By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data-driven image seo
    Data Analytics Helps Marketers Substantially Boost Image SEO
    8 Min Read
    construction analytics
    5 Benefits of Analytics to Manage Commercial Construction
    5 Min Read
    benefits of data analytics for financial industry
    Fascinating Changes Data Analytics Brings to Finance
    7 Min Read
    analyzing big data for its quality and value
    Use this Strategic Approach to Maximize Your Data’s Value
    6 Min Read
    data-driven seo for product pages
    6 Tips for Using Data Analytics for Product Page SEO
    11 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: No Smokescreen Area: Tips for Hiring Analysts
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
ai in software development
3 AI-Based Strategies to Develop Software in Uncertain Times
Software
ai in ppc advertising
5 Proven Tips for Utilizing AI with PPC Advertising in 2023
Artificial Intelligence
data-driven image seo
Data Analytics Helps Marketers Substantially Boost Image SEO
Analytics
ai in web design
5 Ways AI Technology Has Disrupted Website Development
Artificial Intelligence
cloud-centric companies using network relocation
Cloud-Centric Companies Discover Benefits & Pitfalls of Network Relocation
Cloud Computing
Aa
SmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Data Management > Best Practices > No Smokescreen Area: Tips for Hiring Analysts
AnalyticsBest PracticesExclusiveMarket ResearchPredictive AnalyticsStatisticsWeb Analytics

No Smokescreen Area: Tips for Hiring Analysts

metabrown
Last updated: 2011/05/10 at 1:45 AM
metabrown
6 Min Read
SHARE
- Advertisement -

Lately there’s been talk about a shortage of analytic talent.  The perception that there is a shortage of analysts surprises me, since I know many capable analysts who are looking for work. What’s more, as a former corporate trainer and university instructor, I’ve seen that many people can become effective analysts given the right training. So where’s the shortage?

- Advertisement -

Lately there’s been talk about a shortage of analytic talent.  The perception that there is a shortage of analysts surprises me, since I know many capable analysts who are looking for work. What’s more, as a former corporate trainer and university instructor, I’ve seen that many people can become effective analysts given the right training. So where’s the shortage?

Reports claiming a shortage of analytic talent look a lot like a smokescreen for other issues. Hiring processes are now centered on automated keyword search and commission-based third-party recruitment. The vast majority of recruiters are simply unfamiliar with analytics. Some managers expect that any list of keywords and checkboxes will be fulfilled. And there are even analysts out there feeding the fire – claiming that a good data analyst must have a PhD, or that hardly any analysts with business sense are available, or that business understanding is innate and cannot be taught. What a lot of nonsense!

More Read

2012 Market Research and Analytics Job Predictions

Let’s look at it from the hiring side. You’re in the market to hire a data analyst. How are you going to go about it? Heaven help you if you just read one of the bestsellers on analytics published in the past few years – there’s precious little concrete advice in those.  Maybe you’re expecting a recruiter to find the right candidates for you. What direction will you give the recruiter? What relevant knowledge does your recruiter have? Are you paying the recruiter on commission? If so, what’s the incentive for that recruiter to spend time on the unfamiliar process of finding you a data analyst when there are easier and more lucrative searches to be done?

If you want analytics help, you’re going to have to think it through. Nobody can do it for you. If you don’t properly assess your own needs and goals, you will have no adequate way to determine what you need from an analyst, and your hiring process will flounder.

You can find the right talent if you are prepared to ask the right questions. For starters, ask questions of yourself! Questions like these:

- Advertisement -

Why do you need an analyst?

What is the value of analytics to your business?

What do you require that you and your current staff cannot do?

What options do you have for fulfilling those requirements?

Self-inquiry sets the stage for your search. If you don’t clearly understand your own needs, how would you expect anyone to fulfill them?

- Advertisement -

Why do you need an analyst?

What do you want out of this? Is your business facing some problem that you want to address, such as high customer acquisition costs, a reduction in profits or poor response rates for your promotions? Is business going well enough, but you believe there is some opportunity that you’re missing, such as a new market?

What is the value of analytics to your business?

Estimate the value to your business of addressing each of the needs you’ve identified. You shouldn’t invest a million dollars to solve a half-million dollar problem, and it’s just as foolish to resist spending to address problems that are draining revenues from your company.

What do you require that you and your current staff cannot do?

- Advertisement -

Do you know what steps are needed to address your problem, but lack time (yours or your staff’s) to do it? Or do you need guidance, because analytics in general, or perhaps just the specific type of analysis you need right now, is new to you?

What options do you have for fulfilling those requirements?

Is this a total start-from-scratch situation or just overflow? Perhaps you could take advantage of resources you have already if you were willing to reconsider priorities or get the right training for your current staff. If you have no analytic talent in-house, what do you want most, quick advice (which might be an indicator for using a consultant) or internal resources for the long term? Will you need someone who is best as an individual contributor or who can lead a growing team of analysts?

Asking yourself these questions will set the stage for you to define the questions specific to your own situation that will help you to outline your own requirements, and prepare you to search out and interview candidates.  The analytic talent your business needs is out there, and there are excellent analysts on the market who want to find you just as much as you want to find them.

For more on the analytics hiring process, read my article – Analytics, Schmanalytics: How to Evaluate an Analyst.

- Advertisement -

 

©2011 Meta S. Brown

TAGGED: recruiting analysts
metabrown May 10, 2011
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share
- Advertisement -

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

ai in software development
3 AI-Based Strategies to Develop Software in Uncertain Times
Software
ai in ppc advertising
5 Proven Tips for Utilizing AI with PPC Advertising in 2023
Artificial Intelligence
data-driven image seo
Data Analytics Helps Marketers Substantially Boost Image SEO
Analytics
ai in web design
5 Ways AI Technology Has Disrupted Website Development
Artificial Intelligence

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

2012 Market Research and Analytics Job Predictions

8 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

AI chatbots
AI Chatbots Can Help Retailers Convert Live Broadcast Viewers into Sales!
Chatbots
giveaway chatbots
How To Get An Award Winning Giveaway Bot
Big Data Chatbots Exclusive

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US

© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?