State of the Data Analyst Job Market 2025: Top Job Seeker Mistakes

Behind me, but it's all good. If anything, at least they gonna know I got a light.

All right, all right, let's see, see, pop up on the screen. Are we live?

According to what I see,

we're

on LinkedIn. Let me check.

I don't see— oh, there we go. All right, all right, all right, all right. You guys can hear us and see us, please let us know. Also post where you are calling from or where you're watching from. We are on LinkedIn Live and we are on the YouTube. We are worldwide over here. So good morning, good afternoon, good evening, depending on where you're at. But yeah, post in the chat where you are watching from. All right. Melissa can hear us and see us. Yeah, we're, we're Where are you? Where's everyone watching from? Post that in the chat. Minnesota's in the building. All right. Hopefully it's warm up there. Where's that? Where else is everyone coming from? As we get people to come on in, Houston, Texas is in the building. All right, all right. Massachusetts is in the building. Okay, that's definitely a state that I have never been to. No bananas. Okay, Canada. All right, yeah, look at that, Canada's in the building. Okay, as we get some— as we get more people flowing in, where are we all coming from? Where are we calling from? All right, Canada, Massachusetts, Texas, Minnesota. Where are we calling from? I'm calling from Alabama. Where y'all coming from?

Where are you, Pedro?

Pedro, are you talking?

I was trying to fix my, um, my, uh, yeah, now I'm from Texas, all the way in Dallas, Texas.

Okay, all right. Um, yeah, that is definitely okay. Yeah, I forgot you are a Cowboys fan. That is, uh, not the best thing about you. That's probably the worst thing I know about you, actually.

I'll make sure to blur it so you wouldn't see it this time.

Awesome. And I'm originally from Wisconsin, but I'm coming to you live from the West Coast of Mexico today.

Oh, wow. I've never been to Wisconsin.

Oh, never? No, people tell me— the Midwestern people, um, who I talk to always tell me that they can detect the Midwestern accent, so You know, I try to tone it down, but it gets me every time.

Okay. All right, I'm gonna just send a couple notifications and then we're gonna get the show on the road, right? Everyone else can keep going. Canada, Massachusetts, a couple Texas folks. Okay. All right. Okay, so What is— what are we doing here? So we are doing a state of the job market address. Okay. And before we do that, we're gonna do some intros. So my name is Kedisha. I help career changers launch their data careers without going back to school. And I run Data in Motion. And I'm a self-taught data scientist, used to deliver pizzas, and now I deliver insights. So crazy world we live in to do that. All right, so we got Emily and Pedro here. Let the people know who y'all are in case they're seeing y'all for the first time.

All right, me. All right, so my name is Emily. I am a former Wayfair recruiter who eventually became a career coach. When I was working for Wayfair, I recruited for business intelligence mainly. And, you know, through that, Brew a love of data, did my own data analytics certificate myself, the Google certificate for all those of you out there who've done it as well. Love the sequel. And now I am here to support job seekers who are looking for their next role in tech.

Well, unfortunately, I don't have the certificates like you and Kedisha. Pedro Zambrano. Currently, I'm working as a senior technical recruiter for an organization that's headquartered in Tennessee. in Knoxville. I work remote for them in Texas. Previous to even joining this company, I was a Marine career recruiter, did 23 years in the Marine Corps. While tech was something that was a little bit later, working with people has never been a strange thing for me. And something that I feel blessed to be a part of is once I met Kedeisha and had an opportunity to begin to, you know, deliver some knowledge on this platform and just bring the connection from the hard skills with the soft skills that are needed for each of you that are out there looking to make that impact and join that next team. So I'm excited to be here, and I'm glad that we're doing this again.

Alrighty. All right, so let's talk about why or what are we doing here. So last time, uh, me and Pedro were talking, or we did a live people were excited to have like a panel discussion with like recruiters and stuff like that. So I was like, okay, great. Um, and in the midst of that, I had posted a— I made a post about an entry-level data analyst job that, um, you know, one of the Data in Motion, uh, mentors, uh, there was a role opened on his team. Uh, so I made a post and say, hey, this there's a role, um, hybrid out of Atlanta area. You know, it's an easy fast track, so just send me, you know, if you're interested, send me information. You know, without realizing it or expecting it, I got like 300 DMs about it. Did not expect that. I mean, 300 DMs. Um, and it's weird because I'm like, I don't even get that type of engagement in that short of time on like my post. So I was like, wow. So I, I did that and I just got a flood of DMs, right? And what was unfortunate was it was only a couple, a couple people were qualified. Um, and it was, it was, it was a bit more astonishing, it was a bit more shocking. And we're going to talk about why. We're going to give some insights on like some of the things that I found out, but I realized there's a lot of things that we are doing that's getting in our own way. Yes, the job market is— it's a bit— it is what it is, you know. We can complain about it, but we can't really complain about things if we're not doing everything that we can in our power to put us in a position to win. So that's what we're going to do today. We're going to— we're going to get the mirror and take a good hard look in the mirror today, right? So we can do everything in our power to pretty much get ourselves in positions to win. So let's talk about some insights. Okay, the first thing, location. So the post said hybrid out of Alpharetta, Georgia. I'm not sure why I'm getting DMs from people in, you know, Germany, um, uh, Canada, um, Everywhere else but outside of the United States. So to me, that it just speaks to like what, lack of attention to detail? Or it's like, so to me, it's like one of the things where are we spending time or wasting energy applying to roles that we clearly don't qualify for just off of location? So one of the reasons why, you know, we apply to something and it has 500 applicants It's a ruse because again, a lot don't necessarily qualify. So location, that's number one. 2, background. Okay, so listen, I love me some career changers. I love me some non-traditional backgrounds, but you got to have something on your LinkedIn that speaks to data analytics, right? A lot of people would message me, they're doing whatever. I go to their profile and there's nothing that says analyst. Nothing. Like, just absolutely nothing. If you're in insurance, great. But if you're really targeting an analytics role, why doesn't your profile speak to that? No evidence of Tableau, no evidence of SQL, like nothing. So if you have a non-traditional background or if your background is non-analytics, Like, you can't be, you know, applying for a role and then your LinkedIn says nothing about that. Like, it just— you can't— it just doesn't mix. So that's one. That's another one. And for those who were local, this one made me almost cry. So for those who were actually local, and even some that even had like a portfolio or projects The skills were not there. Like, honestly, we gotta have an honest conversation about this. We have to have an honest conversation. Just having a portfolio or just doing projects is not enough. There is a level of proficiency that we have to have. And what you don't want to do is say, hey, I have a project that you can look at, or I have a portfolio that you can look at, and it looks like you just started learning it yesterday. So let's be honest. And so let's just, just, let's just put something clear. If this is a quality of work on your portfolio, you're not ready. Do not put yourself out there and say, look at me, because it, it doesn't scream proficiency here. What you want to do with your portfolio projects is have something that relays that you're, you're doing the level of work that is needed on the job right now. And so when you're putting out like work like that looks like you're just learning it yesterday, or, you know, it's not really, you know, saying that it's not high quality enough, you're not going to get answered back. So that is one of the things that honestly made me almost cry. So, um, so, so that— those were the insights, uh, those, those were some of the insights. So, uh, Pedro, Emma, what, what do you think? What do we Do you have anything

