Will Black Belt Training Help My Career?


By Tony Jacowski


It is no wonder that this question is still pertinent. You may not see many trained Black Belt professionals working from home nor are they running around from pillar to post.

Then where is the catch? Well, a career as a Six Sigma black Belt has two distinct stages, after training. But before all else, the big question is whether your career will take off to where you desire or at least to where you planned.

Black Belt Training Opens the Door to New Opportunities

Any college graduate can undergo Six Sigma training classes in a repuatable training institute. But it pays to have more than a couple of years’ experience in a professional setting before you can really gain from the training. This is precisely why corporations which embark upon Six Sigma deployment train their experienced and established employees.

The point to stress here is, that what Six Sigma actually requires in the company is not just academic excellence but a time-seasoned maturity which makes for an unbeatable combination.

If you are planning on Six Sigma profession, it makes sense to join the organization first and then work towards your goal. Many employers have in-house training facilities for their own employees while most other companies depend on outside training institutes where they can sponsor their handpicked employees.

A Black Belt’s Career Can Really Take Off At The Right Place

There are smaller Six Sigma manufacturers, with limited resources or semi-intentions, who are anxious to embark upon the grand bandwagon of the name Six Sigma. Forget that the work experience there serving for bigger opportunities, you may need to set your sights on bigger companies with a well-established track record in place.

The next haven for freshly trained Black Belts is employment with consultants. You can break the ice with top ranking consultants provided you have the right training and experience. You can expect tremendous exposure with top consulting companies. But beware of the so-called big-time consultants; you could come to be known only as a number.

Another ingredient for success or perhaps for failure is the place where you get trained. There are no universal standards for Six Sigma training and there is no industry recognition for any training curriculum. Thus, this leaves open opportunities for makeshift institutes and organizations that exist only on the Internet, to have a field day. If your institute is not reputable or sponsored by a specific industry or company, you may find yourself in all sorts of trouble later.

Motorola, GE Corp have all succeeded because of strong Black Belts who are extremely studious, hard working and have tremendous analytical skills in addition to highly developed business acumen. This is what you need to succeed as a Six Sigma Black Belt.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions – Six Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.


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