Purchasing Assistant

**Basics**

**Standard Hours**: 15-20 hours/week, 3 or 4 days/week (Mon to Fri), 100% flexible hours (between 09:00 & 17:00)

**Base Location**: Suite 5, Highland House, Mayflower Close, Chandlers Ford, Hampshire, SO53 4AR, UK. (Currently, most of our team are working from home, and we expect a high degree of flexible working to remain in place in future)

**Who Are We?**

From the outside, we look like just another run of the mill, small-ish IT service provider (MSP) taking care of IT at other small organisations. And maybe we are. But instead of me giving you all the reasons I think we are great, I asked our team why someone would want to come and join us, and why you might not like working here. This is what they said:
**Reasons To Work At Vermont**
- Sense of purpose - clear understanding of how my role ties into our big goals as a company, and how that impacts on my careers
- Focus on quality
- Respect, camaraderie, warmth of character
- Everyone's view is valued, creative conflict is encouraged, we are blunt for good reasons
- Work hard so we don't have to work hard - continuously improvement culture means we don't keep solving the same problems
- Drive, success and accountability aren't top-down - we all do this for each other
- Long term view - here for the future
- No secrets, transparent leadership, we know what our problems are and what success looks like
- Flexible working with WFH setups provided
- Profit-sharing agreement
- Fun is important, we don't take ourselves too seriously
- We are a pretty ordinary bunch of people who achieve great results together

**Why You Might Not Like Working At Vermont**
- Small team with a flat management structure - no ladders to climb, career growth only comes as the company grows
- Roles are defined and structured - you won't be doing anything else
- We don't spend much time in the office currently - you need to enjoy working at home
- Our success culture and daily/weekly working rhythm might be alien to others
- You will be expected to get involved in making the company better, you can't just buy some parts and be done
- We are all confident in our abilities, but we don't have room for big egos. If the team wins, we all win
- Documentation of your work is non-negotiable
- Ability to manage your time and priorities effectively rather than just wait for who is shouting loudest
- There are no kingdoms - we work together to achieve our goals
- There is no room to hide - the team expects our colleagues to commit and perform well

**What Sort Of Person Are We Looking For**

We are looking for a purchasing assistant with experience to join our growing team. Ideally, you will have worked in a customer service facing role setting and managing expectations, and good documentation, are of utmost importance. If you want to be a part of a successful team that works hard and deliver great results, we would love to hear from you.

We are looking for some who is excellent at:

- Prioritising workload
- Time management
- Communicating with customers - verbally as well as written communication
- Adapting to change, working quickly and efficiently
- Communicating with users politely and professionally
- Working well under pressure, keeping calm and maintaining poise during critical situations
- Working as a team member on achieving goals
- Continuous improvement

**Flexible Working**

We are primarily a remote working company - most of our team work from home most of the time. We do have a small office available if needed. Once a month we all get together in a shared working space and have a social event in the evening which we want everyone to get involved in. We provide all equipment required to work at home. We maintain team working through using Microsoft Teams for daily huddles, weekly team meetings and monthly company meetings as well as ad-hoc working meetings as required

**The Role**

The role is in our Finance and Admin team. Processing quotes to customers, liaising with suppliers for pricing and purchasing, as well as managing customer expectations.

A key element of the service we provide to our customers is supplying new products, services and equipment - from setting up new starters with laptops to organising the equipment required by our projects team for major upgrades. Making sure the equipment is at the right place at the right time is essential to providing a great overall service.

**Responsibilities**
- Liaising with suppliers to find out costs + availability
- Sending quotes to customers
- Following with customer for quote approval or rejection
- Processing accepted quotes - including sending sales invoice + setting up contracts in our system
- Ordering parts from our suppliers
- Checking all parts have been delivered where and when expected
- Documenting each step of the process accurately in our ticketing system
- Handing over Jobs to the technical team
- Manage customer expectations throughout the ordering process
- Be a trustworthy advisor to our cust