1) What character traits make you a good buyer?
2) Why did you become a pharmacy buyer?
3) What are the biggest challenges you face as a pharmacy buyer?

Name of Facility: PORTER

City, State: acute care

Years as a Buyer: 9+

"Can you read my mind?"

Seriously, most professional interviewers use off-the-wall "personality questions" to determine what kind of person you are.

This job interviewer site gives examples of these questions and what you can determine by their answers.

Their resume should tell you what they can do. These questions can tell you who they are.

Name of Facility: Pharmacy Purchasing Outlook

City, State: Newsletter

Years as a Buyer: 30+

Thank you both for your suggestions. I am looking for questions to ask to make sure they know what to do as a buyer such as, what to if all MFG's are out of a drug because of a raw material problem and how to handle recalls, things of this nature. I need to ask detailed questions to make sure they are experienced with dealing with day to day problems with procuring drugs.

Name of Facility: Central State Hospital

City, State: Assist individulas with behavioral healthcare needs

Here are a few that I would recommend:

What would be your plan to get medications to our facility in case of emergeny (ie; devastating storm, large auto accident etc.)?

How do you manage through a medication shortage both short term and long term?

When you find that a medication may have been improperly stored what are the steps you would take to understand if the medication is still good?

Tell me how you evaluate medications and make sure that you are buying the most cost effective equivalent medication.

How do you keep track of all cost savings and rebates?

What is your computer knowledge?

Tell me about a time when you had to organize something and how you went about doing that. (the Buyer must be a very organized individual)

Talk to me about how you would do an inventory in the Pharmacy.

Describe how you would handle a situation where medications bought and used did not match with what you had on hand. What steps would be needed to ascertain where the medications went. Ask them to be very specific.

Ask them to describe an event where they had to be confrontational, what the event was and how they handled it. Sometimes as a Buyer you have to be confrontational and diplomatic all at once.

What is your experience in working with departments outside of the Pharmacy to aceive goals?

These are a few off the top of my head. If I think of others, I will post them.

Best of luck finding an outstanding Buyer.

Name of Facility: St. Francis Health Center

City, State: Accute

Years as a Buyer: 5 in Pharmacy, 25+ in Hard Goods Retail

Great questions!!! Thanks Kathy

Name of Facility: Central State Hospital

City, State: Assist individulas with behavioral healthcare needs