Lean and Six Sigma Talent Demand Trends
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"As an executive recruiting and search firm, we have a unique vantage point from which to track the latest trends taking place in industry. Trends in industry are often telegraphed into candidate requirements in job postings and they can serve as a window into the latest corporate initiatives."
Tim Noble - Managing Principal & Partner
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Eighth annual study by executive search firm The Avery Point Group finds ongoing surge in demand for continuous improvment talent may also be signaling a decoupling of Lean and Six Sigma.
As the economy continues to heal, post-recession demand for continuous improvement talent persists strongly, according to the latest study of almost 7,100 recent Internet job postings reviewed by The Avery Point Group. The executive search firm's eighth annual study found that the combined demand for Lean and Six Sigma talent has more than doubled, rising more than 103 percent over 2010 recessionary levels and 6 percent ahead of last year's strong talent demand levels.
"This year's study clearly illustrated there is strong ongoing demand for continuous improvement skills ahead of the broader economic recovery," states Tim Noble, managing principal and partner of The Avery Point Group. "However, within that ongoing surge for continuous improvement talent we are beginning to see a very clear and accelerated trend in the demand for Lean skills versus Six Sigma that may also indicate a decoupling of the two initiatives in relation to job requirements."
Based on this year's study, The Avery Point Group found that demand for Lean talent has accelerated at its fastest year-over-year pace in the eight-year history of the study as the more desired skill set over Six Sigma. This year's study showed that Lean talent demand now exceeds Six Sigma by almost 68 percent, almost doubling its lead over last year's results that only showed a 35 percent edge for Lean over Six Sigma.
The study also found that job postings looking exclusively for Six Sigma talent, with no mention of Lean in the job specification, dropped to only 20 percent of the postings reviewed, the lowest level for those job postings in the study's history. The 2012 study is an even further departure from The Avery Point Group's 2005 inaugural Lean and Six Sigma talent demand study that showed Six Sigma talent demand exceeding Lean by more than 50 percent.
A deeper review of this year's data shows that Six Sigma is also becoming less and less of an additional job requirement within Lean job postings. In The Avery Point Group's 2007 talent study, over 50 percent of the Lean jobs posted sought candidates that also had a Six Sigma skill set. Today, that requirement has dropped to less than 34 percent, its lowest level in the study's eight-year history
Does the continued downward trend for Six Sigma talent demand and its diminished emphasis within Lean job postings signal a decoupling of Lean and Six Sigma? "I don't think that is entirely the case, at least not yet," comments Noble. "I think it has more to do with companies shifting their priorities to where they feel they can get the best leverage with their continuous improvement initiatives and seeking the required talent to execute those initiatives."
Noble points to several factors that may be driving these trends:
Overall, the continued rise in talent demand for Lean bodes well for candidates who possess those skills, as organizations seek them out as either a hedge against current economic uncertainty or as an enabler to leverage the emerging economic recovery. Noble concludes that candidates with legacy Six Sigma skills should be seeking out organizations like SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers), which recently formed a partnership with AME/Shingo Prize/ASQ, that offer both training and certification in Lean as a way to burnish their skills, or perhaps seek career opportunities that will enable them to gain more on-the-job experience with Lean.
Avery Point Group: Retained & Contingent Executive Search for Lean & Six Sigma Talent
The Avery Point Group is a global executive recruiting and search firm that assists companies in identifying, assessing and recruiting mid-level management to senior executive Lean & Six Sigma talent. Our firm leverages its principals’ decades of executive Lean & Six Sigma operations and staffing experience to provide the highest quality executive search services.
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How is Our Lean & Six Sigma Executive Search and Recruiting Firm Different?
With our team’s significant Six Sigma and Lean executive experience, we are uniquely qualified to help our clients find, assess and recruit the right continuous improvement and operational excellence talent. Our key principals are Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Lean trained by globally recognized industry leading Fortune 500 companies and have real-world executive experience leading their application in manufacturing, distribution and service-based industries. Our key principals have managed global operations and led key Lean & Six Sigma initiatives in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America and throughout Asia.
Our principals, with their global perspective, understand what it takes to find, assess and recruit talent for companies to succeed in today’s global economy. Unlike other Lean & Six Sigma executive recruiters and search firms, we truly speak the language of our clients and candidates.
How Critical is the Right Continuous Improvement Talent?
According to a leading business magazine study, only 2% of plants have reached world-class manufacturing performance, with an additional 23% making significant progress toward this enviable status. The common theme found among these superior operations was a fully implemented and effective continuous improvement methodology.
Of the plants that have made little or no progress toward world-class performance, 53% reported having some level of continuous improvement effort already in place. The study very pointedly suggests that these improvement efforts might be suffering from half-hearted and unfocused efforts or worse yet, disinterested or incompetent leadership.
The overall findings of this study point to the fact that most operations could dramatically improve their performance by having the right leadership talent in place. Our focus is to help our clients find the right talent to maximize their continuous improvement / operational excellence efforts and help them achieve world-class performance.
Leveraging Lean & Six Sigma in Executive Search & Recruiting
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4555 Mansell Road - Suite 300, Alpharetta, GA 30022 United States
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Retained Executive Search Services - Contingent Executive Search Services
4555 Mansell Road
Suite 300
Alpharetta, GA 30022
United States
ph: +1 678-585-9804
fax: +1 678-585-9832