The job interview is not an interrogation. However, it is better to be prepared to answer all the questions that you may be asked. To do this, sharpen your arguments, always thinking about the position you are aiming for. Whatever the exact wording of the question, recruiters always lead you on the same grounds: studies, background, experience, skills, suitability for the position, motivation, and personality. That is why we prepared the top 30 vendor management interview questions. This article can help you prepare for your interview methodically, leaving nothing to chance and finding answers that show you are a good fit for the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Effective vendor management optimizes a company’s value chain by transparently comparing vendors. The aim is to build up and maintain a permanent base of vendors who stand for continuity, performance, and delivery readiness. Vendor management refers to the sum of all measures that make it possible to develop, manufacture and procure products more efficiently, better, faster, and more cost-effectively through better cooperation with vendors and their upstream vendors. This definition makes it clear that it is not just the strategic procurement process that benefits from the software. But the entire company can and should improve its competitive position in the long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a wide range of instruments, tools, and methods to manage vendors effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to specialist knowledge and industry knowledge, certain characteristics, skills, and competencies are required:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even if the core team of a vendor management department has the required qualifications, the question arises as to how success is defined. Good employees often place high demands on leadership and remuneration. Appropriate instruments such as target agreements are required here. It cannot always be a profit-sharing factor in the conclusion of a favorable contract when viewed from the perspective of a total cost of ownership (TCO). A vendor should bring in about five to seven times their job costs. And not just about negotiating successes when concluding contracts. The successful work of vendor management also includes minimizing running costs, creating security of supply with simultaneous flexibility, and constant monitoring of core vendors and vendor markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Good vendor management documents transparently and gives its internal customers timely information about important dates. They actively inform other parts of the company about new contracts and their validity, so that, for example, subsidiaries can also take advantage of favorable deals. If this follow-up is not carried out or not carried out carefully, there is a risk of duplication of work and higher procurement costs. Vendor management is then included in delivery monitoring (daily business) if there are significant changes to content, quantities, dates, or prices that are beyond the contractual agreements. It is their responsibility to redefine the factual and content framework with the supplied departments and to protect the company’s interests towards the vendor. If a vendor is noticed due to declining quality, defects, or circumstances relevant to liability, fast and smooth cooperation with the purchasing department is a prerequisite for reacting adequately as early as possible and averting damage to your company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Core vendors are particularly important for the company’s success because the delivery volume is high or there is a strong dependency on the vendor products. The dependency means a risk for the company and makes vendor management and risk management necessary. Essential delivery parameters are regularly collected, reported back, and improved. Qualified risk management in connection with vendors is also crucial. Purchasing can determine which risks are involved in terms of content together with specialist departments using checklists. In the next step, good purchasing will link the possible consequences of the occurrence of a risk with its probability of occurrence, for example with portfolio techniques, to identify the main fields of action. An overall entrepreneurial approach then leads to optimal hedging of the identified risks in terms of costs. It is a management decision whether money is subsequently taken to take out insurance, to set up a second vendor alongside a monopolist, or to adapt needs by changing the product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vendors’ evaluation is performed using transparent criteria throughout the procurement process. We differentiate between different vendor classes, performance dimensions, and phases, which result in a final rating. In the target\/actual comparison, we evaluate the deliveries and services provided about the contractually agreed agreements – qualified vendors within a product group are evaluated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of the evaluation, the vendors are divided into classes. The scope of the evaluation varies depending on the vendor class. We evaluate quality, costs, and deadlines along the entire procurement process – from the offer, delivery, and service phase to the product trial phase. The result of the vendor evaluation is a rating with the following gradations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vendor evaluation criteria are the individual building blocks of your purchasing performance – your vendors receive the money for this. You have to decide which performance components you want to evaluate and whether you also want to weigh them. If there are more than ten evaluation criteria, clarity and practicality are lost. If you can get by with seven or even just five criteria, that is ideal. The seven most common criteria for vendor evaluation in practice are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Start purchasing initiatives. If you challenge your vendors properly they will deliver top performance – i.e. more than usual. Do not leave it up to the vendors to define the content of the business relationship on their own. The same applies to purchasing: Standing still is a step backward! Most medium-sized companies have no other choice because the demands from their customers are there and will not decrease in the future either. It is practically unavoidable, that the purchasing department is formally forced to pass on the demands of their customers to the vendors. Some customer requirements can only be met with the help of sub-vendors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, no purchasing department can be satisfied with the average performance of its vendors. This raises the question of how you can find new, high-performance top vendors quickly, safely, and cost-effectively, nationally and worldwide. Medium-sized purchasing departments have to review and expand their procurement radius. Modern companies use current market information to monitor and motivate their regular vendors and thus ensure the best know-how and top conditions. At the same time, you noticeably reduce the purchasing costs through professional vendor market exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finding new vendors is one thing. Selecting the right vendors is another. The starting point for effective vendor selection is a company-specific vendor requirement profile. There it is described in detail which specific requirements the “ideal vendor” should meet in terms of quality standards, quality reliability, adherence to deadlines and quantities, prices and costs, service and reliability as well as additional services. A clear picture of these points is the prerequisite for a functioning vendor selection and evaluation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I like the practice of vendor awards. Achievements are evaluated and rewarded. It is the same in sport as it is in business. There are winners and losers. Evaluate your vendors systematically and regularly. Determine which vendor belongs on the podium and which vendor does not. It is very motivating for vendors to receive an award in front of the entire team on a vendor day. The vendor award always works. The main advantages of a vendor award are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vendor management software has gained enormous importance for purchasing departments from all industries and today represents one of the most important components for maintaining the competitiveness of companies. With vendor management software, you can proactively counter risks such as delivery bottlenecks and thus prevent delays or missing deliveries from causing damage. The success of using vendor management software can be seen directly in faster market access, more innovative processes and products, cost-reducing and goal-oriented selection of vendors and materials, and last but not least in falling error costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vendor management software allows to access all vendor data quickly and, thanks to the clear presentation, captures all important information at a glance. This makes it easier for you to monitor costs and make decisions that increase profitability. Intelligent algorithms make your work easier by recognizing and aggregating related data so you can quickly access the information you need without having to compile it yourself. In addition, vendor management software offers you simplified and accelerated communication, as it optimizes processes through automatisms and thus reduces the communication effort. The time and money spent on searching for errors in the processes and flows of goods are also reduced to a minimum, which frees up time for processing tasks that are relevant to decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n