Home Resources Blog May 2018

60 Seconds with Leslie Palmer

11 May 2018
This month we spoke to ISO 9001 Client Support Representative, Leslie Palmer, for her views on NQA, her top tips on certification and how you can prepare yourself for a smooth certification experience.

WHAT IS YOUR ROLE?

I am a Client Service Representative (CSR) primarily for ISO 9001 (Quality Management) covering the Northern half of the U.S. from the East Coast to the West Coast. I work out of the Acton, MA office. Previous to this role I was one of the original Client Service Representative’s for Aerospace and have actually been with the company for 15 years. 

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT AT WORK?

This is really silly but this moment stands out for me because it was so peculiar and so original. One year, the Acton operations team held a ‘Lunch and Learn’ detailing the certification process so that staff across the board knew the customer journey.

We looked at each department from scheduling to finance, to marketing and operations. This involved some role play where I was an actual certificate. I was a sandwich board and ran into the room at the end of the session and got to prance all over to display how proud I was of achieving ISO registration. It was something completely different to my everyday role and definitely sticks out as one of my most memorable moments.

FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT WORKING FOR NQA?

This seems to be a rolling trend throughout most of the staff ‘60 Seconds’ but there really is a tremendous camaraderie amongst everyone here at NQA. We work as a true team. Everyone is always willing to share what they know and spend the time helping each other. This also extends to our amazing team of auditors. I have never worked at a place like it! 

TOP TIP FOR PEOPLE LOOKING AT CERTIFICATION?

When you take that leap to apply for certification make sure that you are already prepared. You can rely on your CSR to guide you through explaining the step-by-step processes and the turnaround times involved along the way but the process will run much more smoothly if you have conducted your own internal audits and research prior to us coming in. We can help you choose a consultant if you’d like some expert advice on your management system. You need to know your business inside and out.

HOW MIGHT YOU BE ABLE TO HELP OUR READERS?

One of our strong points here at NQA is our single point of contact practice. No matter what your questions are, your CSR can help. This is where the team concept comes into play. If I cannot answer you, I will be able to find someone here that can and I will get back to you. We know how frustrating it can be to be passed from pillar to post so we try our hardest to eliminate this and pride ourselves on our friendly and efficient service.