r/supplychain

I’m 27 with about a year of supply chain experience and currently finishing my MBA.
I have two options:
Option 1: $78K + 12.5% bonus, Manager title (not necessarily managing a team but managing accounts/clients with retailers), 3 days WFH, good benefits/culture. No clear timeline to reach $90K.
Option 2: $90K + up to 15% bonus, Supply Chain Analyst title, fully onsite. They want to develop me into a Supply Chain Manager, but it could take 1–2 years.
My previous title was Associate Replenishment Manager.
Would you take the Manager title and flexibility, or the extra $12K and broader supply chain experience? Would going from Associate Manager → Analyst hurt my career progression?

Hello everyone, as per the title, wanted to seek everyone opinion and advise on this? Appreciate any advice and help on topic?

Context & Pipeline

Role: Global Commodity Manager (High-Layer PCB / Electronics) at a Fortune 500 Tech OEM.

My Background: Multi-industry sourcing & procurement (semiconductor equipment, large-scale consumer goods/retail, etc.). Strong core purchasing skills, but not a 10-year domain specialist in this exact commodity line.

Recruiter Screen: Passed through after framing my adjacent hardware and multi-industry purchasing experience.

HM Round (Tough): HM grilled me on domain-specific market dynamics and specs. I missed a few technical questions, and HM noted he expected deeper category research.

Follow-Up: Sent a 24-hr follow-up analyzing high-layer PCB dynamics (tier-1 suppliers, yield drivers, SE Asia ramp risks) while applying his communication feedback.

Outcome: HM gave a green light! Now heading to Round 3: In-person Onsite with the Director (HM's boss).

Questions for the Community

1. Is a Director Onsite usually the final loop? Or do major tech OEMs typically follow this with cross-functional panels or VP approvals?

2. Director Expectations: What is the main shift from HM to Director? Is it strictly strategic vision, TCO, and risk management, or do Directors still probe deep into technical commodity mechanics?

3. I have leverage & framing myself as a "Fast Learner": As I have switch industries across my career and was able to quickly adapt to the new industry, should I continue to leverage this for the 3rd round or how do I best leverage my fast learning curve to make up for this lack of technical expertise in domain knowledge?

4. Onsite Tips: Any specific high-level frameworks or topics I should make sure to hit in-person?

It's unbelievable that I managed to get to the 3rd round after the 2nd round interview with the HM. In order not to squander this opportunity, I really appreciate any help in giving me some advise and tips on how to approach this.

Thank you in advance!

I’m currently working at a full time job as a team lead for a Pretty decent size manufacturing company over the paint line which interacts with shipping all day will this experience be a good stepping stone for future employers..Also would staying team lead look as good as a internship would look just curious on what steps to do.
Also I’m currently in school full time for a Bachelors in SCM

Can anyone please help - I’m facing that age old problem:

We’ve got bins and bins of labelled garage items. There is a sign out process and most guys mean well, but we nevertheless incur A LOT of lost / unaccounted for use, which we’re only able to flag when we do a full garage inventory count every other week (time consuming!)

Has anyone found a working solution? We’ve explored QR codes to help facilitate the sign out process but we’d need a few months to really roll this out properly. Plus several of our guys are not super tech-savvy, so there would be some deep cultural change.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Soo i was a trucker but i always wonder how dispatching work or basically anything inside the warehouse work so i did worked in a warehouse material handler but i saw no progress and tbh i never asked question since the dispatcher where always in a bad mood or busy. I have been told that we dont need a degree for it to just applied. The results werent that great i was always being denied since i had no experience even though i would tell them im a fast learner. fast foward i gave up and went to security just to go back to college, heres the thing i am interested in logistics and supply chain but also in psychology. Also my family wants to open a trucking company but we have no knowledge for dispatch or brokers or anything logistic (half my family are truckers) i was giving the option to get certified in dispatching and broker and to learn basically imports and exports. My advisor suggested to tried it out if i do like it i can keep going and get my degree if i dont like it im still going to get certifications and some knowledge for my family business and then focused on the degree im interested. Is this good path to take? Or am i just going to waste time when i just couldve kept applying until someone would give me a chance?

