Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a quality inspector and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

A quality inspector ensures that the quality standards are maintained by approving the input materials, the production process, and the final product. He/she works with suppliers to ensure that the materials purchased are of high quality and develops control plans for quality production.

Duties associated with this post include approving materials that are incoming by conducting visual tests, measuring and confirming specifications, approving the production process, approving the final output, documenting the results of the inspection, operating measurement equipment, taking part in identifying the causes of quality issues by investigating products , taking part in the problem solving of quality issues and carrying out inspections of partial and complete goods.

Core Skills Required to be a Quality Inspector

Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.

Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.

A quality inspector should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Judgment Skills:

Judgment is the ability to make a decision or form an opinion wisely especially in matters affecting action, good sense and discretion.

A Quality Inspector must be a person of good judgment with the ability to make the right decision at the right time and for right reasons especially in prioritizing the work correctly to focus on a few important things and ensure excellent results are delivered.

Motivating others:

Motivating is using persuasion, incentives and mental or physical stimulants to influence the way people think or behave individually or in groups.

A Quality Inspector ought to learn how to tap into the employee's enthusiasm as well as motivate the staff not just with money but with a motivation that comes through the daily relationship with each employee and creating an environment that fosters employee engagement and motivation.

Delegation:

Delegation is assigning responsibility or authority to another person a junior or subordinate to carry out specific activities while remaining accountable for the outcome.

A Quality Inspector must be equipped with skills on how to make the delegation work correctly to save the organization time and money and to allow the subordinate make wise decisions, skills, and motivation to become better and grow the company.

Planning and Scheduling:

Planning and Scheduling are the act of establishing a plan for a set of tasks that needs to be completed and including when they should be done.

A Quality Inspector needs creativity in balancing both planning and scheduling by clearing defining what and how activities will be carried out by when and who in particular to ensure there are a clear flow and accountability to every staff.

Dependability:

Dependability is the characteristic of being able to be counted on and relied upon by providing services that be trusted within a period.

A Quality Inspector needs to be dependable and hire reliable employees who can be counted on as consistent and beneficial to the business, building their niche as an essential element of the larger team without worrying about bringing less than your efforts.

Enthusiasm:

Enthusiasm is an intense enjoyment or a lively interest in a certain thing with a zest and a strong belief that can be felt by those around you.

A Quality Inspector ought to be enthusiastic as well as create a friendly atmosphere that makes the staff comfortable with the surroundings, with the other employees to create a less passive working place.

Personal Drive:

Personal Drive is a combination of desire and energy in its simplest form directed at achieving a goal in whatever you have set your heart to accomplish.

A Quality Inspector needs to creatively design ways that drive the staff to carry out their work without wasting time by helping them understand and develop their self-motivation skills that assist them to take control of many different viewpoints of their life.

Organizational Skills:

Organizational Skills is the ability to make use of time, energy and resources available in the most efficient manner to achieve their goal.

A Quality Inspector should organize the work for the employees to ensure overall organization, planning, time management, scheduling, coordinating resources and meeting deadlines is handled most efficiently by each employee for both personal and professional growth.

Quality of Work:

The quality of Work is the value of work or products produced by the employees as well as the work environment they are provided with.

A Quality Inspector needs creativity in assisting all teams in identifying characteristics that will result in a quality product and lead to greater efficiency and increased productivity by following the four critical outcomes of employee retention, customer satisfaction, profitability, and productivity.

Analytical Skills:

Analytical Skills is the ability to collect and analyze information, solve problems and make decisions according to the policies and regulations of the business.

A Quality Inspector should hire employees who use clear, logical steps and excellent judgment to understand an issue from all angles before executing an action depending on the objective and the methodical approaches to benefit a company's productivity.

Hard Skills Required to be a Quality Inspector

Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.

Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.

A quality inspector should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

Quality Inspector: Hard skills list

Analyze data from a blower door test
Apply building codes and specifications
Apply drafting and mechanical drawing knowledge and techniques
Apply electrical codes
Apply knowledge of fire codes
Apply mathematics to statistical modeling
Apply statistical methods
Apply structural and safety principles to buildings and other construction projects
Conduct a blower door test
Conduct an air leakage test on a building's ventilation ducts
Conduct investigations and research
Define the thermal envelope of a building
Enforce laws, ordinances and regulations
Evaluate new construction industry practices
Examine structures and identify construction faults or expose potential maintenance problems
Follow hazardous materials specifications
Follow regulations
Follow safety procedures
Inspect material moving equipment before and during normal operation for wear or breakage
Interpret and explain governmental and organizational rules, policies and regulations
Instructing
Maintain repair records
Maintain safe work environment
Mathematics
Measure the annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) of an appliance
Measure the carbon monoxide (CO) output of appliances and cook stoves
Measure the steady-state efficiency of an appliance
Monitoring
Operate and maintain inspection tools and equipment
Prepare reports in timely manner
Quality Control Analysis
Reading Comprehension
Read blueprints and technical drawings
Read schematics and specifications
Recognize public safety hazards
Time Management
Trouble Shooting
Understand, use, and communicate technical information
Use a differential pressure sensor such as a manometer
Use algebra
Use basic mathematics
Use computers in building inspection activities
Use geometry
Use metering and test equipment in building and construction inspection

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