4 Skills you need for a career in data analytics

Advanced Excel

Advanced Excel skills are some of the most straightforward to learn to boost your CV for a role in Analytics. Hiring Managers sourcing analytical candidates will look out for tools such as “Pivot Tables”, “Macros” and VLOOKUPS” on CVs and applications.

There are plenty of free tutorials online to help you get to grips with these tools. This will give you a foundation in analysing data while also shifting your CV towards a more analytical role.

Coding

Data Analysts not only collate data but they can also be expected to manipulate it to present the findings. Coding can be used to manage and manipulate large data sets and to convert data into insights. “R” and “Python” are some of the most commonly used languages for analysis, research and statistics, but there are many others.

Excellent resources are available online such as Data Camp and Code Academy. These will give you more of an understanding of these languages and their real-life application.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a service that helps you to track metrics relating to your website such as number of visitors and time spend on page. It can be used to analyse the effectiveness of online marketing strategies and assess ROIs.

It provides useful insights and statistics for businesses to use to improve their website. The Online Marketing  Institute provides examples of how the tool can be used in data science and will help you add another analytical skill to your CV.

Communication

Data on its own won’t help a business. A data analyst role relies on transforming data into something useful that can be factored into making business decisions. The ability to define a problem and communicate it to your employer is a skill that can be highly valued. Delivering a solution or a specific recommendation is something that adds further.

Having communications skills complements an analytical mind in business and can help ensure you land that dream job. Data will often be presented on PowerPoint, so it’s swotting up on design and animation so your presentations will look slick and on brand.