you want to say, Pedro? I'll let you go first, veteran.

You're so nice. So I 100 times 100 agree with you, Kedeisha. So something that I've even experienced is when posting a job to a job board, a platform, putting it on LinkedIn, Even after identifying location, work style environment, hybrid or on-site, you know, I've tended to get resumes that were— so let's say for example the role is in Knoxville, Tennessee. I'll still get somebody from Seattle, Washington dropping their resume in for the role, and then I'm always going to do the due diligence to give you a phone call because I feel like that's what you deserve. You don't, you don't deserve to be left on read or just floating out there there trying to figure out the answer. And then I make the phone call, I was like, oh, just trying to see if this is a hybrid role. Come on, man, I put all the details in there and you're still wanting to figure out if it's different? Something that is an immediate, just like, letdown is when you have someone that doesn't pay attention to what's posted for the job opportunity. That's strike one. And then the second is when through that you're— you've, like Kadeesha says, you, you're expecting for someone to read between the lines on your skill sets and what you have to deliver, and you're wanting a certain quality and a certain level of an opportunity. What you're showing though doesn't measure up to it, and then you get upset when somebody says this isn't making the cut. So yeah, I, I see that far too often, and it's kind of disheartening because you would, you would like to believe that somebody does read everything. But if you're not reading enough on the job description and you're turning in your resume anyways, and somebody does eventually reach out, you shoot yourself in the foot.

Awesome. Yeah, I think, um, for me, like, I, I really agree a lot with what the both of you, what the both of you you said about the, you know, the quality of the applications and attention to detail. You know, I feel like, you know, I work with job seekers on a day-to-day basis. And, you know, we've all been, you know, wherever we are today, we've all been through a job search. So, you know, it's a skill that needs to be learned as well. So I have a lot of compassion for people who are just starting out with their job search. Maybe they're looking to change their careers. We have a lot of people who come, like, especially in the data space, who come from nontraditional backgrounds and then are looking to, like, you know, learn SQL and work for a tech company. So I really have a lot of compassion, you know, for people who are trying to like upskill, level up. You know, that being said, you know, speaking about like location, attention to detail, all these things are definitely important. And whoever is watching out there from around the world, yes, it is really hard to get a visa sponsorship in the US right now. So if you're like, honestly, I would see that as a waste of time if you're a career shifter and you're looking for an entry-level data analyst role in the United States, honestly, don't even think about it because you'll waste massive amounts of time. Um, and it would be really, really difficult for you to find a company that would be willing to sponsor your visa. Um, so keep it local, keep it to places where you know that you have a chance. I know in other countries, like, it's more possible. Actually, I used to, I used to recruit for Wayfair in Germany, and we did visa sponsorships there. the process was a lot easier. So just be kind of be aware and maybe do a little bit of research into the locations that you're interested in working in. Also, so, Kadeesha, you had spoken a little bit about like their background and having nothing on LinkedIn. And I feel like a lot of people, you know, when they start out with their job search, they start with me. Like they put themselves at the center of the job search and say like, okay, this is Emily, this is what I can do. But actually, No one really cares, to be honest, because I as a hiring manager, what do I care? I care what I care what you can do for me and what you're going to do, what value you're going to bring to my team, and what you're going to do for my bottom line. So, and I would invite all of you, and I'm really excited actually today to be speaking to the data crowd because I know that you know that data is everywhere and you can leverage the data that's out there. And honestly, we are swimming in a sea of data right now. So all you have to do is something as simple as read through 10 different job descriptions, maybe toss them into ChatGPT and say, you know, these are the top 10 roles that I'm targeting for a data analyst role right now. What are the top keywords that I need to have on my LinkedIn profile in order to be able to get the attention of, you know, recruiters, sourcers, and hiring managers out there? So, you know, compassion for you guys. You know, there's room for opportunity, I would say room for opportunity. I'm happy to speak on those topics today. And, you know, I really am appreciate what Kadeesha said about, about your portfolios, because I feel like in this process, getting expert feedback like somebody like Kadeesha is invaluable to you. So, I mean, I feel like, you know, you start off where you start off and every interview process you go through, every rejection you receive, it's a learning experience. But definitely if you have the ability to, you know, reach out to your network, do some networking on LinkedIn, see if you can just have some conversations with people and ask for feedback. That will serve you very well in your job search.

