A candid take on how to improve your surface area of success

Posted on: June 4, 2024

Post Category: Data

---

If you end up applying for junior or entry-level positions, you’ll almost certainly go through some application process.

But there are things you can do – not just for your first Data Analyst job, but for the rest of your career…

Where you can increase your surface area of success.

And what this involves is letting people know how remarkable you are – through the relationships you build, the interesting/valuable projects you share, and actions that signal credibility and expertise.

In essence, this post is all about how to stand out in your upcoming application processes, and later in your career…

To the point where you could receive an offer, or at least an offer to interview, even when you didn’t apply for the role.

I’ll share my story later in this post.

So here are some things you can do in the short-term – for any upcoming application process.

For those who are looking for quick actionable tips for their upcoming applications, I’d recommend the following:

(Note: A more comprehensive guide on how to stand out will be shared later in this post)

• Do informational interviews. Reach out to (previously) successful applicants of the role on LinkedIn, or reach out to someone adjacent to the role – like someone who could be your colleague if you were successful. You could go as far as reaching out to the hiring manager to get insights about the role (but I’ve personally never tried this). And once you get connected with these people, schedule a chat and ask them about the role. You might get lucky enough to even be given a referral – if you have a strong personal brand, or if the person is nice enough. I’ll talk more about personal branding later.

• Know when applications open ahead of time. Know this so you can apply early. If you’re a student, grad programs and internship programs accept applications on a seasonal basis. In Australia, this is typically every February. If you have connections in any of the companies that have these types of programs, ask them if they have an idea of when they’re open. And if you *don’t* have any connections who can help you, make them – as per my first point. Keep updated with job boards that show data analyst postings, and set regular alerts so you can apply early whenever it does open.

• Check your fundamentals when applying for roles. Tailor your resume and use key words from the job description. Familiarise yourself with some of the stages you might encounter during the application process – through your informational interviews and own research. You can get a good overview of them here. And if you need support writing your resume, use GenAI to better-articulate your experiences.

Now, the things you can do to stand out in the long-term

For standing out in the long-term, I’ll talk about the following:

1. Networking
2. Sharing your work and learnings online
3. What it takes to get an offer without applying

Firstly, networking…

Networking is all about building relationships that will help you access more opportunities and grow your career. So regardless of what type of career you’re building, or what stage you’re at, it’s important.

For Data Analysts, there are two main ways you can follow to build that network from the ground up: (a) online networking, and (b) going to meetups.

A. Online networking

Online networking means connecting with other Data Analysts, on platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter.

When you’re starting to build your career as a Data Analyst, it’s helpful to get pointers from people who are later in their journey and have achieved what you want to achieve. Online networking makes these people more accessible.

So whenever you meet someone at an event and want to keep in touch, or you see someone inspiring on LinkedIn, send a connection request and ask for a chat.

Not everyone will be helpful, but the purpose is to have at least some people who can give you advice, know about your capabilities, and can vouch for you – by giving a referral or even an opportunity.

Here are some best practices I’d recommend when it comes to online networking:

• Don’t ask for a referral or a job at their company right away. I have been on the receiving end of this, and sure, I want to help people… but this puts me in an uncomfortable position because: (a) I’m only comfortable referring people I am acquainted with and whose experience I can vouch for, and (b) I don’t have a clear view of all the open roles at my company. Whenever this happens, I often forget to respond. And I can say with good confidence that other Data Analysts in the industry are not comfortable with this question/favour either. Instead, make it easier for the people you want to leverage – actually build a relationship first and be very specific about you want to learn from them. A convenient ask would be to ask for a call/chat (about a *specific* job opening at the company you can apply for).
• Show genuine interest in the other person – and focus on building that relationship. You might think this is useless and that all you want is a job. But building a relationship could help you even 5-10 years down the line. When you build a relationship, you have someone to reach out to whenever you need support at any time.
• Connect with people who have a similar background as you. People who have a similar background as you (e.g., someone who went to the same university, volunteered for the same organisation, etc.) find it easier to connect with you and your concerns. This is beneficial on your side because (a) you’re more likely to hear back and (b) their advice/experience will be more transferrable to you and your circumstances (since they’ll have a better idea what it’s like to be in your shoes).

B. Going to Data Analyst meetups

The data analytics community is all about sharing knowledge and connecting with each other – since the data space is an ever-growing one with a lot to learn.

Meetups are a good opportunity to meet data people and get valuable insights.

During these meetups you will have a few speakers give a talk on various topics – including their personal/professional projects, technical concepts, and career growth tips – followed by chats and hiring managers sharing what opportunities they have open.

To find one happening close to you, a good place to start is by looking through apps like meetup, or by checking product/software-specific user groups (like the Alteryx user group and Tableau user group). 

If you’re interested, but you’re worried about not having enough knowledge (to understand the talks and to network with others), I suggest getting some friends you could go along with (:

One more thing about networking…

I would argue networking is the easiest strategy you can execute to build up your surface area of success.

But I will have to highlight one important thing…

Every interaction you have with people – through work, social experiences and online – contributes to your network.

Your colleague at work, your tutor at University, even the person who interviewed you from a company who rejected you… could be a valuable part of your network (if you choose to keep the relationship going).

So ideally, try to present the best version of yourself – to send positive signals to others who might be able to give you an opportunity down the line.

Now, sharing your work and learnings online…

Sharing you work and learnings online helps build your visibility – and visibility is what helps you get noticed by peers, other analysts, and recruiters.

When people *see* all the cool things you can create, they will keep you in mind.

But I understand that for aspiring analysts, it is difficult to start, because of a couple of reasons: (a) believing that you need to be an expert to produce (valuable) content, and (b) believing that you need to post content regularly – like a couple of times a week.

