Amtec Hiring Guides

How to Hire Quality Managers in Irvine

Amtec Hiring Guides

How to Hire Quality Managers in Irvine

Current Environment

The field of quality is the discipline and practice of product and service quality assurance and control. In the field of software development, it is the management, development, operation, and maintenance of IT systems and enterprise architectures with a high-quality standard. This definition basically says that quality is “meeting or exceeding customer expectations.

Quality management is the discipline that creates and implements strategies for quality assurance in product development and production as well as software development. Quality directors focus on optimizing product quality, as defined by Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

History

The field of quality assurance in the United States was in direct response to a quality revolution in Japan following World War II. Japanese manufacturers converted from producing military goods for internal use to producing civilian goods for trade.

At first, the reputation of exported Japanese products was not good, and their goods were shunned by international markets. This led Japanese organizations to explore new ways of thinking about quality, implementing a “total quality” approach by changing the focus from improving products to improving organizational processes.

Now, quality assurance is part of most companies that are building products, including digital products and services.

Will COVID-19 Affect the quality management Field?

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected employment and the job market. While it has radically upended life as was previously known in almost every way, there are renewed efforts at work that are frantically working to return businesses and institutions to what was once considered to be normal as quickly as possible – or at least to what will become the new normal.

2021 has seen a mix of responses as economies start to open up once again now that the distribution of the vaccine has increased. There is much to be hopeful about. The role of the quality manager will continue to be important in helping companies – big and small – to prepare for the future as they learn new technologies and utilize them in order to help companies stay afloat and even get ahead. 

Technology and service providers face significant disruption to their businesses from COVID-19. Quality managers must evaluate the critical ways in which the pandemic affects their teams so they can mitigate the negative effects and plan for recovery.

While COVID-19 has certainly impacted the quality management profession, a relatively recent survey indicated that, despite the challenges, the profession was poised to make appropriate changes in order to respond with agility and flexibility in order to do what needs to be done.

How will Recruiting quality managers Help Your Company?

How will Hiring quality managers Help Your Company?

The hiring of a quality manager can affect both your existing team and your bottom line. A great one will be drawn to details, help with delegation, and help with communication – internally and externally.

Hiring a quality manager will ensure projects are completed properly and on time, according to quality standards, and are staffed appropriately. With a keen eye for detail, people in this role will help to identify when things are not being completed correctly and/or running properly. They will be able to identify existing problems and spearhead efforts to provide solutions. 

A great quality manager hire can help your business increase your reputation as your products will be of the highest quality and will not fail. The manager can also cut down on costs as they can streamline manufacturing processes.

Before we get to exactly how to hire the best quality manager, let’s review some of the details.

quality manager Details

Responsibilities

Quality managers ensure that an organization’s standards for its product or service are consistent. They focus on four main components: quality planning, quality assurance, quality control, and quality improvement. People in this role are focused not only on product and service quality but also on the means to achieve it.

People in this career use quality assurance and control of processes as well as products to achieve consistency. What a customer wants and is willing to pay for it determines quality. It is a written or unwritten commitment to a known or unknown consumer in the market. Thus, quality can be defined as fitness for intended use or, in other words, how well the product performs its intended function.

Quality managers are also responsible for the following duties:  

  • Collaborate with the upper management team to set quality benchmarks
  • Create standards in accordance with industry standards and customer expectations
  • Identify quality control processes to ensure criteria are met at all times
  • Execute tests to check final product adherence to the company standards
  • Record findings and relay this information to the production team
  • Brainstorm ideas to increase productivity and performance of the production line while maintaining accuracy in quality
  • Make crucial decisions in favor of cost-efficiency without compromising on quality
  • Oversee production to ensure conformity in final product processing

Looking for another position? View other positions we place in Irvine, California.

Education

Employers prefer that quality managers have at least a bachelor’s degree. While the degree may be in any field, many quality managers have a bachelor’s degree in business administration or industrial engineering. Sometimes, production workers with many years of experience take management and total quality management-related classes to move up. At large plants, where managers have more oversight responsibilities, employers may look for managers who have a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or a graduate degree in industrial management.

Top Schools – US News & World Report rankings

Georgia Institute of Technology, Purdue University – West Lafayette, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor

Top Schools

  • Georgia Institute of Technology

  • Purdue University

  • University of Michigan

Salary Range

quality managers in the U.S.

$65k
Low
$115k
Average
$176k
High
274k

Total quality managers Employed in the U.S.

77.6%

Men

22.4%

Women

quality manager Salary Comparison

National

Quality managers are employed in various manufacturing industries, some of which are expected to have declining employment due to greater productivity. However, because quality managers are responsible for coordinating work activities with the goal of increasing productivity, they will continue to be needed in this capacity. Industries projected to add jobs for these workers include motor vehicle parts manufacturing, machine shops, and pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing.

California

The average annual salary for quality managers in California was 124k in 2019. The hourly wage averaged $59.67.

For more detailed compensation information for quality managers in Irvine, download our free compensation/salary report below.

Working in Irvine

Do quality managers consider Irvine a great place to work? Here are a few things to keep in mind when you are recruiting for quality managers in Irvine.

Irvine, California is considered by most a great place to live and work, particularly if safety is at the top of your list. For 15 years in a row, the FBI has rated Irvine as the safest city of its size in the U.S. And directly bordering this city are some of Southern California’s most celebrated beaches, including Newport Beach, picture-perfect Laguna Beach, and the surfing capital of the U.S., Huntington Beach, also known as Surf City U.S.A.