You mentioned something that was interesting about job descriptions. So I was on a call with someone who mentioned that, you know, when I asked her, like, how many, like, job applications have you been putting out? And she said not many because she's— she wants to apply to ones where she fits 90% of what's asked for, which I feel like is super high. When I did When I was getting out the military, I did a program and, uh, you know, we had, uh, folks from like, you know, you know, companies talk to us and they gave us a number of 70%. So that's always what I've had in my head since then. So, um, I speak to that. So I do think there's a skill when it comes down to assessing job descriptions. So how can we help people get better at that?

Uh, you know, I love that you just said that right now because I'll be, I'll be completely honest. And yeah, that's not because I'm gonna lie, because I'm really honest with you. In the beginning when I was looking at resumes, I was like, oh, they have to perfectly fit exactly to what the job descriptions are. No, you don't. If you're around the 70, 75, you know, like you're in, you're in that, that C+ range The rest of the intangible qualities that can be discovered through conversation when connecting with recruiting, you know, enterprises, when speaking to staffing agencies, those are the additional bullets and nuggets that we can deliver to the hiring managers. Because to be honest with you, everyone, everyone's going to have skills, but the soft skills and all the other underlying things that can come out through who you are, the character you demonstrate, who Those are what can take your resume that if it's a C+, a B, that is still strong because organizations, they want to still cultivate growth inside of them to where they want you to come in and don't have like this whole mentality that you know everything. You're not going to know everything. I love that you brought that up, Kedisha. Yeah, you don't need to be a 90 for any job that you apply to. I personally have submitted resumes 2 hiring managers to where the candidate was at about a 75% range on— in the system, looking at it and grading it towards the job description. And those candidates, they're in the roles today. Why? Because the rest of it comes when you're actually having that conversation and you connect the LinkedIn to who you are as a person. All the things are meeting, the dots are connecting. Yeah. 75 and higher. Easy peasy. Stay in that range. Don't try to be too perfect.

Yeah. And also to your point, Pedro, of having skills that match, I feel like people a lot of times say, at least a lot of the clients I've worked with, they really underestimate their transferable skills. So for example, when I was hiring for business intelligence, basically data analysts, right? And all of the clients that you have as a BI analyst at Wayfair are basically your internal colleagues. So it's really important for me for the team that you're able to speak to people and communicate effectively with them. And so if you're sitting there and thinking, oh, I've never done anything like, how can I demonstrate this on my resume? And I'll be having a chat with someone I don't have, like, how can I bring this across on paper? What have I ever done in a previous role that, that I can talk about that will make people believe? So there is something that we like to call— they're not skills, but they're called transferable skills. So when I was hiring for business intelligence, for example, and I would see that someone was a tutor, or was a teacher, taught English as a second language, was a team leader in a sports club, that says communication skills to me. So, you know, those are things that I would like for you as job seekers to be kind of internalizing and knowing that you can write that down. You know, you can put in your skills section, you know, strong communication skills, strong communicator, whatever the case may be, maybe having a look at the job description and trying to use some of the keywords that they use there on your resume. And then just knowing where those skills come from for you and being able to articulate that on your LinkedIn profile and on your resume.

Yeah, I think that's one of the hardest things for career changers to realize is how much transferable skills that they already come to the table with. So like whenever I work with new students, one of the first initial things is going through some— doing some worksheets to write, write it down. So because what I've learned is that people will position themselves as entry-level And just say, yeah, I just finished this bootcamp, I know SQL, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, well, you just, you know, you did 10 years as a teacher, you did 5 years as a, you know, sales manager. Like, you don't— they don't say any of that. They just present themselves as entry-level. And so, I mean, when they come to us, we'll, you know, talk through them, so talk through it so that they can, you know, have more confidence and say those things. But if they're presenting themselves like that, you know, in the marketplace, They're not going to get great results. And so, yeah, how can people like kind of realize that type of stuff? Like understand that, hey, you're already coming to the table with good soft skills and good experience so that they're not positioning themselves as entry level. Yeah.

So I have a thought on that. You know, I always have people when they start their job search go through the job descriptions, read through them, know what it is that they need. And then once you know that, you're gonna see, okay, you have to be a data analyst. I need SQL, I need Excel, I need Tableau, I need Power BI, and then also I need communication skills. So these are going to be like some of the top skills that you guys are going to need. And if you are having a hard time like finding moments where you have exercised those skills in the past, maybe just write down a sheet. So you're a data people, you love a spreadsheet, right? I love a spreadsheet too. Way to my heart is through a spreadsheet. So just write down like all of the previous tasks, all the previous roles that you've had. What did you do in that job that was communication? Who did you speak with? Was it customer service? Awesome. If you were a customer service person, fantastic. I want to speak to you because I know that you have had excellent communication skills. If you were a teacher, if you were a tutor, just like writing it out, it'll really help you kind of jog your memory and then you can see it in black and white. And if you love a spreadsheet, you got it in the spreadsheet. It's then easily transferable to the paper.

