If you're looking for a career that carries
responsibility, pays well, and provides opportunities to travel, you should
think about becoming a Quality Assurance Consultant.
This is a great career choice for analytical thinkers,
who thrive on systems and challenges. It also offers the opportunity to work
for major organisations, or to go out on your own.
Before getting into the job itself, it's helpful to
fully understand what defines quality assurance, and quality control, and what
Quality Assurance Management Systems are all about.
Quality Assurance Management Systems
Whilst both focus on quality, there is a marked
difference between Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA). To be truly
successful, an organisation needs both, although QA is probably the most
important.
The basic difference is this: Quality Assurance is all
about preventing faults and defects in your products, as well as ensuring
on-time delivery and best customer service.
Quality Assurance is covered by the International
Standard ISO 9000, which describes the process as: "providing confidence
that quality requirements will be fulfilled".
Quality control, on the other hand, is about checking
the finished product for quality, and making amends - through replacement or
refund - is it does not meet the standard.
Role Of The Quality Assurance Consultant
It is the role of the Quality Assurance Consultant to
ensure products meet the criteria of the ISO 9000 family of standards.
They provide objective, independent advice to
businesses on the level of quality reached, and ways of improving the quality
of those goods and services.
Quality Assurance Consultants
are employed by the businesses themselves, or by certification organisations.
In other words, they help their own organisation implement and maintain a
quality management system, or they become accredited to the International
Organization for Standardization.
Career Choice With Variety
One of the reasons the role of Quality Assurance
Consultant is becoming more popular, is the great variety it offers. Quality
Assurance Consultants work across a wide variety of industries, in countries
all around the world.
Very often, the area chosen to specialise in reflects
the individual's background. In fact, that is one of the first points to
consider if you are planning to become a Quality Assurance Consultant.
For example, if you previously worked in the motor
industry, that might be the industry to choose. Or perhaps your background was
in hospitality, or healthcare. The point is, these are areas you have knowledge
of, and experience in.
This former experience and knowledge can also help you
achieve your qualifications quicker.
Excellent Analytical Skills
You will also need to demonstrate excellent analytical
and communications skills, and understand project management and training
needs.
Having identified your niche industry, you need to
start working towards your goal, through further training and qualifications.
The great thing is that there is an increasing push
for better quality, so there will be more job opportunities in this area moving
forward.
In recent years, Australian businesses have become far
more focused on quality assurance, with an increasing number Quality
Assurance Management Systems.
Choosing A Training Provider
In that respect, when choosing a training provider,
it's advisable to choose a company that also specialises in implementing ISO
management systems. Not only will this organisation have an in-depth knowledge
of the latest Standards revisions, but they also fully understand how those
Standards affect businesses.
There are several companies around providing this type
of training but the best advice is to
choose one that is Exemplar Global accredited, with the courses run by
professional, accredited auditors.
Hands-On Experience
As you start to get those qualifications under your
belt, you will need to also start accumulating some hands-on experience. This
is generally the point where you decide whether to work in the industry itself,
or for an accreditation organisation.
As you gain more experience, you have other decisions
to make, To you stay working for someone else, or do you go out on your own as
a Quality Assurance Consultant? If you remain working for an actual
organisation, you may wish to increase your qualifications, in order to become
Quality Control manager.
Ongoing Monitoring And Improvement
What is consistent throughout all these scenarios is
the need for improved quality assurance and control. And it's not something you
simply put in place and leave.
For true quality assurance, you need to ensure systems
are continually and consistently monitored and improved. The demand for quality
can only increase, as customers expect to get 'what they paid for'. And that's
well-made, fairly priced, safe products, that do the job they are designed for.
Quality assurance is also crucial for any business
wanting to contract to a major organisation. These big corporations must
protect their own quality assurance systems, by only working with contractors
and suppliers who do the same.
Still keen to pursue a career in quality assurance?
Then it's time to make that move.
The next round of quality assurance training courses
will start soon, and booking yourself in is the first step towards a brilliant
new career.
