What do you think average pay should be for my Six Sigma experience, qualifications and location?
I am 23 years old and work for a Fortune 50 company in the Midwest as a business development analyst. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics with a minor in mathematical statistics. I have worked for my company for almost a year and they have sent me to two Six Sigma training courses; a week long course to get my Green Belt and a much more intensive and industry recognized Black Belt. I have since been on numerous products yielding + mil results and led to my Certified Black Belt award.
I work on financial reporting, business development (presentations, system administrator work, business solutions for call centers and pharmacies, and creation of knowledge management content), work with individual teams to increase their cost efficiencies, and work on a large dynamic team.
Prior to graduation and my current job, I worked for five years as a pharmacy technician, mastering all three in-house training certification levels.
What do you think a competitive pay would be for my area and with my qualifications! I know it is tough in this economy to get a good barometer of the pay. Thanks!!
When you want to benchmark pay in any area that is related to the quality profession (and Six Sigma is now considered in that arena), then there are several good annual salary surveys that you need to watch.
The first is put out by the American Society for Quality (ASQ). Their phone number is 800-248-1946 and they have a library at their Milwaukee headquarters called the Quality Information Center (QIC). The annual salary survey is published in the Quality Progress magazine. ASQ also has a set of professional certifications that you might consider as they are recognized globally.
You should be able to get a copy of the latest number online or call the QIC to see about finding it. ASQ is also a great networking organization and they have local groups called Section/Chapters as well as national groups called Divisions (there is a Six Sigma group at the national level – although it is called a Forum).
Also, there are two free magazine groups out there that also publish salary information for the quality profession – Quality Digest (I highly recommend that you sign up for this one) and Quality Magazine (primary manufacturing, but still very good).
As for your current worth – the salaries today are not as much as they were ten years ago because of basic supply and demand. There are many people today who have been trained in Six Sigma Methodologies and the basics are almost becoming required. The key is to keep a detailed listing of the cost saving you earn for your company (keep this list for future reference as well). Take that into you annual reviews to help remind your manager what you have been working on.
The more successful projects that you complete and are involved with, the more valuable you should be to your current organization. However, if they do not keep pace with the annual salary surveys (another good tool to have during review time), then it may be time to start looking around. It is no secret that many organizations only give good increases to those who can demonstrate their worth on the open market.