Absolutely. And my favorite cousin— this is my cousin now— ChatGPT. You know, I would encourage you place bullets inside of ChatGPT about your personal experiences in your career field. And let a model try to point out those times of when you could connect the dot to something that you're going to use proficiency with as a data analyst, as a data scientist. You know, teachers, uh, I, I love educators because you have to be in front of an audience. Hint, hint, when you're an analyst and you have to do a presentation, you have to give the visual to some C-suite executives, you should have great platform presentation skills. Well, most people that go into the tech world, they kind of close up when they get in front of everybody. But if you have done a role to where you've been out in front of people, those are things that can't really be taught. You either have those skills or you don't. And you can work on those through growing, doing things like Toastmasters, you know, getting out of your shell. However, ChatGPT, type it in, let it help connect the story. And then at that point, you'll see and begin to recognize all the pieces and how they connect. Perfect example, I'm not a data analyst. However, through conversations I've had, virtual coffees with professionals since I've joined the LinkedIn platform and began to really engage and connect with everybody, just anyone in the market, especially in the tech space to learn and grow, feed myself knowledge. I then reflected and said, you know what, if I wanted to be an analyst, I analyzed data sets for 17 years in Marine Corps recruiting. It's like baseball, we measure everything. I had a ton of, ton of times when I would need to utilize Power BI for visualizations that would be provided for briefings with high, high executives, with members of the military, you know, up at the general level. Oh man, when I started having these conversations with professionals that are in this space, I'm like, wow, you know, if— when and if— and if I had the courage to, to go off into this career path, there are some points that I could bring back from my experiences I already had that could help me deliver once I gathered all the proficiency and skills like SQL and other places. Which, there's a Marine that I know right now A Diaz, he's on LinkedIn. And this guy was on recruiting duty in the Marine Corps. He's now like a Power BI guru. This— he's just— he's doing phenomenal with it. And he does a lot of his messaging to where he provides those teachings on LinkedIn with the little how-tos. But if that guy could do it, I know I could do it. And if we could do it, I know you can do it.

Yeah, and absolutely, like, you can also use ChatGPT to like get that out of you. You can just tell it, hey, I'm looking for ways to present my experience so that it aligns. Using the word aligns, I feel, is very powerful. So that it aligns with this job description. Can you ask me some questions to help me discover my, yeah, my soft skills and what they are and how I've used them in the past? Just have a chat with it.

Yeah, 2 things reminded me that I'm like, I do feel like we need to show, we need to teach people how they can use ChatGPT to empower their their career in general. Because I will say there's 2 parts to that. So yes, people need to learn how to use ChatGPT. At the same time, they also need to learn how to believe whatever it spits out. So I say everyone should have their own elevator pitch, right? So you should always have your own elevator pitch. Okay, so yes, you can ask ChatGPT to like, hey, this is about me, whatever is my background, make me an elevator pitch, or Make me in a LinkedIn About Me, rewrite my resume. But you got to deliver that confidence whenever you speak to someone on the— during the call screening, the actual interview. So you have to actually deliver that and actually believe whatever it says. So it's definitely a 2-parter. So yes, we definitely need to teach people how they can use prompts to help them do these things, but they have to believe it in themselves too. I think that's one thing that could be missing or what I've seen too. It's like, okay, I can ask ChatGPT to write this for me, but when you say it out loud, you don't believe it either. So I mean, you're still not going to get hired. So I don't know if y'all ever seen that, but I've noticed that.

Well, you know what I feel about people and their confidence? I feel like the more you say it, the more you believe it. And if you have chats with people and not even hiring managers, you just tell people, your friends, what you're doing, And they're gonna encourage you if they think it's a good idea for you. So, you know, just, I feel like just saying it kind of like wills it into existence sometimes. And like, you know, I've had cases where I've worked with people who, they were amazing human beings and extremely skilled. They didn't even know how good their skills were out in the marketplace because maybe they were doing their own thing, running their own company, a small company. But anyway, they have amazing skills because they've been doing everything. And then just through the conversations that we have back and forth, I'll tell them like, you're saying X, I'm hearing Y. You're saying A, I'm hearing B. And just kind of like repeating it back to them. So have chats with people, ask them questions about what they think about your trajectory and your skills. You'll get some good nuggets from them.

Yeah. Oh yeah, definitely. The more, the more you talk, the more you connect, right? Shake a hand, high five, your skills will get better.

Yeah.

And that's why, hint, hint, when you connect with somebody who can, you know, help you with that, you want to prepare for the real conversation. So have a bunch of wrong conversations. I'm not trying to tell you to go get yourself in trouble. It's a craft that has to be practiced. It's a craft that needs, needs to be practiced. And for everyone, as Emily's saying, job seeker-wise, You can't expect anybody to read between the lines. And even if the lines are perfect, you have to deliver the message appropriately for them to then believe that you are who you've painted yourself as. If you can't do that, then yes, like Kadeisha's saying, the prompt engineering correctly for your resume, your LinkedIn profile, you, you could set the stage perfect The next is how you talk, how you deliver, and the vice versa. You could be the great, most polished, you know, BSS person in the world. I know. And if you have that down but you don't have the skills necessary to then make it past the entry portion of screening for a role, then you won't ever get it. So it's a 2-edged sword that needs to be sharpened on both ends, and the more effort you put into it, the better results you're going to get.

