These lessons are part of Aryng’s Analytics career transition path series for individuals.
If you have been following this blog series, so far you have narrowed down your target job profiles, established that you have a high analytics aptitude, identified the skills gaps between your background and the target job, know the training you need to fill the gap (and perhaps have even obtained it), and have started applying for jobs with an awesome analytics resume. Now you’ve received the call for the interview.
Let’s talk about how to prepare for and nail the interview. (My book, “Behind Every Good Decision”, is a good companion as you complete your transition into an analytics job. And if after reading the blog series you have specific questions on the analytics career transition path, feel free to book 15 minutes FREE on my calendar here.)
Tips for interview preparation
- Research the company. Do your due diligence and research the company to learn about the organization’s business model, revenue stream, customer set, products, locations, rough size, etc. The Company website and searches on google with relevant keywords might be the best place to start digging. The more you understand the company, the better able you’ll be to tailor your responses within their own context.
- Practice your story. By now, your resume tells a story in writing, but you must fluently verbalize that story as well. As you share your background, know what to focus on and what to de-emphasize. There’s no need to take your interviewer down a dark alley with you. For example, let’s say your resume states you took a personal year-long sabbatical. If questioned about it, have a short, coherent story ready (e.g. “I wanted to travel the world.”), which doesn’t distract the interviewer. Answer simply and don’t over-share. For instance, don’t reply, “My boss was crazy, so I went on a leave of absence and didn’t want to go back so I decided to travel.”
- Prepare for the technical interview. If the job requires technical skills, be prepared to demonstrate your knowledge of a particular tool or an analytics methodology (e.g. knowledge of SQL). That may include using a whiteboard to illustrate your answer (for example, to write a SQL code).
- Prepare your questions. Yes, you are an interviewer, not just the interviewee. And yes, you must prepare a list of questions to ask the hiring manager. Perhaps from your research, you understand the overall size of the company but you don’t fully understand their revenue model. Ask questions to validate your hypotheses on how the company makes money. This shows you will make a good analyst because you are interested in the big picture.
Next, ask questions about your job responsibility. Don’t rely solely on the job description. Someone other than the reporting manager often writes job descriptions. Understand your future responsibility from the horse’s mouth (hiring manager) and your other team members. For example, if the hiring manager’s view of your job responsibility is significantly different than a peer’s reporting into the same manger, then there might be issues as you join. Spend some time clarifying roles and responsibilities now rather than later.
Tips to ace the analytics interview
- Show your fire. I’ve almost always gotten a job offer after an interview for a job I wanted. I think that is largely due to my enthusiasm. I am one of those folks who found their passion early on (problem-solving with analytics is one of my passions) and could articulate that passion during an interview. I can’t emphasize this enough: Passion for the job often counts for more than hard skills.
- Demonstrate problem-solving skills. Analysts are first and foremost problem solvers. Most good analytics interviewers present the interviewee with a hypothetical problem (sometimes a real problem currently faced by the organization) to assess problem-solving skills. Can you take a large problem and break into into small pieces, in a structured way, laying out your assumptions and facts, and then pull it back together as a solution? Wow your interviewers by not only solving the problem, but also sizing it. You can use the sizing and estimation methodology that you might have learned during your analytics course. (As a reference, look at Aryng’s hands-on analytics course syllabus.)
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you don’t understand an interviewer’s question or you need some other aspect of the discussion clarified, ask questions—even though it may seem like you should know the information already. Answering appropriately after getting a full picture is much better than answering based on assumptions. You might be way off the mark.
- Be respectful and be honest. Show up on time, be fully prepared (with print outs and such), dress appropriately (whatever that means for that organization) and show respect for the interviewer’s time, even if they are going to be reporting to you. Don’t tear down a former colleague to build yourself up. That tells an interviewer you might do the same to them someday.
- Show confidence but be humble. Confidence inspires. If you can show that you can do the job, you remove hesitation from the interviewer’s mind. But while you share your confidence, don’t appear arrogant or superior. Nobody likes to work with an egomaniac. Be honest about what you do or don’t know. Nobody knows everything and lies get caught sooner or later.
- Demonstrate good communication and listening skills. Good analysts are awesome listeners—ever-curious about the customers, products, usage, etc. Show your listening skills by letting people complete their sentences; clarify by paraphrasing or asking questions before formulating your answer. Be brief and succinct. Don’t go on and on. You don’t need to fill up the entire hour to show you are good.
- Demonstrate impact. Just as you showed the impact of your work in your resume, make sure you reinforce it in your verbal commentary of your background, e.g. “I did a project worth telling about because it drove ‘x’ impact!”
- Conclusion and follow up. At the end of the interview, ask for next steps in the hiring process, whether anything additional is needed from you, and how you stand up against the other applicants. Then follow up with nice, specific thank yous to show you enjoyed the interview process and why you would love to work there.
If you need more hands-on help to prepare for your analytics interview as part of your career transition to analytics, enroll in Aryng’s analytics career transition path - premium package, which includes assessment, training, and mentoring, as well as career coaching services, including resume writing, interview prep, etc.
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