Inventory managers supervise inventory associates and control the level of inventory and the reception, shipping, and logging of products. They delegate tasks and oversee daily operations in a warehouse or retail store, evaluate deliveries, and select suppliers.
Inventory managers are responsible for designing and implementing the tracking system their warehouse operates with, and they prepare reports on inventory processes as well. They troubleshoot potential problems and make sure the inventory team is complete and fully functional, hiring and training new employees, if necessary.
You can become an inventory manager with a BA in Finance or Business Administration, but you need years of relevant experience to get hired for this position. You need to be a great leader with outstanding communication skills who is able to organize and manage the complex work this role requires.
How to Become an Inventory Manager
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an inventory manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $36.82 an hour? That's $76,579 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -6% and produce -29,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does an Inventory Manager Do
There are certain skills that many inventory managers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed negotiating skills, customer-service skills and detail oriented.
How To Become an Inventory Manager
If you're interested in becoming an inventory manager, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 54.1% of inventory managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.5% of inventory managers have master's degrees. Even though most inventory managers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an inventory manager. When we researched the most common majors for an inventory manager, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on inventory manager resumes include high school diploma degrees or master's degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an inventory manager. In fact, many inventory manager jobs require experience in a role such as sales associate. Meanwhile, many inventory managers also have previous career experience in roles such as assistant manager or cashier.
Inventory Manager Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, an inventory manager can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as operations manager, progress to a title such as supply chain manager and then eventually end up with the title supply chain director.
Average Salary for an Inventory Manager
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Inventory Managers
1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
4. Maine Maritime Academy
Castine, ME • Private
5. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
6. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
7. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
8. Villanova University
Villanova, PA • Private
9. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Private
10. Bentley University
Waltham, MA • Private
Top Skills For an Inventory Manager
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 14.9% of inventory managers listed direct reports on their resume, but soft skills such as negotiating skills and customer-service skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Inventory Manager Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Inventory Manager templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Inventory Manager resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Inventory Manager Demographics
Inventory Manager Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among inventory managers, 30.6% of them are women, while 69.4% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among inventory managers is White, which makes up 69.8% of all inventory managers.
- The most common foreign language among inventory managers is Spanish at 57.8%.
Online Courses For Inventory Manager That You May Like
Inventory is also company money, materialized in supplies towards the elaboration of products in-process, finished and for sale. Keeping an organized and updated inventory will allow you to save time and resources. Also, knowing that type of product you have available and what state it is in helps in organizing what you already have, so you will not have waste and you will be able to sell as you produce. Inventory is a hidden treasure for companies. In this online course you will learn to...
Create Inventory POS System Project With Billing by use of Bootstrap Responsive AdminLTE Dashboard With PHP PHP7 MYSQL...
Review and integrate an RPG-Style Inventory System. All Code Base Provided As A Flexible Asset Pack...
Best States For an Inventory Manager
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an inventory manager. The best states for people in this position are New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Inventory managers make the most in New York with an average salary of $107,779. Whereas in Connecticut and Massachusetts, they would average $102,248 and $101,519, respectively. While inventory managers would only make an average of $99,125 in New Hampshire, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New York
$107,779
Avg. Salary
2. Connecticut
$102,248
Avg. Salary
3. New Jersey
$90,007
Avg. Salary
How Do Inventory Manager Rate Their Jobs?
Top Inventory Manager Employers
Most Common Employers For Inventory Manager
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sears Holdings | $105,450 | $50.70 | 85 |
| 2 | Walgreens | $103,157 | $49.59 | 98 |
| 3 | Best Buy | $102,812 | $49.43 | 111 |
| 4 | Walmart | $100,942 | $48.53 | 474 |
| 5 | Target | $100,344 | $48.24 | 35 |
| 6 | Staples | $98,503 | $47.36 | 90 |
| 7 | Nordstrom | $92,045 | $44.25 | 80 |
| 8 | The Home Depot | $86,174 | $41.43 | 210 |
| 9 | PetSmart | $83,776 | $40.28 | 131 |
| 10 | AutoZone | $83,497 | $40.14 | 40 |
Inventory Manager Videos
