Example Career: Quality Control Analysts

Career Description

Conduct tests to determine quality of raw materials, bulk intermediate and finished products. May conduct stability sample tests.

What Job Titles Quality Control Analysts Might Have

• Analyst Microbiology Lab
• Analytical Lab Analyst
• Ethanol Quality Leader
• Lab Tech
• Lab Technician
• Laboratory Analyst
• Micro Lab Analyst
• Quality Assurance Technician (QA Technician)
• Quality Control Analyst (QC Analyst)
• Quality Control Technician (QC Technician)

What Quality Control Analysts Do

• Conduct routine and non-routine analyses of in-process materials, raw materials, environmental samples, finished goods, or stability samples.
• Interpret test results, compare them to established specifications and control limits, and make recommendations on appropriateness of data for release.
• Perform visual inspections of finished products.
• Compile laboratory test data and perform appropriate analyses.\
• Complete documentation needed to support testing procedures, including data capture forms, equipment logbooks, or inventory forms.
• Calibrate, validate, or maintain laboratory equipment.
• Participate in out-of-specification and failure investigations and recommend corrective actions.
• Supply quality control data necessary for regulatory submissions.
• Receive and inspect raw materials.
• Investigate or report questionable test results.
• Perform validations or transfers of analytical methods in accordance with applicable policies or guidelines.
• Ensure that lab cleanliness and safety standards are maintained.
• Identify quality problems and recommend solutions.
• Monitor testing procedures to ensure that all tests are performed according to established item specifications, standard test methods, or protocols.
• Train other analysts to perform laboratory procedures and assays.
• Identify and troubleshoot equipment problems.
• Participate in internal assessments and audits as required.
• Evaluate analytical methods and procedures to determine how they might be improved.
• Write technical reports or documentation, such as deviation reports, testing protocols, and trend analyses.
• Review data from contract laboratories to ensure accuracy and regulatory compliance.
• Serve as a technical liaison between quality control and other departments, vendors, or contractors.
• Coordinate testing with contract laboratories and vendors.
• Write or revise standard quality control operating procedures.
• Develop and qualify new testing methods.
• Prepare or review required method transfer documentation including technical transfer protocols or reports.

What Quality Control Analysts Should Be Good At

• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
• Flexibility of Closure - The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

What Quality Control Analysts Should Be Interested In

• Conventional - Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
• Investigative - Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
• Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

What Quality Control Analysts Need to Learn

• Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.