And this is why I tell people to join communities, do coffee chats, network. You got to talk to people. You cannot be— if you want to do self-teaching yourself, that's fine, but like, you cannot do this stuff in a vacuum. Most likely— I know for me, I didn't know anybody in my life that was doing this stuff, so I couldn't really have these conversations. So I had to really dive into communities online to engage with people. And that, and that it's, it's, it's really, it's more important than I think people realize, um, really joining communities and like engaging and talking. Um, so that could be a whole thing within itself. Um, so, so Danielle posted a question, and Emily, I'm gonna refer to you about this too. So she asked, how do you gather keywords in a way that they can target multiple or diverse roles such as a data scientist, data analyst, data engineer, ML engineer without being too much on my profile? Well, first thing is that's too much, and those are all 4 roles that are pretty different. So Emily, I want to direct this to you too, because when it comes down to the initial stages, oh, I want to start a career in data, let me look up, you know, the top careers. Back when it was— when I was, you know, going in, it was just the main ones were data analyst and data scientist. Um, and so I just researched those 2 for like a month. I settled on data analyst, and then that was it. Now I feel like people are trying to do like too much things.

Mm-hmm.

Um, I don't know, how, how would you like— how would you like assess or like help people like really understand like Hey, that's a little too much going on. And if you're— I feel like sometimes when people overstate all those keywords, if you say keywords on your resume that speaks to all 4 of those and you're not like a 20-year person, you're not going to be believable at all.

Yeah. So I think I would like to kind of contextualize it. So 100%, Kedeisha, you're absolutely right. And when I was working as a recruiter too, if I saw somebody who had data scientist, data analyst, data engineer, ML engineer, I would really want to know. It looks like you want anything, like you're just kind of looking for something. So I really want like the job seekers that I work with to hone it down to one or maximum two different role types that they're looking for. And when it comes to data analysis, you know that there are tons of different job titles out there that fit into the data analyst bucket. So there's BI analyst, data analyst, maybe financial analyst, you know. more or less, but just like kind of put it into 2 general buckets. And I would actually like to share an analogy that I heard on— is it okay if I share where I heard this analogy previously? So I follow Advice with Erin. She's fantastic, especially for like entry-level people who are like going out for their first job interviews. And like maybe a year or 2, she had a short where she said, you know, imagine that you go into a restaurant and you order a Coke. What do you expect them to bring? So what do you think they're gonna bring if you order a Coke? Anybody in the chat? Okay, Kedeisha, awesome, thank you. A Coke, right? A Coke. And then imagine that you go into a restaurant and you order a Coke and the waiter comes back with a Coke, a Pepsi, a Sprite, a Fanta, a beer, a tea. It is confusing, right? It is complicated. I want a Coke. So am I gonna like go to the restaurant where they bring me the Coke, or am I gonna go to the restaurant where they bring me all of this extra stuff? that I don't want. So, you know, just try and align yourself. So first of all, you know, know what it is you want. I think there are 3 phases in the, in the job search process. So number one is it's like the discovery phase. What do I want to be when I grow up? Thank you, Sabina. She said cook. So phase one, what do I want to be when I grow up? You know, looking what's out there, getting like good in-depth information about what those different jobs look like. If you don't have that information right now, go out and ask. Reach out to people, try to have conversations, you know, go to Kedisha's page, listen to what she has to say, you know, just real-world experience and see if that actually aligns with what, what it is that you're looking for. Then number 2, phase number 2 is the alignment phase where you are looking— now I know what I want, let's say it's data analyst and data scientist. Now I'm going to go out there into the world, I'm going to have a look on LinkedIn, um, maybe toss like 10 data analyst roles into ChatGPT, um, and ask it to pull out the top keywords. And then do the same for data science. Have it pull out the top keywords. Actually, I've created a tool that does that. Wink wink. It's connected to ChatGPT and a Python tool, so it'll give you a really accurate output. So there are things out there that you can use to figure out which keywords you need to have on your profile. And just so you know, recruiters, when they're internal to companies— Pedro, I don't know if you guys are doing this at agency level so much, but there are like sourcers and recruiters out there who are searching also for you on LinkedIn. So they'll sit there and basically like look, data analyst, right? Search for people who have SQL skills, Python skills, and see how many people they can find with like these overlapping skills. So knowing what those skills are and then just like literally putting them down will serve you amazingly in your job search.

Yeah, if, if that tool is able to be shared, Um, you know

what, I am working on it right now. It's just an internal thing. So like, I'm, I'm doing it right now, it's up and running, but I only— it's kind of in the testing phase right now. I'm using it with my clients.

Okay, okay, okay, cool. Okay, so another thing I wanted to add to that, Danielle, so in terms of— so I mostly just, I mostly work with people, you know, breaking in and maybe getting their second role, right? So beginner to like mid-level or whatever. So one thing I want people to understand is like, despite what the marketing is, ML engineer, the likelihood of you to pivot into data and get an ML engineer role with a non-traditional, non-technical background is, is like the, uh, isn't— it's pretty nil, it's pretty zero. So I, I So just be careful when it comes down to that stuff. So you want to be able to identify like the roles that are truly, um, uh, truly— how would I say— realistic. So data analysis is very realistic for career changers because we do data analysis pretty much all the time. So we can easily pick out and say stories about that. When you go to like ML engineer or even other tech roles like cybersecurity, like it's, it's That's just not really it. So you can't really speak to that. So ML engineer, like data engineer, those are just harder roles. So that's why I was thinking like, if you're thinking in your mind, hey, excuse me, if you're thinking in your mind that you want to tailor your resume to fit all 4 of those roles, please end that at this moment. You don't want to do that. Yeah. Uh, okay, okay. Um, let's, let's see.

