Become a buyer.

Verified courses for each skill the job asks for, from providers you can check.

About the job

What does a buyer do?

Buyers purchase the goods and services the company needs for its operations.

The duties include identifying and analysing needs, searching for and evaluating suppliers, and negotiating prices and agreements. Buyers manage and follow up the purchasing process from order to delivery, optimise the purchasing flow to reduce costs and improve efficiency, and analyse market trends to anticipate pricing. The role also includes looking after relationships with existing suppliers and working with different parts of the organisation to make sure that purchasing supports the company's goals and competitiveness.

Source: Swedish Public Employment Service occupation data (JobTech Taxonomy), Inköpare och upphandlare, SSYK 3323. Translated by True Upskill.

A buyer purchases the goods and services the organisation needs, evaluates suppliers and negotiates prices and agreements. This page lists over 70 courses from over 20 providers, arranged by the skills the Swedish Public Employment Service says the job asks for. Over 10 programmes carry the job title or a close one in their name, and they come first on the page.

The whole way

Programmes that lead to the job

Skill

Public procurement

Procurement regulationsSustainable procurement
Skill

Purchasing and category management

Purchasing experienceCategory managementPurchasing law
Skill

Negotiation and agreements

Negotiation experienceDrafting agreements and contracts
↗
Lexicon IT-Proffs AB
Lexicon IT-Proffs AB

Successful Negotiation Technique

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
Snacka Snyggt
Snacka Snyggt

Förhandlingsteknik

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
IFI AB
IFI AB

Certified IT Contract Strategist

LeadershipSwedish
↗
Lexicon IT-Proffs AB
Lexicon IT-Proffs AB

Successful Negotiation

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
Kunskapsgruppen
Kunskapsgruppen

Förhandlingsteknik

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
EFL Executive Education
EFL Executive Education

Negotiation technique

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
Astrakan
Astrakan

Negotiation technique

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
Lexicon IT-Proffs AB
Lexicon IT-Proffs AB

Advanced Negotiation Techniques

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
KEF - Kommualekonomernas förening
KEF - Kommualekonomernas förening

Development agreements, contract law and VA

Compliance & GDPRSwedish
↗
IHM Business School
IHM Business School

Negotiation Techniques, Basic

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
IHM Business School
IHM Business School

Negotiation Techniques, Advanced

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
IHM Business School
IHM Business School

IHM Successful Negotiation

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
IFI AB
IFI AB

IT Contracts: How Do We Write Secure Contracts?

IT & TechSwedish
↗
IFI AB
IFI AB

SLA: The Right Service Levels and Quality Requirements in the IT Contract

IT & TechSwedish
↗
Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie

Elof Hansson Effective Negotiation Technique

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
Lexicon IT-Proffs AB
Lexicon IT-Proffs AB

Fortsättningskurs i förhandlingsteknik

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie

Nordea Effective Negotiation Techniques

HR & PeopleSwedish
↗
Lexicon IT-Proffs AB
Lexicon IT-Proffs AB

Communication and Negotiation

Marketing & CommunicationSwedish
↗
Informator Utbildning
Informator Utbildning

Negotiation in Projects

IT & TechSwedishOn site
↗
Nackademin
Nackademin

Course PC20 Business acumen and negotiation

VocationalSwedish
Skill

Supply chain and logistics

LogisticsImport knowledge

What language are the courses taught in?

The catalog records a teaching language for 7 of them, and 7 of those are Swedish. None is recorded as taught in English.

The rest record no language at all, so the course page, and then the provider, is where to settle it.

The catalog shows only what providers have filled in themselves. Where the field is empty the course card says nothing rather than guess. A Swedish course name says nothing certain about the teaching language either.

Which programmes lead all the way to buyer?

Over 10 programmes carry the job title or a close one in their name, and they come first on the page.

The titles here are buyer (inköpare) and procurement officer (upphandlare), which the Swedish Public Employment Service counts in the same occupational group. A procurement officer usually works in the public sector, where purchasing follows the Swedish public procurement act. The course page tells you how long the programme runs and how it is delivered.

What skills does a buyer need?

The Swedish Public Employment Service occupation data lists, among others, purchasing experience, category management, purchasing law, procurement regulations, sustainable procurement, negotiation experience and logistics. The courses on this page are arranged in four skill areas after them.

Negotiation has its own heading because it is needed on both sides of a deal. The courses there are about negotiation technique in general, and those written explicitly for salespeople are on the page for B2B salespeople.

Who provides the purchasing courses?

Over 20 providers offer at least one course on this page. The largest are NBI/Handelsakademin (8 courses), IHM Business School (7) and Lexicon IT-Proffs AB (6).

Every provider puts its own name on every certificate it issues, and the name on the course card leads to the provider page.

How were the courses on this page chosen?

The skills come from the Swedish Public Employment Service occupation data, which describes what the job asks for. Under each skill are the courses in the catalog whose name is about that skill, and each course appears under one heading.

Matches are read from the course title and not from the provider description, because a description mentions much that the course is not about. A word counts only where it starts a word in the title, and titles that only resemble the subject are excluded by name.

A heading with no courses is not shown, and the list is never filled out with courses that do not belong. The counts change when the catalog does, because every figure is read from the catalog when the page is shown.

Are the courses online or on site?

The catalog records a format for 7 of the courses here: 2 online and 5 on site. Over 60 courses record no format.

Where the provider has filled in the format it is on the course card. Where it is empty, the provider is the person to ask.

Do the courses qualify for Swedish student finance (CSN)?

Over 10 courses here belong to vocational college (yrkeshögskola), and the rest are shorter courses from commercial providers and industry bodies.

Student finance from CSN belongs to vocational college and other regulated forms of education. Whether a course is open for applications, what it costs and when it next starts are questions for the provider.

What does a verified certificate prove?

That the provider named on the certificate issued it to the person named on it, and that an employer can check it directly with the provider.

Together they have issued over 2,000 certificates. Over 40 courses have issued at least one, and the rest have not issued any yet.

Sources

Where these numbers come from.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about the job

How do you become a buyer?
Through a programme that leads to the job, often at a vocational college, or through experience in logistics, finance or sales topped up with courses in purchasing and negotiation. This page lists whole programmes first and then courses by skill.
What is the difference between a buyer and a procurement officer?
Both belong to the same occupational group. A procurement officer usually works in the public sector and follows the rules for public procurement, while a buyer more often works in a company.
Which occupational group does buyer belong to?
In the Swedish Public Employment Service occupation data the job belongs to the group Inköpare och upphandlare (buyers and procurement officers), SSYK 3323.
What do the courses cost?
Prices are not in the catalog, because providers do not supply them to us. Every course page links on to the provider, who answers on price and the next start date.
Why are there no ratings on the courses?
We do not collect reviews, and ratings without a basis would be made up. The only measure on the page is the number of certificates issued, which is a count and not a judgement.
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