First off, I know I am basically asking someone to give away their golden goose if anyone actually has this but after a few weeks of trying on my own, I figured I would ask the experts.

Has anyone found any reliable sources of Part-Time/Side work?

My work schedule is pretty lax, I am only in office 1 or 2 days a month. I would like to pick up some part time work, relevant to SC, to make some extra cash and to hopefully get some exposure to things I don't normally get to work on.

I look on all of the normal job boards but it has mostly just led to a bunch of spam calls and messages from scammers who think they can trick people into thinking a job offer only available on WhatsApp is legit.

Hello. I am a buyer/planner for a billion dollar company. Wanted to get the thoughts and opinions of others in the industry about my job functions/responsibilities as I feel they fall outside of the scope of my job title. Apart from the standard demand planning responsibilities, I am currently being tasked with:

-standing up MRP as a department for the first time. This includes technical setup, submitting a BRD, doing UAT to ensure it is working, communicating with IT regularly on pain points and providing solutioning to IT (they are unhelpful at times) which usually involves just accepting manual work-arounds/deviations. This feels more like a business analyst task. Never heard a buyer do this.

-standing up direct purchasing as a department. Again this involves the same technical implementation as above, which I feel is out of scope of a usual buyer/planner understanding. How many of you came into a role where that all was already set up? We rely on another team to procure for us and communicate requirements manually through spreadsheets. My leadership wants to change that and have tasked me with driving all technical implementation despite my limited experience.

-extracting raw data from ERP system to determine demand and inform forecasting. We have no tools or resources (such as IBM planning or even a data/analytics department) to provide this. No dashboards to automate data extraction. Prone to user error and again feels like most companies have resources for this. Other departments within my company use these tools but for whatever reason we don’t.

-standing up global supply network system. Implementing MRP then using it to globally align on planning, even though many of our subsidiaries operate outside of our ERP system. I am aware that entire global supply network planning teams exist for this yet I am solely responsible. The company has a SNP team yet we are not leveraging them for support.

-warehouse footprint planning. Working with engineering to determine volume/envelope size of new product to inform warehouse holdings requirements of the finished goods materials I will eventually purchase. Again, in a billion dollar company, is this not what a logistics team is there for?

-manufacturing line holdings. Determining how many components each drawer on a line can hold to inform how much of each component I should procure to fill the drawer; aren’t there engineers or others who would have more knowledge in this? Additionally this is for a line that I am not onsite at. How would I do this virtually? Doesn’t feel like a buyer planner task.

I am tasked with doing all of this while making around 80k/year in a HCOL area. There is only one other person on my team and while they are paid the same amount as I do (I saw the salary range when they were hired) because they are newer they are not being tasked with any of these complex projects. I feel like many of these process improvement projects are something a senior level/supervisor/manager should be handling and I definitely feel like I am not being paid for the level of work, and because I have proven myself I am now the go to for any random work that my manager can’t/wont assign to anyone else. Other departments within our company have these resources but i am being tasked to do all these multiple different job functions because our team is smaller.

Can anyone provide insight or thoughts based on their experience? Thanks!!

Having recently been laid off from my CPG role what's the best strategy for vetting prospective employers? I know some red flags are obvious, but for others there's sometimes less information available online. Suffice to say - in this economy, you truly don't know what you might be walking into (SMH).

Would love to hear any strategies you use. Is there a guide or checklist you generally run through before applying to or accepting a role?

sorry in advance if this has already been discussed here.

Hey everyone,

I stumbled upon a job opening for a sourcing agent at a F500 company. Besides the job description, I was hoping someone here would be willing to share their opinions, exp., and advice regarding the role. Is it something worth pursuing? Is it a dead-end? Is the WLB & salary excellent or are there more cons?

Currently, I'm a transportation ops. manager at a freight company, but ideally, I'd like to pivot elsewhere eventually. I have a B.S. in MIS, but the IT role I held previously only supported my view that it's not for me.