Uh, have 4 versions of your resume if, if that's important to you. Yeah, like, you know, if it— I know we're gonna move on to something else, but, you know, with Danielle asking that question, if you want— if you're trying to get all those roles, for someone— and I know Emily's done this too— when you get a resume If it's— if everything under the sun is on your resume, yeah, we look confused. We're like, I don't know what they're trying to do. I want to help them. I just don't know where to help direct this resume to this person. Because then you have to— one of the most powerful things as a job seeker, just anyone in general, is you have to look at it from the other person's perspective. When you turn in that resume to a company, when you turn it into a recruiting agency, what does that resume say about you and what do you want them to understand about it? And then what will they interpret by what they read on your resume? If it looks confusing and if you think, oh, I think there's a lot on here, you know what, you might be right. There's, there's a lot on there and it looks really good. Go get a second opinion before you turn it in because your perspective will be different from somebody else. So always ask for a little feedback prior to delivering that resume To any organization. And then when you get to the, to the point to where you're starting to look at it from the other person's perspective— I've been guilty of it as well. I think a professional looks really great, and I've had my business developers tell me, Pedro, I don't know who this person is. What do they want? Because if I have to turn this into this hiring manager or this director for this position who's going to be doing the interview, I need to be prepared to answer questions that they're going to want to ask the moment I turn this in and it has too much on there. Now, if it's a great resume and it's just styled for one role, which that's what it should have, then you're going to get a lot less questions and more faster service to getting it to the right people in the right eyes. And if you're having trouble with Tailoring your resume for every role. That's why you need to connect with somebody that can help you. And there are ways that you can utilize prompt engineering through AI models and ChatGPT and other, other platforms that are out there available. But yeah, lo and behold, big ticket item. And this is just my opinion, you can take it if you want. If you don't, that you got to remember, you don't want looking for a job. I'm not looking for it. You need to learn how to tailor your resume for each position. Don't overload it with too much. And then if you do, don't expect to get good results when it's that way and it gets to the eyes of the people that are going to make a decision.

Yeah, and actually, that being said, could I speak to the point of ChatGPT real quick? That'd be okay. So, um, you know, a lot of times when I work with my job seekers, um, you know, we work on creating a customized GPT for their job search. So, you know, and I'm surprised at how many people haven't seen this feature yet. So basically when you have a free account in ChatGPT, I don't think it's possible, but when you have that paid account, which I hope everybody has for data security and data privacy and things like that, et cetera, et cetera, you have the possibility to create a custom GPT. So basically you go into your profile, create a new GPT, and then, you know, you're data people. So you know that the more data the GPT has about you specifically as a person, the better results you're gonna get when it goes to create your resumes and your cover letters and help you customize your LinkedIn profile or prepare for interviews, for example. So, you know, you can actually go into the backend. You can give it all. If you have a career document, everything that you've ever done in your career, list it all out. You can literally just take your phone and just talk at it for an hour about what it is that you've done in the past. And one thing that ChatGPT and these LLMs are really good at doing is parsing that information into something that then looks very polished. So if you can give it all of that information, you're gonna get great results at the end of the day. And also, so when it comes to resume interview preparation, that might be something that you're not really thinking about when you start writing your first resume. But if you're wanting to set up a custom GPT, I would really encourage you to take, you know, 10 or 20 behavioral interview questions that you answer using the STAR method. So situation, task, action, result. Use— Pedro knows what I'm talking about, right? And use metrics, any metrics that you have, get as much data in there as possible. And if you upload a doc like that into the backend of ChatGPT, you'll get really good results and you'll have to customize it a lot less than you would every time if you, I guess, didn't start with that data.

Yeah. Okay, perfect. So before we're going to get into the Q&A just in a bit, I wanted to ask about, I do like, I get a sense even lately, some people despise LinkedIn to the point where they have an empty page, nothing, no profile photo, nothing in their experience. It looks like they haven't been working for ages. But in this modern job market, I feel like your LinkedIn, an optimized LinkedIn is just as essential as an optimized resume. In my opinion. So can you— like, I try to tell people the importance of LinkedIn. I feel like it hits home more when recruiters say it. Can you guys let the people know why they need to be paying more attention with their LinkedIn pages?

You, Pedro.

I like working with you. Yeah, LinkedIn. So for every resume that I receive for any job that's posted, or when I go to LinkedIn to source for certain roles that I'm not necessarily going to post on the job board, I'm looking at a person's profile. I pay attention to your— number one, I'm trying to make sure you're a real person. That I can't— I had an experience last night Um, where the account looked almost— it looked like legit. After doing a little bit of digging though, it's, it's, it's a fake profile. So just know that someone in— very probable in, in my position, anybody that's going to be utilizing LinkedIn for screening for candidates, we're looking to make sure you got a photo because no photo just means, uh, Okay, well, they either don't care or it's fake. The second thing is that when we look at your About section, we're looking to see impact. Like, I want to see what you've impacted and, and where you wanted to take yourself. And there's a whole way to set up your About section that, that really is a great entry, and it's a, it's a great broadcast of who you are as a professional. And then all of your achievements and your work experiences This is almost like a smaller, concise version of your resume that gives the overall picture of your— who you are, where you've been, what you've accomplished, and then the potential for what you can do for somebody else. Every resume that has LinkedIn connected to it, I'm clicking on it and then I'm going to LinkedIn. And so let's say, for example, you don't have a LinkedIn and you don't have it on your resume. We're still going to look at it. But I'm also, I also take note that, well, if you're not on LinkedIn and you're just shooting resumes as like people probably did 10, 15 years ago, and they're still doing it today, but the old keys don't open new doors. So that tells me automatically you're not built for change, you're not built for growth. And because you don't want to advance yourself into what the market and what the environment is asking you to do now, Internally, in my opinion, now through experience, that is already telling me that you're going to be challenging to have on a team and grow with them because you're going to continue to try to stick to old methods. Whether you like it or not, you know, truth and grace, LinkedIn, you need to leverage it. I, I tell Marines, I tell service members, veterans who transition, you know, they're not analysts. Some are, but not, not all of them. You can't expect somebody to know who you are if you're a stranger. And right now, with over a billion people on the platform, that— it's massive, okay? Massive how many professionals are on there. If you're not on there, then you're not anywhere right now.

