How I determined the perfect fit for the Business Analyst Position
Daniel Deutsch, MSc (JKU), LL.M. (WU)
Artificial Intelligence and Business Law
This was published in The Startup's Geek Culture; you can read it as well on medium.com
Table of Contents
Intro
I recently read the article?“If I Were to Hire a Data Scientist, I Would Ask These 2 Questions” by Soner Yildirim, where he elaborates on the two questions he would ask a data scientist. This inspired me to also write an article about the topic of hiring a data scientist, or in general, to hire someone who deals with data.
The reason I also want to express my thoughts on this is because it is
So, maybe my thought and experience on this help to shortcut the process.
The data position is always more than just dealing with data
I read so many articles on what type of tech question you should ask an interviewee. Somehow it seems that most people want to have a list of typical “data questions” to serve their interviewee and hope that the answers show clearly if they are a fit. I don’t think it does at all.
Why?
Because hiring a person should always put the personal aspect first and the in-depth technological expertise second. What I mean by that, is that I am always looking for a problem-solver attitude first. I don’t care so much about past solutions when there is a new, creative approach to a problem we as a company have.
Programming in my opinion shall not be determined by the number of sorting algorithms a candidate can learn by heart, but by how he tackles a new problem.
I look at behavior like
My latest hiring process
In my last hiring process that I was involved in, I was quite happy to have found a fit that performs very well and is rewarding the company with great results. Of course, I do not take the price for myself. It is always the company with the people involved that makes it attractive in the first place, and also do multiple things in the whole hiring scenario. So the whole hiring pipeline needs to work. Nevertheless, I share my view on this.
Obviously, there is quite a lot of luck involved as well. However, I think we can increase our luck by reducing variables that often lead to failure. So, how did we accomplish this?
Write a well-designed position description
It should always be done by the person working with the hire afterward. Simply because he knows what skill needs to be looked for.
Often you can see position descriptions that are straightforward nonsense. As someone looking for a job in that area I can already tell a lot about the professionality of the company when I see such a position description. Select hardly on your criteria. It doesn’t make sense to invite/interview people that obviously have no relation to what you are looking for. The most common thing I see these days is that most of the companies are looking for business analysts (people, who can create and explain reports) but instead “machine learning engineers” are applying for the position. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to interview an expert on unsupervised machine learning when you need someone that visualizes the content of a database.
This goes out to both sides. People that specialize in ML because it is a buzzword and say that they just to business analysis on the side rarely perform well on business analysis tasks.
Interview technical skills on a use-case from your company
As an employer, write a case study and show it to the candidate. Or give them time to perform on it. Why is that good?
First, you can see how the candidate performs on “unseen” example data. He cannot train generic approaches on specific case studies.
Second, you can clearly judge the results. Either you have already implemented it and see the results or you can judge the approach from your experience.
Third, you can see how the candidate frames his approach and shows if he asks proper questions regarding your product, the target market, or your company structure to acquire information.
Monitor performance over first weeks
You will never know all about a person in interview rounds and case-study. You need to work with them to fully see them as a colleague and person. Take your time to have a look at the work that someone is doing over the time being at the company.
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How does the person perform in times of stress?
What are his action plans for not having enough information available?
Does he get lost in details? etc.
Reward
If you found someone that is a good fit, make sure to reward them often and generously. Never forget that companies are made of people. Losing people means losing the company.
In terms of business, I value customers the most. Directly afterward come employees.
What if you can’t find a good fit?
That is a tough question, I am not gonna lie. As I am working in designing ML algorithms I would say “Iterate”.
Luck is not always on your side. All you can do is increase the chance of getting lucky. An open mind and quick adaptions are the best way to get lucky I think. Do not waste time on people you can clearly see no fit. Also do not settle for something that doesn’t feel right. Always select the people with care.
As you might know the saying
One bad apple spoils the bunch
Summary
So, what I did is
Disclaimer
I do not consider myself an expert. I merely document things besides doing other things. Therefore the content does not represent the quality of any of my professional work, nor does it fully reflect my view on things. If you have the feeling that I am missing important steps or neglected something, consider pointing it out in the comment section or get in touch with me.
This was written on 28.2.2022. I cannot monitor all of my articles. There is a high probability that when you read this article the tips are outdated and the processes have changed.
I am always happy for constructive input and how to improve.
About
Daniel is an artist, entrepreneur, software developer, and business law graduate. His knowledge and interests currently revolve around programming machine learning applications and all their related aspects. To the core, he considers himself a problem solver of complex environments, which is reflected in his various projects.
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