Thanks!

We're at that awkward stage where the old system isn't completely broken, but it's becoming a pain to work with. Every change seems to uncover another dependency, and some of the integrations are so old that nobody wants to mess with them.

We're starting to look at modernization, but we're not sure whether to replace everything, gradually modernize it, or bring in an experienced partner to help us figure it out.

For those who've been through this, what worked for you?

I have an opportunity to join this role. It's around construction procurement. Any insights will be helpful! Thanks

Hi, I’m sure variations of this question have been asked as nauseam, but I’m not sure what to do

I’m going back to school to get another bachelors (have a useless liberal arts degree). I’m really interested in the supply chain field, but i was also thinking about getting an accounting degree as it’s more versatile. Basically I’ve been told an accounting degree can do just about anything in finance/supply chain, but supply chain or other finance degrees can’t do accounting

I’m mildly interested in some accounting careers, but not sure if that’s what I’d want to do. I’m much more interested in procurement or supply chain analyst positions

My question though is how difficult would it be to break into the industry from this angle? I’m going to school online while i work full time (i work in the events industry), so i won’t be able to get an internship or anything like that

And I’m aware the job markets rough across the board so I’m not expecting to walk into a cushy gig, but I’m also not going to not go all out for it. Thanks!

Good morning,

I registered to do CPIM for what was supposed to start I believe this month, but got pushed back due to not enough enrollees. Invoices were supposed to go out August 10th, with final payment due by the 27th. However, I have not gotten an invoice yet, and curious if someone might be able to answer how that process goes? Should I maybe wait a little longer? Can make the payment the second I can, but no idea how to approach it.

Thanks!

So I was thinking of pursuing green belt certification from IASSC after doing my internship. I am currently doing MBA and have past work experience in my family business as operations executive. Do you think it is wise decision will it help me getting a proper job? I know it will not guarantee me a job but will it be a strong bargaining chip in my arsenal at this point plz advice me

We have a few old integrations that are becoming a real headache. Documentation is limited, the people who built them are gone, and even small changes can break something else.

At what point do you stop fixing them and start thinking about replacing or modernizing them?

my sister is currently a senior buyer for a large industrial manufacturer. 52yo. USA. GA bound. Currently hybrid and interviewed for a supply chain order manager role at a health care manufacturing company. college degree in health care administration. lean six sigma green belt in healthcare. pmp certificate. CPSM.

has over 15 yrs of experience in current role. company offered her a base of $80,000. exempt. with incentive comp. she would responsible for over 20 direct reports because there is no supervisor, lead or sme. she would be considered all of the above and would report to the director of supply chain management. it's hybrid - 3 days in office. medical, dental, vision, life insurance, long term and short term disability, 104 PTO hours per year that combines vacation and sick time. tuition assistance. and 401k match up to 6%. paid parking because it's in a downtown area.

i feel like this a low offer for the amount of direct reports and areas of responsibility. she said she would also have to support inventory management annually - specifically inventory reconciliation.

i have friends that are buyers that make over $100,000 with no direct reports and don't have to provide support to other departments and have no certifications just your basic 4 yr degree. this just feels low especially with her relevant industry certifications.

I've been thinking about how much supplier decisions come down to things other than price, especially when the material or component is critical to production.

If two suppliers are offering basically the same product, but one is slightly more expensive while being much more consistent with lead times, documentation, and product quality, how much of a premium would you realistically accept?

I imagine this matters even more for raw materials where batch consistency or a late delivery can create bigger problems downstream.

Curious what usually matters most in practice for people here. Reliability, communication, quality, lead time, payment terms, or something else?

Hi Everyone,

A recent graduate here, blessed with a Job offer after month of graduating.

Job title consist of Store Officer + Runner, these include Warehouse operations and 2nd as vendor/procurement co-ordination

Company = Home Appliances.

What advice would you like to give me? I look forward for seniors to reply.

Thank you in advance.