Mm-hmm.

Organizations are utilizing LinkedIn to first connect, conversate, and then refer a candidate to a hiring manager. You're getting your jobs now through referrals, not really through applications. 85% of people who get in a job right now is through a referral, and you're going to get referred when you're on LinkedIn. Otherwise, you're going to have to knock on doors and go freaking have coffees in person. It's, it's just a tool that needs to be leveraged. I could probably go on for this about like 8 weeks, but we only got an hour, so I'm gonna stop.

You know, I like— I agree 100% with what Pedro said. I mean, it's just what we do nowadays. It's what we do. If you want to work in tech, you're LinkedIn, period. If you're not LinkedIn, if you're not on LinkedIn, you're not working in tech, period. So if you want to be in tech, get on LinkedIn. And then, you know, earlier I used the word like areas of opportunity. Like, let's look at the opportunity here. You know, I can't remember, was it you, Kadeesha, who said that just not having the profile filled out, or Pedro, I think you had mentioned that as well. You know, just putting words on this profile is so powerful and people are afraid, right? You know, you know, maybe you haven't worked, you haven't had a role called data analyst before and you feel like, oh, I'm not a data analyst. I don't want to put that word on the profile. But guess what? I'm looking for a data analyst. And if you're aspiring to be a data analyst right now, I need to see the word data analyst on your profile. So, you know, talking about like areas of opportunity, there are some things on LinkedIn that I like to call first view items. So every time someone sees your name on LinkedIn, They see not only your name, but they also see your profile photo. And they also see your headline, at least, you know, certain number of characters. And this headline real estate, number one, photo is important, guys. I mean, we're supposed to live in a world where these things don't matter. They do. I'm sorry if you haven't heard that before. It is really important to have a profile photo where you look at least professional. Know, you know, the kind of attire level type of attire that you're supposed to be having for this type of, the type of industry, the type of role you're looking for, and just look at the camera and try to avoid like wedding photos. Don't do the car selfie. Don't have an AI photo unless it's like going into AI. So always remember, what is the code? What do they want? For you guys going into data analysis, I would say do the, you know, business casual, look at the camera, smile, keep it professional, not the selfie if you can avoid it. Then number 2, when it comes to the headline, the first thing I want to see on your headline is data analyst. If you're looking for a data analyst role, write data analyst. And then if you're new to the field, write your tools: SQL, Python. Well, if you have Python, R, Tableau, Power BI, just list those things out because I, as a recruiter, that's what I'm looking for. You're giving it to me right now. Hey, that's the Coke that I'm looking for. If you've got any, if you've got any brands behind you, honestly, if you have brands behind you, maybe it was in a different industry. So maybe you went to a really great university and you studied like English literature. You know what I studied? German. So, you know, if I had gone to Harvard and studied German, maybe I would feel like, oh, you know, who am I? I studied German. Um, but I went to Harvard, and Harvard is a brand. So, and I can say, you know, Harvard alum. If I worked at Google, if our career started, this is not the case. But if you, even if you had an internship, you can put that brand name as your internship, especially if it's something that people in your industry are going to know. So just leverage those characters. If there's something that you want to describe, like I make beautiful visualizations, or, you know, I help businesses make decisions through visualizations, something like that, you know, just give me what I want, you know, leverage that space. So those are a few first few items. Also, if you, if I click into your profile, people underestimate the power of the banner. Don't have a blank banner. It just looks like you didn't pay attention. You don't really care. Just like every space where you can fill something out, fill it out. And that just like helps you look a little bit more complete. If you don't know what to put in the banner and you're looking, if you're targeting like New York, just put the New York skyline. It's super easy. Just go on Google, copy paste, you're done. Or you can, there are so many good templates for this specifically, not for your resume, but for this in particular on Canva. Just put your name in there, put what you do, put your tools, you know, a call to action if you've got one, you know, hit me up for a coffee chat. If you want to talk data, something like that, just fill it out. Literally put words on paper.

I got one more thing, and I like some of the questions that are coming in. Please, please, please, please, please, please, once you create your LinkedIn profile, don't just share stuff. Like, because that's one way to go and validate a profile is like, does this— is this person real? Because number one, if all you've ever done is share other people's, uh, posts or anything that they, they've done, or just some— something that a content creator has, has put on the platform, after seeing so many of them, for me, that, that automatically screams like it's a fake profile because the person is just continuing to share information from somebody else. That's not bad, but it doesn't scream authentic. It doesn't scream that there's a person behind this profile and this on this platform. You could do an introduction. That's the time for the selfie. That's the time for— to make it personal. Selfie yourself at your desk working on something, creating a visualization. You can be somebody who, like Sabrina's asking— and I think that's one of the questions we're going to get into— is like how to market yourself for the past— if you've only been in data for so long, be open about those things. Organizations are wanting to hire even analysts who are young in the game, because you can be, you can be molded, you, you can grow. Um, so, but yeah, after you build it, please put something authentic in there. Don't just share everybody's information or their posts. Uh, put yourself in there because the red flag comes up when it's just a bunch of shares and no post created by the person on that profile.

