3 Reasons to Build a Career in Quality

3 Reasons to Build a Career in Quality

When I was first starting my career I remember a conversation I had with my father-in-law. He had worked many years as an accountant for the IRS. He spoke about how much he hated his job but never felt he could quit and do something else because he had a family to support. The stress of it taking its toll and suffering from ill health, he had retired earlier than he really wanted.

Right then I promised myself I would never do something I didn't enjoy for a living. Luckily I found something I love to do - Quality Assurance - and have had an opportunity to do it for many years.

One of the beautiful things about working in Quality Assurance is that the expertise I have developed can be applied to any business type anywhere. I have successfully transferred my quality assurance skills from bulk chemicals and refining to high technology to building materials. I enjoy manufacturing, but these same skills could easily apply to service industries as well. We all know there is no such thing as job security, but having highly marketable quality management skills has afforded me more opportunities to advance my career and certainly more employment security than if I had specialized in another area of work. Good Quality Assurance personnel are always in demand.

One reason for this is that often quality personnel are the only ones who know how the whole management system works. They often perform quality audits across an entire business, especially if the company is certified to ISO 9001 or a derivative standard, exposing them to operational capacity at all functional levels. The Quality Manager rapidly becomes the "go to" person because he/she has the knowledge about how processes are designed to work and the skills to improve processes that don't work. Customers often ask, "Who are your quality personnel and to whom do they report?" because they know the quality professionals in an organization are critical to a successful business relationship.

If you are into networking, working in Quality Assurance is a great way to do that. By virtue of the type of work they do, quality professionals often interact with people at all organizational levels, sometimes different business sites, and even different supplier and customer business sites. Working in Quality Assurance has afforded me the opportunity to travel places I otherwise might never have been, including many places in the U.S., Europe and China. I am fortunate that my local section of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) is very active and I have enjoyed networking and learning with other quality professionals here in the greater Philadelphia area.

Many quality professionals don't start out in quality. They have some type of technical expertise and were moved into the role for business or personal reasons. Unfortunately there are still very few colleges and universities that offer academic degrees in quality management but they are slowing catching up as the importance of quality increases in a global economy.

The most rewarding aspect of working in quality is knowing that what I do is valued and appreciated. I know that every day I am helping people be happier and more successful. I can't think of a better job than that.

So to sum up my pitch for working in quality:

1. Excellent employment prospects often regardless of the state of the economy
2. Great networking opportunities including travel and opportunities for advancement
3. Ability to help others be successful including co-workers, customers and suppliers

Written by

Janet Lentz, CPC