Is the need for Six Sigma professionals dying out?

Is the need for Six Sigma professionals dying out? As a specialist time served (5+ years) Six Sigma recruiter I would certainly say over the last 12 – 24 months I have seen a dramatic decrease in the amount of companies looking to hire permanent & contracted Six Sigma resource. This is not to say that process improvement professionals are not still in demand! Lean Sigma has long been tagged on the market for logical progression for any strictly DMAIC black belts, it seems that view has filtered down to many companies not only with well established BPI programs but green field sites at the beginning of there CI journey. If we look to offers from management consultancies these days there are plenty or ‘FRESH’ sells on the market to be gobbled up for businesses hungry for process excellence. Its no surprise ‘Lean Sigma’ is the new ‘Six Sigma’. So we don’t see as many assignments for strictly DMAIC BB’s but BB’s with a good lean grounding do now seem to be much more valued.
Lean Six Sigma recruitment and jobs in lean six sigma seem the flavor of the month.

Uniform Six Sigma Black Belt accreditation on the horizon?

Following recent attandance the Six Sigma Summit Awards in London, Well it is good to hear that the six sigma community at large is thinking of bringing standardisation as to what construes a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, a Green Belt.... Through having clearer guidelines on what it takes to be Six Sigma Black Belt and through ensuring their is uniformity in the skill levels attained by Black Belts whilst still upholding the distinctions between an operational and a transactional Black Belt the lives of both six sigma recruitment consultancies and potential employers will be made a whole lot easier.

Too often in six sigma recruitment we find their is a huge skills divide between candidates calling themselves Black Belts and furthermore Master Black Belts. Digging beneath the surface and asking a few pertinent questions, and utilising inhouse testing relating to DMAIC, Lean and practised methods and tools applied, addressed in a candidates cv or six sigma resume often results in the candidates true ability being highlighted before the six sigma or lean sigma "practitioner" is progressed to a client facing scenario.

In six sigma recruitment it is best to prevent any embarrassing client facing incidents through early application of questioning, testing and character analysis.

Coupled with a uniform and reliable certification also has to be a clear understanding of soft skills, every company requires a different and varied mix of personalities aswell as the technical skills of data analysis and choice application of tools, and it is important to note that people are at the heart of any successful bpr deployment.

Uniformity in the skill level of certified Black Belts and Green Belts per se will ensure that the people practising six sigma will be respected and can be relied upon to have an agreeable level of understanding so as to warrant the title which they uphold in an industry nearing maturity.