A detail-oriented vendor manager with over 10 years of experience and a proven track record of outstanding contract negotiations. Defined Interdeal’s vendor strategy, saving the company $1M annually. Successfully managed vendor relationships at Traden, uncovering hidden opportunities and superior pricing conditions. Eager to join Amazon’s procurement initiatives to drive continual service improvement for all strategic vendors and bring direct impact on revenue and profitability.

Work Experience

Senior Vendor Manager

Interdeal, Phoenix, AZ

May 2016–Present

Key Responsibilities:

Leading all aspects of vendor activities, including contracts, licenses, performance reviews, etc.
Performing audits and finding discrepancies and inefficiencies (reduced costs by 5-25%.)
Managing relationships to ensure the best deals across the field, 100% uninterrupted procurement, and lasting vendor partnerships.

Key Achievement:

Developing overall company strategy and researching initiatives to achieve maximum cost efficiency and top quality of service (Interdeal named Top Service Provider 5 years in a row.)

Vendor Manager

Traden, Sedona, AZ

August 2012–April 2016

Key Responsibilities:

Assessed product lines and services, identifying over 50 new business opportunities.
Built and maintained quality relationships with external vendors, negotiating better offers and pricing (up to 20% lower prices than industry peers).
Monitored trends, ensuring data-driven choices to eliminate risks.

Key Achievement:

Saved Traden over $300,000 by finding better vendors and establishing bonds and agreement negotiations.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Supply Chain Management

Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

September 2009–July 2012

Skills

Planning & strategy
Dashboarding
Microsoft Suite
Excellent communication & negotiation skills
Vendor relationship management
Multitasking
Decision-making
Problem-solving

Certifications

Certified Regulatory Vendor Program Manager (CRVPM®), CEI, 2016

Languages

Spanish—Minimum working proficiency

How to Write a Vendor Management Resume

The following steps will guide you through writing a resume for vendor management positions:

Select a format for your resume that emphasizes your strong suits. Choose between the following:

Reverse-chronological resume format (classic).
Functional resume format (based on skills).
Combination resume format (a hybrid of the two).

Create a resume outline or choose a resume template for efficiency. Remember to:

Pick a sophisticated resume font; use bold type for readability and visible headings for structure.
Set standard resume margins (1 inch) and 1–1.5 space between lines for enough white space. Left-align.

Make sure to include the mandatory resume sections:

Add your contact information to the resume header, along with your job title.
Write a strong resume summary to deliver the essential details of your career to the recruiter right away. Resumes for entry-level positions call for an objective instead of a summary.
Include relevant experience only as you’re crafting the Work Experience section—your resume should be tailored carefully to the job ad.
Describe education briefly (ongoing education can go in a separate section of your vendor management resume).
Decide which key skills are worth featuring.
Use extra details on your resume to highlight certifications or licenses, additional training, memberships, etc. That also works great for mentioning language proficiency on your resume.
Double-check if you’ve included the right resume keywords to make your resume ATS-friendly. Check for errors. Download as a PDF to ensure all devices display the document properly.

For a more detailed breakdown of all the resume sections listed above, have a look at our comprehensive guide: How to Write a Resume for Any Job

Pro Tip: Contemplating whether a resume alone is enough? Don’t take your chances. Learn how to write a good cover letter to match your vendor management resume and send out both for a rock-solid job application.

Key Skills to Add to Your Vendor Management Resume

It might seem that an ideal resume for vendor management would rely on hard skills above all, but soft skills and transferable skills are equally important. This job involves a lot of interaction with other people, so strong interpersonal skills are a deciding factor for successful employment, along with more technical qualifications.

Here are the top 10 skills any vendor manager should consider for their resume:

Business analysis/analytical skills
Procurement
Excellent communication skills
Collaboration skills
Building partnerships and relationships/networking
Negotiation/problem-solving skills
Being detail-oriented
Risk management
Adaptability
Multitasking

Pro Tip: If you’re not sure about which skills to put on your resume for vendor management, don’t hesitate to go back to the job description. While the expected skills may not be stated explicitly, the responsibilities should prompt you on the necessary skills that are required to do the job well.

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