Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Six Sigma Jobs Are Plentiful

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.

Every company has its own staffing needs for its particular niche in the business world. While the jobs may be similar to one another from company to company, each business may provide different names to them. Just as the names may differ, there will likely be some variance in the requirements for each. Some companies prefer to train within, promoting existing staff they want to place in leadership positions, while some prefer to hire outside experts. Senior positions such as a Six Sigma Black Belt graduate may hold, may refer to a higher level program manager. These graduates have the experience and expertise to undertake management of projects at various levels in the organization.

Black Belt certificate holders have received extensive training on Six Sigma methodologies like DMAIC and DFSS, and as such, they hold an important position in the company's organizational structure. These experts understand statistics and the indicators that the data provides. The organization may choose to hire them from the outside, or to train an existing employee in the Six Sigma discipline. Often if a company is growing and there is an ongoing need for more experienced people, the company may hire a Black Belt to come on board to train the upcoming leaders who are already on staff.

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.

No matter what the position, candidates today need to have a deep understanding of Six Sigma with a proven ability to apply their skills to positive results in project management. Creative skills are also needed, which will help when conceptualizing issues and designing business proposals. Six Sigma jobs exist today in industries all across the spectrum, and they all require the skills and determination to help companies develop processes that will lead to more profits. - 15254

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