Seeking advice on how to obtain a CB sponsorship and an ADP account

Hi Dagmara:
Welcome! There are a few of us here with CB experience in a number of positions and different CBs. You are correct in that well-qualified auditor candidates are difficult to find. As you might imagine there are a number of “routes” to meet your objective and these will be dictated by a couple of things. First is cost. That is, the cost to the CB and the second are some things like any particular experience you have to bring to the relationship and also your geography.

Some of the easier routes are with CBs which make it easy to sign up to become sponsored but they will possibly make you pay!

Then, the more qualifications you have, like attending a recognized IATF Lead Auditor course, submitting your paperwork to Exemplar Global or maybe IRCA for one of the higher grades (including your audit logs) goes a long way to showing (at your cost) that you have the right capabilities. No CB will want to sponsor you unless you are a low risk to them.

Then if you have industry experience - especially in emerging markets, have Core Tools expertise esp the AIAG-VDA FMEA or VDA 6.3 you become very interesting. Then if you live in a heavily automotive related state - Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, SC or now AL, you may ace it!

Then choose a couple of CBs who rank well with IAOB…

 

Andy is on the mark.

CBs will usually expect an applicant to come ready with current certified lead auditor from an accredited provider. There might be flexibility if you have impressive skills in one area but the cert is in another. It depends on how badly they need people and how badly they want you. If they want you badly enough they would sponsor your Lead Auditor course and exam in the specialty you would be working in because regulated industries want it. I ended up moving away from IATF and lived happily ever after in Responsible Care.

They will want significant experience in the industry. Most of us are graying, have been in industry for many years. Many of us are retired and audit half-time or less. Most are contract now, with the exception of high-demand specialties like automotive and medical instruments. If you get hired as an employee you can expect a full schedule. Be careful of that because the required documentation for IATF is extensive and the travel can be tiring. It is not a job for those having needful family members at home. There is an idea that auditors can go sight-seeing on their trips. It sounds romantic but I almost never see it happening.

If you decide to go contract, I recommend looking at turning yourself into an S-corporation for significant tax savings. There are costs of course, including accounting services unless you are comfortable with handling your own payroll and tax matters. I would rather audit a day and pay the pros.

The major CBs advertise for auditors. You can look at their ads to get a peek at what they are asking for. If you know someone it is generally helpful to get a referral, but as IATF you wouldn't need that to get someone's attention. Even if you don't have all of the requested qualifications now, you can apply and invite them to engage you in discussion regarding what they need that you have, and how you can prepare to fill the gaps if any.

I hope this helps.

 

When you do make a connection with a CB, make sure to ask them how the handle reimbursement of expenses. You will have a considerable amount of flights, hotels, car rentals and meals on your card which all affects your credit score. How they reimburse you can affect that. You should be able to do everything on line and receive a payment by direct deposit. Smaller CBs may not do this and it can affect your creditworthiness.

 

To add to Andy's good advice (I used a dedicated credit card and paid off the balance each month from my business account) some CBs pay personal time for travel and some don't. DNV used to - don't know if they still do.