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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3323

Buyers

Buyers buy goods and services for use or resale on behalf of industrial, commercial, government or other establishments and organizations. Tasks include - (a) determining or negotiating contract terms and conditions, awarding supplier contracts or recommending contract awards for the purchase of equipment, raw materials, products, services and merchandise for resale; (b) obtaining information about requirements and stock and developing specifications for quantity and quality to be purchased, costs, delivery dates and other contract conditions; (c) purchasing general and specialized equipment, materials or business services for use or for further processing by their establishment; (d) inviting tenders, consulting with suppliers and reviewing quotations; (e) purchasing merchandise for resale by retail or wholesale establishments; (f) studying market reports, trade periodicals and sales promotion materials and visiting trade shows, showrooms, factories and product design events; (g) selecting the merchandise or products that best fit the establishment’s requirements; (h) interviewing suppliers and negotiating prices, discounts, credit terms and transportation arrangements; (i) overseeing distribution of merchandise to outlets and maintaining adequate stock levels; (j) establishing delivery schedules, monitoring progress and contacting clients and suppliers to resolve problems. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Buyer - Procurement officer - Purchasing agent - Purchasing merchandiser - Supply officer Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Commodities broker - 3324

A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't. It ranks 326 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • purchaser
  • timber trader
  • costume buyer
  • set buyer

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

60.6
Holds up
against AI Minimal Exposure

AI could take on 39.4 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 39.4 = 60.6

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

18.3
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs

11.3
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 11.9 · hand skill 6 · cramped spaces 16.1 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 18.3 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 50.5, while the average is 39.4. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 50.5

    Obtaining information about requirements and stock and developing specifications for quantity and quality to be purchased, costs, delivery dates and other contract conditions

    Medium
  2. 49

    Establishing delivery schedules, monitoring progress and contacting clients and suppliers to resolve problems.

    Low
  3. 48

    Purchasing merchandise for resale by retail or wholesale establishments

    Low
  4. 43

    Selecting the merchandise or products that best fit the establishment's requirements

    Low
  5. 40

    Studying market reports, trade periodicals and sales promotion materials and visiting trade shows, showrooms, factories and product design events

    Low
  6. 36.5

    Inviting tenders, consulting with suppliers and reviewing quotations

    Low
  7. 35.5

    Determining or negotiating contract terms and conditions, awarding supplier contracts or recommending contract awards for the purchase of equipment, raw materials, products, services and merchandise for resale

    Low
  8. 35

    Purchasing general and specialized equipment, materials or business services for use or for further processing by their establishment

    Low
  9. 31.5

    Interviewing suppliers and negotiating prices, discounts, credit terms and transportation arrangements

    Low
  10. 25

    Overseeing distribution of merchandise to outlets and maintaining adequate stock levels

    Low

10 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

1 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
67
AI does it for you
40

Helping wins by 27 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 6392, 6399

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.5. This one is below that.