Pros

    The city of Irvine is considered a model city for master planning. Neighborhoods, streets, parks, and pretty much everything else looks very uniform due to stringent requirements and building codes. The upside?

    “Every square inch of the city is well maintained and organized not one part of the city out of place,” commented one Quora reader.

    However, like many Southern California cities, high real estate prices drive a high cost of living.

    • Schools: The Irvine School District is rated top in the top 20 of California school districts, and UCI and Concordia University call Irvine home.
    • Master planning means the city always looks new. Even traffic is planned! Yes, you read that right. Cameras and ground sensors monitor the flow and automatically adjust traffic lights accordingly.
    • Companies: Many large companies are based in Irvine, including Broadcom, Western Digital, Edwards Lifescience, Ingram Micro, Core Logic, Pacific Dental, Mazda, Alteryx, Blizzard Entertainment, and fashion icon Saint John Knits. Recruitment and staffing are available from Amtec for Irvine.

On the other hand, the city, like many others in Southern California, has a high cost of living and expensive real estate. This may affect a company’s ability to hire top candidates unless compensation is commensurate.

Cons

    • High housing and cost of living: The median home value is $861,600 and the cost of living is 79% more expensive than the U.S. average.
    • Car-dependent — You’ll probably be able to walk and bike for errands and commuting near home, but the sprawling nature of Orange County and underdeveloped public transportation means you really need a car.
    • Not much culture. A consistent complaint on Reddit is that there are more fast-food chains than mom & pop places to eat and there’s not much nightlife.

Current Weather

Not your city? View other cities where we place quality managers.

Demand for quality managers in Irvine

Demand for quality managers in Irvine

Quality managers will likely face strong competition for open positions, but those who have several years of experience and a bachelor’s degree in industrial management or business administration should have the best prospects. While competition can be fierce, once hired, candidates can expect to be well compensated.

The BLS estimates that the growth of positions in this field will be slower than average, but will still produce a net gain in positions over the next 10 years.

The supply of candidates and demand for open positions have a direct correlation to a company's ability to hire. Download a free Supply and Demand report for quality managers in Irvine, California below.

How to Hire the Best quality managers

Finding and hiring the best quality manager candidates can save you money right away and well into the future.

The costs of making a bad hire are well documented. The cost can run as much as 30% of the employee's first-year earnings according to the US Department of Labor. Bad hires can cost a whopping $240,000 in expenses related to hiring, compensation, and retention per The Undercover Recruiter. 74% of companies who admit they've hired the wrong person for a position lost an average of $14,900 for each bad hire according to CareerBuilder. These statistics support our long-held position that behavioral questions are the best way to get to know your candidates and past behavior is the best indicator of future performance.

Recruiting Best Practices

The information below comes from the best practices Amtec uses for finding the highest quality candidates.

Defining the Position

When defining the role you are creating, we recommend a position profile to fully evaluate the position you are hiring for. You must decide if the engineer can work remotely or must work in California. If working in Irvine is essential, make sure you include that in your job posting so candidates can decide how many miles they can commute.

How to Source the Best Candidates

When you are looking to source the best quality candidates for your open positions, make sure you have done the legwork to hire an "A Player". You can do this by making sure your company's perspective is aligned with the current market, you have taken into account the job responsibilities, as well as what type of characteristics you are looking for to fit your company culture. Then proceed to write a job posting to attract high-quality candidates.

Characteristics of quality managers

Although the goal of this position is ensuring overall quality, the job cannot impact an organization’s quality alone. Teach others the importance of quality and how low and high quality affects the organization. Invite experts to speak to and teach selected personnel about quality. The newly educated personnel can go to their respective departments and educate others on its importance. Implement monthly best-practice workshops to keep the organization updated on policy and procedure changes, quality programs the company implements, and the company’s quality measures.

How to Screen Candidates

You wrote a job posting, posted the position online, and received a lot more resumes than you’d bargained for! Next comes the enormous task of sorting through those resumes to eliminate the ones that are clearly not a good fit. Now, you have a stack of resumes for candidates who have potential. So how do you go about screening the remaining candidates?

It starts on the phone! As a recruiter, the goal of your telephone screening is to learn more about your candidates. You can confirm that they have the educational qualifications and relevant experience, but you also need to determine if they would fit into your company's culture. To make this job easier, use a system to consistently evaluate results. This way you can equally and objectively compare candidates and evaluate their "soft skills", like communication and thinking process. Download Amtec's Professional Assessment Questionnaire below to help with screening candidates.

Free Professional Assessment Questionnaire

An individually customized questionnaire that helps assess a candidate's competence with written communication skills, thinking processes, and other relevant skills.

How to Interview Candidates

At Amtec, we believe in the power of behavoral interview questions to go beyond the experience and skills listed on the candidate's resume. Although you will want to confirm in the interview that the candidate does indeed have the experience listed on their resume, your assessment needs to go much deeper than that. An interview using behavioral questions can help you determine how well the candidate will fit with your company culture.

Download Amtec's best practices on conducting super effective interviews to find the best candidates and fill your open jobs.

Behavioral Interview Guide

Get the info you need to hire the best quality managers

Free Interview Guide