Conversations and Revelations With Amy

I am very interested in what other Buyers look for in a company or a job. I was just thinking that when I first started out in the mid 90’s, I got a job with a large well known company. They were great and offered training and help with getting certified. They really looked within the company to groom people to move into new positions.  I remember being thrilled to have my own desk and computer. However, the computer was mostly for emails and spreadsheets. It was a different time and although on the verge of great technology, companies were not exposed yet to the capabilities of doing business in custom applications.  Oracle had not swept through in all of its glory yet.

I was doing buying and planning from computer generated print outs. We would keep track of many things in spreadsheets and email them around.

My next job was for a software company and we were creating po’s in an excel spreadsheet and saving the files. Like I said, technology had not knocked down every door yet at this time. This brings me to what I find I really love and a lesson now that I have learned from.  Working with a company that has a good MRP and/or custom Oracle application is what gives the buyer the functionality to do great work.

After I had worked at companies that had these extensive, tracking, reporting, inventory and MRp systems in place..there was no going back. This would seem to be the norm now and that is a good thing. However I have interviewed at places that were still kind of piecing things together and had not really got on board with the absolute necessity of these kinds of applications. This is essential to me and is a red flag when interviewing a potential employer. So many things can slip through the cracks and make for a ton of record keeping on your part if you must make do with spreadsheets and printouts.

So that is my lesson learned.