How to Get Noticed and Hired as a Data Analyst

So, you’ve learned the skills needed to become a data analyst. You can write queries to retrieve data from a database, scour through user behavior to discover rich insights, and interpret the complex results of A/B tests to make substantive product recommendations.

In short, you feel confident about embarking full steam ahead on a career as a data analyst. The next question is, how do you get noticed and actually hired by recruiters or hiring managers?

There are three main steps you should take in your master plan for data analysis domination: 1. Build data science projects;

2. Show your work and make it publicly available;

3. Network, network, and network some more.

Luckily, data analyst jobs are extremely abundant, lucrative, and intellectually fulfilling. There’s no shortage of work, and good work at that—it’s just a question of how to find it and earn it.

Build Data Science Projects

Building projects is a great way to apply and showcase the data analysis skills that you’ve added to your arsenal. It’s also a solid opportunity for you to demonstrate that you can work through a data problem end-to-end: from data acquisition and cleaning through analysis, to communicating your findings so clearly that even the tech-illiterate can follow along.

Got your brain juices flowing, but still not sure what project to tackle? Narrow in on a specific task or question you’re interested in solving. For example, there are lots of socially relevant data sets available online that you can analyze. 

Another tactic for building up your portfolio of data science projects is participating in a data competition

It’s a great way to gauge your abilities against those of your peers; and if you do well i.e., place in the top 10, you’ll have another arrow in your quiver in the search for plumb data analyst jobs. 

Show Your Work, Publicly

Speaking of establishing a data science portfolio, a crucial way to attract the notice of data analyst recruiters is to show and tell. Specifically, showcase your skills and projects on LinkedIn, Facebook or a personal site constructed through Jekyll, WordPress, Medium, Tumblr, SquareSpace, or another personal blog platform.

For bonus points, if you want to present your findings through data visualization, you can create and share interesting visualizations with others on sites like LinkedIn

Network, Network, Network

Your network is your most powerful tool in your hunt for good work. Truly, sometimes it’s who you know, rather than what you know, that can land you the dream job.

And having the right professional network at your fingertips can expose you to more job opportunities than if you were trying to land a gig alone.

A few good ways to build up your network of professional contacts:

• Attend local data analytics meetups. They’re great opportunities to log face time with others in the industry who may hold positions you’d like to attain or else who know people who do. In addition, the people you meet may know of companies hiring for positions that you’re qualified for.
• Reach out to other data analysts or data scientists on LinkedIn. Ask them relevant questions about their work, and ask what advice they’d give aspiring data analysts on finding or getting a job (just be courteous and appropriate, couching your “cold call” in the understanding that they are likely very busy and that you sincerely appreciate their time).
• Answer questions in popular digital communities like Quora and Cross Validated in order to build your credibility and your online footprint. Many data professionals, as well as data recruiters and hiring managers, frequent those sites, and your posts and answers may impress them.
• Speak to as many data analysts as possible from a diverse list of companies across industries, and identify what challenges they face and what solutions have worked or not worked for them in the past. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, it’s not a sign of weakness in any way.

Also remember that professional relationships are a two-way street. Sometimes the best way to ensure you’ll get the most out of one is to do the assistance yourself, first: doing someone a favor by making an introduction or offering to review their e-book on Amazon, for example, is money in the networking bank for the future.

Even when you’ve got a job, if you’re not in love with it, networking can enable you to figure out exactly what you want to do, and then shift gears to something that’s a better fit.

With data analysis experience under your belt, it’s time to put your skills to the test by putting yourself on the market as a data analyst for hire. This three-pronged approach—building personal projects, showcasing your work, and networking—will demonstrate both that you can do the work required of a data analyst and that you’re available to do so.

You can also enroll for any of data analytics training courses such as

• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Power BI
• Microsoft SQL
• Python

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