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Quality assurance is an essential part of any business. It’s how companies ensure that their standards are met and they deliver acceptable goods or services to their customers. Without quality assurance, subpar products or services could go out. And if word gets around that your quality sucks, your business reputation is going to go down the drain.
Because quality assurance is so important, many companies hire people for this role. They need people to develop quality control policies, increase efficiency, and reduce waste. They’re hiring workers to test software and analyze the details. They’re hiring people to make sure employees and contractors are meeting key specifications.
And the best part? Many of these companies are looking for remote workers. That means you can find quality assurance work from home jobs that allow you to eliminate your commute.
What Are the Qualifications for a Quality Assurance Job?
Each company will have their own requirements for their quality assurance roles. But here are some common skills and qualifications that you can expect to see:
- Ability to analyze data
- Strong attention to detail
- Excellent communication skills
- Superior organizational skills
- Outstanding critical thinking
- Proficient in Microsoft Office, especially Excel
- Ability to work remotely
- A quiet home office with reliable high-speed internet
If you aren’t comfortable working with data and looking at the details, this position is probably not a good fit. But, if you’re able to analyze the information you have, look for ways to improve, and tell others about your findings – you might be a great fit for a quality assurance job.
Keep reading to learn more about this position and where to find opportunities.
How Do I Prepare My Resume for Quality Assurance?
The QA field is competitive, especially for the work-from-home positions. To improve your chances of landing a job, take the time to do some research before applying. You need to research each individual company and update your resume to create personalized application materials.
Always read the job description closely. Then, use some of the same language from the posting in your resume. For QA jobs, you want your resume to show that you:
- Have the required education
- Understand the company’s vision and values
- Possess the required skills
Do you have previous experience in quality assurance? Highlight this on your resume.
If not, don’t despair. If you have any customer service, administrative assistant, or data entry experience, there are many skills that cross over into quality assurance. Even if you don’t have that experience, maybe you can demonstrate that you have the skills needed. Think carefully about your past positions or education. How did you use the skills this company wants? By creating a CV in lieu of a resume, you can focus on your skills instead of your experience.
When you are preparing your application materials, remember that you are applying for a job where it’ll be your responsibility to look for errors. Don’t make the mistake of turning in applications that have spelling or grammar errors. Have someone else proofread it for you, just to get a second set of eyes on it. You want to turn in quality application materials that are truthful.
What Is the Hiring Process Like?
Many people want to work in quality assurance, especially when they can do it from home. This means the companies often get hundreds of applications for each open position. When you have lots of candidates and not many jobs, you wind up with a very competitive field.
Because of this, the hiring process is often long. And you won’t always hear back with a yes or a no. Companies are looking for any reason to eliminate candidates, so always follow the directions. If you’re asked to submit a CV and cover letter and answer a dozen questions, do that. Jump through the hoops and provide the requested information.
If you make the shortlist, the interview process varies from company to company. Some will ask you to do a brief QA test to see if you’re familiar with their products and can do the job. Others will bypass the testing phase and go straight to interviews.
How Should You Prepare for the Interview?
The more you know about the company, and particularly the products or services you will be analyzing, the stronger a candidate you will be. Before an interview, do as much research as you can.
You should also find someone to help you do a mock interview. Practice answering questions confidently. Here are some you could practice:
- What is data-driven testing?
- What tools have you used to enter and analyze data?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- When you’re analyzing a process, do you prefer to start at the beginning, middle, or end? Why?
- What are your favorite products or services that our company offers?
- What is the difference between quality assurance, quality control, and testing?
- How do you prioritize your test cases if you are running short on time?
- How do you ensure testing is complete and the product is high quality?
Of course, the exact questions will vary from company to company, but you should expect questions about the QA role, the processes you use, and the experience you have. There will also be some more personal questions thrown in, so the hiring team can decide if you’d be a good cultural fit.
Since many remote positions utilize phone-based interviews, you won’t have the benefit of reading body language. Pay close attention and try not to let your answers ramble.
How Do You Find Quality Assurance Positions?
When you’re looking for quality assurance positions, be on the lookout for job titles like these:
- Quality Assurance Auditor
- Quality Advocate
- Virtual Quality Assurance Consultant
- Quality Assurance Manager
- Quality Analyst
Each company tends to have their own terminology for this position. The keywords you should search for are virtual or remote, and quality assurance. Typically, those terms will pull up the jobs that are available.
You can use job boards like FlexJobs or Indeed to find several positions you can apply for. LinkedIn also features QA jobs. However, it can be more difficult to sort out the ones that allow you to work from home from there.
Finally, you can find quality assurance work-from-home jobs on individual company websites. The following companies have been known to hire remote candidates for this position:
- World Wide Technology, Inc
- Ovation Travel Group
- TTEC@Home
- Holiday Inn
- Bunny Studio
But, companies aren’t always hiring for these positions. The quickest way to find several jobs at once will be with a job board like FlexJobs. There, you can type in search terms for Quality Assurance and pull up multiple results with a variety of companies. You can sort through them all and see which ones would be the best fit for you. It’s much more efficient than going to individual company webpages and hoping to find what you’re looking for.
How Can This Position Help Me Further My Career?
Quality assurance positions often allow you to learn more about a company and move up over time. You may start off as a QA analyst, and eventually move up into a QA management position.
While working in QA, you will be improving your skills. This can make you a more desirable candidate for similar jobs, or even those in a different field. In your QA role, you will be gaining valuable work-from-home experience and improving your:
- Critical thinking
- Analysis skills
- Data entry
- Research skills
- Communication skills
The time you spend in this role can help make you a stronger candidate for whatever field you wish to go into in the future. Here are some possible positions that relate to QA and have many overlapping skill sets:
Is a work-from-home quality assurance job in your future? Now is the time to look for a job and start applying.
