How to Hire Quality Engineers in Spokane

Current Environment

Quality engineering is the discipline of engineering concerned with the principles and practice of product and service quality assurance and control

For software development companies, a quality engineer ensures the management, development, operation, and maintenance of IT systems and enterprise systems maintain a high-quality standard.

The role is also essential for 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.

How will Recruiting quality engineers Help Your Company?

How will Hiring quality engineers Help Your Company?

The hiring of a quality engineer 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. In essence, an expert in this role can help your company by simply living up to their title by ensuring that completed work meets set standards for quality from end-to-end.

Quality engineers often evaluate products and services through testing and statistical analysis. Companies try to create new and improved products and services; quality engineers help in this process by checking for efficiency and quality while still helping companies maintain competitive prices.

quality engineer Details

Responsibilities

Quality engineers problem-solve and communicate possible solutions to improve the quality of a range of products. They also must work with a wide range of staff members, including design, development, and/or manufacturing process of products, in order to discuss improvements and ways to implement changes.

Organizations that are committed to producing high-quality products employ quality engineers to manage the production process. Ultimately, they ensure a company’s production lines work efficiently and effectively to satisfy their customers.

Specific quality engineer responsibilities may include tasks like:

Developing quality control systems
Auditing quality systems
Administering management information systems
Finding ways to increase productivity
Decreasing waste
Optimizing resources
Writing action plans
Ensuring compliance with regulations and policies
Conducting audits

Looking for another position? View other positions we place in Spokane, Washington.

Education

Quality engineers must have a background in engineering. To get started, associate’s degree programs in engineering are available, but most engineers, including industrial and quality engineers, need to have at least a bachelor’s degree. Aspiring quality engineers can pursue a degree in industrial engineering. Some industrial engineering programs may offer a minor in quality engineering.

Although it may not be required, master’s degree programs in quality engineering are more common. These programs are usually offered as Master of Science (MS) degrees and may be available in online formats

The American Society for Quality (ASQ) also provides Quality Engineer Certification (CQE). To qualify, students need to have at least 8 years of work experience. Some work experience may be replaced with education. For example, those with a bachelor’s degree can waive 4 years of work experience, while those with a master’s degree can waive 5 years of experience. This professional certification may allow quality engineers to advance their careers and/or demonstrate competency in decision-making and quality evaluation and control.

Top Schools – US News & World Report rankings

Top Schools

Massachusetts institute of Technology
Stanford University
University of California Berkeley

2019 U.S. National Data

Salary Range

quality engineers in the U.S.

$61k

Low

$106k

Average

$154k

High

$104k

Average WA
Salary

$50.05

Average WA
Hourly

1067k

Total quality engineers Employed in the U.S.

88.6%

Men

11.4%

Women

quality engineer Salary Comparison

National

There was already a shortage of skilled engineering professionals before the global pandemic and recession of 2020. As things open up, there will be all the more need for skilled quality engineers, thus the economic principle of supply and demand will likely lead to salaries continuing to increase.

Nationally, annual compensation ranges between $61,000 for entry-level and $154,000 for seasoned quality engineers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 1,067,000 quality engineers (also classified as industrial engineers) employed in 2019, with just 11.4% of those employed being women. It is estimated the 15.6% are Asian, 5.6% Black or African American, 8.5% Hispanic or Latino, and 76.7% are white.

The median annual wage for quality engineers was $106,000 compared with $94,500, the median annual wage for all engineers.

For more detailed compensation information for quality engineers in [city_name], download our free compensation/salary report below.

Washington

The average annual salary for quality engineers in Washington was 104k in 2019. The hourly wage averaged $50.05.

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

Working in Spokane

Spokane is located on the Inland Northwest, an area on the eastern border of Washington near its border with Montana. The city, named for the indigenous Spokane people, is 4-5 hours away from Seattle, but a world away as far as culture and the city itself.

It’s a historic town, with more than half of the buildings downtown are on the historic register. It also boasts the second-largest urban waterfall in the United States.

Here are a few other things about living and working in Spokane that residents give a thumbs up.

Pros

Cost of living. You can own a house for $300,000 here. That is literally less than half of what you would pay in Seattle.
SpokcanePlanner.com provided the average prices of a 3-bedroom, 2-bath homes. Spokane: $280,000, Vancouver: $1,598,000, Seattle: $939,500, Portland: $650,000, Bay Area: $1,100,000
There are 5 universities in the University District: Gonzaga, Washington State, Eastern Washington, Whitworth, University of Washington
There are 26 wine tasting rooms and wineries in metro Spokane, which offer relaxing leisure activities right in your backyard.
Spokane has an active, thriving downtown with a good mix of big merchants, and small, locally-owned shops and restaurants, all placed in a walkable, urban setting.

People do state some general “cons” about living and working in Spokane.

Cons

Employment is spotty. There are not too many large employers in Spokane, so if your goal is a “corporate” gig, you may need to head south to the larger cities in Washington.
Lack of diversity is a common complaint, so if a multi-cultural location is important to you, this may not be the town for you.
Air pollution can be bad due to forest fires and climate change.

Spokane, Washington

Current Weather

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Demand for quality engineers in Spokane

In quality engineering, objectives are implemented in a collaborative process. This process requires the interaction of largely independent actors whose knowledge is based on different sources of information. Making a quality hire for your quality engineering openings should be front and center for your company as you think about moving forward.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) did not report the specific job outlook for quality engineers but did report a job outlook for the broader category of industrial engineers. These engineers had a job outlook of 8% from 2018 to 2028, almost double the outlook for all jobs overall (4%).

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 engineers in Spokane, Washington below.

How to Hire the Best quality engineers

Finding and hiring the best quality engineer 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 Washington. If working in Spokane 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 engineers

Quality engineering is a field that is evolving as products and manufacturing become more complex. And in the field, there are specializations and nuances. The lack of understanding of the subtle differences in skillsets and the latest technology can cause recruiters to misidentify candidates and as a result, create a backlog in hiring.

Find candidates who have studied both engineering and understand the unique skills needed for a quality assurance role.
Look for candidates who revel in analyzing and solving problems.
Find candidates who communicate well, both written and oral.
The best candidates enjoy being focused, self-motivated, and innovative.
Consider candidates who will best fit your engineering and project environment.
Partner with a recruiting agency that specializes in project engineering to find the best candidates that can do the job, and become a valued member of your team.

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

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Free Interview Guide