Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Landing Six Sigma Positions

By Craig Calvin

The importance of Six Sigma has been well understood by many companies. They undertake Six Sigma initiatives to make it a culture in their companies. These companies have accepted the need for a disciplined approach to problem solving and continuous improvement. This is possible only when they have trained employees who can undertake the responsibilities associated with such a Six Sigma initiative. There are various jobs available in the industry, based on the expertise and the experience achieved over a specific period of time. Some organizations employ various experts as permanent employees, while some seek the services of expert consultants.

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.

Six Sigma Black Belts do indeed hold an important position in the organization. These members are certified as Black Belts and receive training on Six Sigma tools and techniques like DMAIC and DFSS methodologies. They have a high level of expertise with the usage of the statistical tools and an understanding of the indicators that the data provides for the project's progression. These experts may be selected internally or may be hired from outside. If there is a need for an experienced person to come into the organization who can train further the Black Belts in the company, then such a person may be hired externally.

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.

There are Six Sigma positions available in a variety of industries at a variety of levels today. No matter what position the candidates are applying for, they will need a clear understanding of the Six Sigma principles and techniques, and must have a proven ability to achieve goals that have been set. No matter what business the company is in, their search for Six Sigma employees will always require a skill set and determination to help streamline their processes and ultimately lead them to more profitablity. - 16069

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