Let’s address each of these…

A. You don’t need to be an expert to have an opinion or something to share

Think about when you’ll *actually* feel ready to share your ideas on social media…

Perhaps once you reach the senior analyst level or when you become a lead/manager? (That’s what I thought anyway).

And what do you actually have (on LinkedIn)? A lot of data analysts, who are not experts, who are sharing their learnings as they go.

Some of the most influential data analytics creators (at least on LinkedIn) are only 1-2 years into their journey – sometimes even less. And that is *not* a bad thing.

Instead *reframe* your perspective towards sharing your work/learnings online:

• Communicate the learnings you gained so far to the person you were months/years ago. If you can give advice to yourself from months/years ago, you can give advice to people who are in the same boat today. Write as if they’re your audience, and think about what you could tell them.
• An expert will find it harder to remember the challenges of being a beginner. But someone who is just a couple months, or 1-2 years ahead, can. So be that person that your audience can relate to.
• Approach your content-sharing like journaling. Instead of thinking of it like writing publications or research papers, write to reflect and to keep notes on your experiences – and be honest in the way you express yourself. Because when you try to make great content from the start, you start putting it off. When *I* started writing on LinkedIn, I referred to my feed of posts as my ‘dumping ground’. This is a helpful approach so long as you don’t share anything that is controversial and could get you negative attention.

B. You don’t need to post regularly

If you want to be a content creator and build a recognisable personal brand in the data analytics space, then by all means post regularly.

But I’d say this is all you need:

• Posting the usual career milestones like new jobs and awards won
• Sharing what you produced/learnt from a personal or extracurricular project
• Tailoring your LinkedIn featured content, banner, headline and description for a Data Analyst position

Just don’t expect to produce highly-engaging content from the start – that only improves when you write better and share higher-quality achievements/projects.

You might be just starting your journey and you don’t have much to share – that’s fine. Your early days are meant to be for growing yourself, not your brand/following.

What it takes to get an offer without applying

Standing out like this is the ideal scenario when applying for a Data Analyst/Scientist role – I get it.

But the reality is that it’s hard, and it takes time and accumulated knowledge/experience.

Here’s what I think is required, to be in a position like this: (in one sentence)

You have to be someone who produces high-level valuable analytics and can market yourself as such.

You have to be a good analyst (with a good wealth of knowledge/experience) and a good communicator – online *and* during interviews.

To get to that point, I’d develop the following things, if I had to start from scratch:

(ordered from easiest to hardest – after learning the required tools)

• Tailor my resume and LinkedIn profile for professional Data Analyst roles
• Build my network online – by reaching out to people who are where I want to be (and have ideally been in my shoes at one point)
• Publish and share my creations from personal projects and (voluntary) experiences like hackathons and competitions
• Write some retrospective posts and/or tutorial posts
• Keep applying for roles and building connections with the people I meet throughout the process – *even* if i don’t end up getting the role (these people could redirect you to another opportunity or person).
• Start as soon as possible and *consistently* do all the above steps
• Create and share a project that brings a lot of attention or solves an existing problem that businesses have

I wish I could write a shorter list of things to do. But the reality is that if you want to be given opportunities (and pick and choose between them) without applying, you have to do more than the average candidate, to say the least.

And truth be told… I have never gotten to the last dot point.

I have never created something that brought alot of attention (and you don’t have to either). But it *is* a surefire way to get recruiters and hiring managers to reach out to you.

If you can reach the second-last dot point, I believe you’ll put yourself in a good position. Because you’ll have good projects/experiences under your belt and a good personal brand.

Even if your personal brand doesn’t reach far, you will have many close connections who could vouch for you. *And* you will better-articulate your experiences (compared to other analysts who don’t share their work).

Ultimately, remember that your career is a work in progress.

Once you get more and more experiences, you will start to build that ‘X factor’ that will help you stand out.

Closing remarks

At the beginning of 2024, I started my second year as a data analyst, straight out of Uni – so right now, I’m still quite junior.

And as I write this guide (near the end of March, in 2024), I recently had the most foreign professional experience of my life:

I got a phone call from a headhunter.

I got offered a role without even applying or being open for work – and they told me the base salary would be about 100K+ AUD.

It’s a very ideal situation to be in, to say the least. But let me share with you all the things that (I think) helped me get to this point:

2019-2020:

• Found out about data analytics/science
• Started taking online courses
• Took part in data competitions
• Gained alot of voluntary experience

2021:

• Wrote my very first blog post
• Kept putting together voluntary data-related experiences on my resume and LinkedIn
• Got two analytics internship offers

2022:

• Received a graduate offer at a data analytics firm (which I accepted)
• Started writing (more) regularly on LinkedIn and on my blog
• Published my very first guide for students – about Tableau
• Did another analytics internship

2023:

• Worked full-time
• Wrote 200 posts on LinkedIn
• Created personal projects in my spare time

And throughout those years, I kept asking people for help on LinkedIn, attending meetups and networking events, and learning about the best practices as I went.

It took me a long while with consistent effort.

But I know heaps of people who just want get their first job as a data analyst (and figure out the rest later); in that case, your timeline will be a lot shorter than the one I shared.

The point I want to illustrate is that it’s not easy; getting to the point where you are given your first data analyst job offer, let alone getting headhunted, is not easy.

So when you’re building your career as a data analyst, you have to be willing to do the extra uncomfortable things like building your network and sharing your work.

If you don’t, you’ll just be an analyst no one really knows about or can vouch for – and you’ll be doing all the heavy lifting yourself.

Being an analyst is not just a numbers and tech job – you have to be comfortable sharing ideas and talking to people, and you might as well practice now.