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How Can Quality Control Professionals Become Quality Control Leaders?

Posted By: Debbie Milks on October 7, 2022

illustration of male and female quality control professionals going over a checklist

If you work in the quality control (QC) industry, you should have excellent observation, attention to detail, leadership, and organizational skills. The right soft and hard skills can help you advance your career from doing the work to managing your peers. If you’re interested in becoming a QC leader, here are three steps you can take to get you closer to your goal:

1. Be Meticulous in Everything You Do

QC is all about the details. Manufacturing companies must ensure that their workflows, products, services, and materials meet high standards. This isn’t just important; it’s imperative. Even the smallest slip-up can cause customer dissatisfaction, reputational damage, and financial loss.

As a QC manager, you need excellent analytical and observational skills. As you monitor critical processes and determine whether product specifications and standards are being met, ensure you don’t let anything slip through the cracks. Your detail-oriented, observational, analytical, and leadership qualities will help you succeed in your current position and progress to a QC management track.

2. Become Certified

Certification plays a big role in helping QC employees get the best opportunities. It proves that you possess a nuanced understanding of QC functions, principles, and systems. As part of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), you can acquire 18 certifications, including:

  • Certified Supplier Quality Professional
  • Certified Manager of Quality Excellence
  • Certified Quality Engineer
  • Certified Pharmaceutical GMP Professional

There are more, but choose the ones that are most appropriate for you and your industry. Select the right certifications, pay the fees, and take the exams. It’s that simple, and the perks are tremendous. Moreover, accreditations add to your professional credibility.

3. Strengthen Your Technical and Communication Skills

illustration of a QC manager looking at a test tube

The role of QC manager is, at its core, a technical position, but in order to advance, you need to be able to communicate. While you may have a solid grasp of engineering, chemistry, and process so that you can understand and enforce product specifications, you must also be able to effectively communicate your findings and issues, both in writing and verbally. The ability to communicate is what separates those who do the work from those who advance to managing those who do the work.

Sign up for relevant courses to develop stronger technical and communications skills. Your interview performance will improve significantly as your analytical and communication skills improve.

Recommended Read: 3 Essential Skills Quality Assurance (QA) Professionals Should Possess

Are you looking to grow in your role in the QA and QC industry? Brookwoods Group is one of the leading Executive search firms Austin that help clients find perfect-fit, talented, conscientious, and hardworking professionals who can add value immediately.

Check out our openings to see if one is right for you. Then, send us your application. If you’re the right fit for one of our openings, we’ll be in touch. But don’t worry if there’s nothing for you right now; we’ll keep your resume on file should something come up.

We also handle advertising recruiting, marketing recruiting, Sales recruitment agencies Austin, and management recruiting, among other areas.