Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Landing Six Sigma Positions

By Craig Calvin

There is no disagreement among companies around the world that Six Sigma is a valuable and important part of success. Companies employ Six Sigma with the intent to making it a culture in their businesses, and as such, they have signed on to the discipline of problem identification, analysis, solving and monitoring. For this to take place, they must have highly trained employees who can achieve results under the Six Sigma doctrine. The business world offers various jobs, either based on expertise in a particular field, or on experience over time. There is contract work available, as are full time positions.

Many jobs are similar to one another from company to company, though they may be known by different names. Businesses usually prefer to name their positions with context to the specific nature of their product or service. When hiring for new positions, many business prefer to hire specialists from the outside because of their expertise in the field. Other companies prefer to promote from within those employees who they want to groom for leadership positions. Senior level positions such as project manager require a higher level of experience in order to manage various projects in the organization, and these jobs are usually reserved for Six Sigma Black Belt certificate holders or the equivalent.

In any organization, an employee with Black Belt certification holds an important position. The certification process insures that they have received training on Six Sigma tools like DMAIC and DFSS methodologies. The Black Belt holder will be an expert in statistical analysis with a good understanding of the indicators the data provides. Companies often prefer to promote and train Black Belt holders from within, but if they don't currently have a Black Belt on board, they may opt to hire one for training instead of sending employees outside of the business to get their training.

Organizations may not advertise Master Black Belts and Black Belts positions. They may name them differently - Program Manager, Six Sigma analyst, Functional Project Lead, Lead Analyst, Business Process manager and so on. These positions require the person selected to be certified as a Green Belt, Black Belt or Master Black Belt depending on the level of the position. It is the Six Sigma Black Belts' skills that will be considered as criteria for the different positions. Furthermore, they may have other requirements such as expertise in the same industry. They may be required to have management training and experience, when the role may be to have a project lead or Master Black Belts.

Candidates for any position need to have a deep understanding of Six Sigma tools and techniques, as well as the ability to apply their knowledge to organizational processes. They must be able to use their skills to use quality methodologies in a given domain and as initiators of different ideas, they should aim to improve the situation. People and creative skills are needed, which make them competent in conceptualizing strategic business issues and designing practical proposals. The Six Sigma jobs that exist in many industries require experts in Six Sigma tools and techniques that have the skills to transform companies into profitable ventures. - 15432

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