In early 2007 I was offered a position at the Canadian buying office of Costco Wholesale. Costco Wholesale is an membership based multinational company with headquarters in the United Sates. In Canada they currently operate 76 warehouse format club stores as well as an E-commerce division. Canadian consumers are able to shop from an extensive selection of goods available on Costco.ca, and Costco.com caters to American consumers.

          My entire career with Costco has been in the E-commerce group (Costco.ca). My initial position was an Inventory Control Specialist (ICS) in the Sporting Goods. The main responsibilities of an ICS are to set-up new items for sale on the website, monitor inventory levels and ensure on time shipping of goods to the consumer. In addition a number of reports need to be prepared on a weekly basis.

          One year later I moved to the Lawn & Garden department. In this department I gained extensive experience working with imports. In 2008 there was a call for candidates for the Assistant Buyer in Training (ABIT) program. I successfully completed three rounds of testing and faced a panel of 8 VP's. Initially I was accepted into the program and while waiting to learn where my training would occur, I was promoted directly to the position of Assistant Buyer.

          The Assistant Buyer to whom I had previously reported to was transfered to a new department and I replaced her. As an Assistant Buyer I have 4 ICS's reporting to me and I look after four departments. In addition to Lawn and Garden I look after Tire Shop, Automotive Accessories, and Hearing Accessories. In addition to supervising the ICS's I work with the buyer to procure new vendors and find new products to sell. There are also a number of reports to be completed on a regular basis.

          My buyer has shown a lot of faith and trust in me. Three months into my new position my buyer has given me the responsibility of taking ownership in the Automotive department. He will mentor me and allow me to take the lead in developing the category.