I think you might be on mute, Kadeesha.

Oh, sorry. Okay, so we are about to transition to the Q&A, and before, I wanted to add quickly, if you know— if an easy way to insert yourself with reposts, just add like a blurb of your opinion, right? Like, just that's it, right? That's a way to to post your brand too. Like, you don't— there's multiple ways to be active on LinkedIn without just posting original content. Repost with your opinion is good too, and it's, it's, you know, it's, it saves time. Okay, so we're gonna get into the Q&A now. Before then, we have Pedro's and Emily's information on the screen, and here's one thing that I want to make sure everyone does. Um, I want to make sure everyone connects with both Pedro and Emily after this call or during if you want to, but please make sure you attach a message with your LinkedIn connection. Okay? Make sure you say, hey Pedro, hey Emily, it was nice hearing from you in the webinar tonight. Mention a nugget that was said and do that. Open it up. That's just one of the LinkedIn Etiquette 101s that most people just completely just don't do. Always make sure you would like attach like a message behind it. And okay, and let's get into our Q&As and stuff like that. All right. Many entry-level roles in data and analytics now require 3 to 5 years of experience, which can be discouraging for recent graduates. What strategies do you recommend for candidates like me to stay competitive and position ourselves strongly despite not having that level of experience? Okay, so new grads, how can new grads compete in this, in this modern job market?

Emily, I think you should go. Um, but as, as a nugget from last time, and I, and I'm gonna tell you, since Kadeesha said this last time, I've been dropping this hammer on a lot of people. While you may not have the years if you're transitioning or you're early in the game because you're waiting for the company, or you're, you're wanting the company to hire you so you can start getting it under your belt, Kadeesha tossed out a major nugget, and it was about connecting with nonprofit organizations so that you could be begin to utilize your skills right now and show that you have been delivering solutions in a space to where knowledge has gone to application. Um, I, I— Kedisha, when you said that the last time, I've used it. I mean, I can't even count how many number of times I've used that with conversations with professionals. I loved it, and so I've shared it ever since.

And let me add to that quickly for those of you new graduates, right? Sometimes I speak to people, they graduated 6 months ago, like if they graduated in the summer If y'all just graduated this May, right? Imagine if y'all have a job lined up, start calling new nonprofits today. Because imagine, let's say you're on the job market for six months. Can you imagine if you had six months of experience with that nonprofit on your resume? It doesn't matter if you get paid or not. That's not the point. But yeah, that that that that solves it like that, like that. Okay, um, okay, perfect. Any anything else?

Yeah, also to that point, I feel like, you know, not only nonprofits, but also if you've got people in your sphere, like, do you have family members who have their own business? Can you, you know, make some dashboards for them? And then that's real, you know, work experience with a real company. And then, you know, your family member or your, your contact is going to be able to give you good feedback around that. So definitely, you know, there's also this platform called— I think it's called Catchafire— where you can go and you can offer your services to nonprofits and stuff like that. If you haven't seen it, go, go look it up. Yeah, endless opportunities to be supporting nonprofits and small businesses, even just like who's down the street. Can I do some work for you? Just, you know, get your foot in the door. Yeah. Oh, and also, I'm sorry, back to the general question. Entry-level roles in data analytics requiring 3 to 5 years of experience. Yeah, actually, you know, this is something that I dealt with as a recruiter because We, you know, we as recruiters are some— we're at the interface, like we're in between the candidates and the hiring managers. So it's, it's a bit like a sales role, and it's also a bit of an educational role on both sides. So, you know, for example, you know, a lot of times if a hiring manager told me, oh, this person just doesn't have the experience, and I would tell them, look, you're looking for an entry-level person. What are we looking for here? I mean, this is a person who knows SQL, who maybe has had an internship But other than that, I mean, they're here to learn. And at, you know, the salary level that we're offering them, this is, you know, the experience that we need to be offering them as well. So if it's truly an entry-level role requiring 3 to 5 years of experience, there's not a lot that we as candidates can do about that. But I would say if it's— if you see that it's truly an entry-level role, you can still apply. And if you've got questions about that, be reaching out to people, be networking, you know, making strategic connections with people on LinkedIn. Is there somebody that you find who has the role that you want to have at a certain company, or maybe kind of analogous company, somebody who's in the same kind of arena, the same industry, and just reach out. Would you like the reach out strategy to a rando? It's really easy. 3 C's. You look for their commonality. That's something that they have in common with you. You compliment them. It's really interesting what you're doing. Really excited to learn more about what you do. And number 3 is chat. Just Ask them for a chat. Would you be open to a 20-minute conversation about the work that you do at XYZ company? And just make it actionable, make it easy to have a chat with them, because the more information you have, the better you're going to do in your job search.

So on that, when someone— when a hiring manager says, like, what type— what is the characteristics that they're looking for when they say 0 to 3 versus 3 to 5? 5 to 8, like, maybe it is— it maybe not the necessary quantity of the, the actual number, but like, are there specific characteristics that they're looking for that they want when they put those ranges on the— when they ask for those ranges?

Oh, Pedro, you're a little bit more in the game right now. Maybe you can speak to that.

You know, some— sometimes— well, I won't say sometimes. A good amount of times they don't know what they want, and that job description that you see may have been one that was copy-pasted from a role that had been previously used, and they just haven't updated it yet. So for— I have a great example. So I worked with an organization, and they wanted to get— they wanted to have someone come in and be an analyst for their company, and they wanted— they actually wanted 5 years of experience. Cool. And through conversation, the reason that this organization was saying they wanted 5 years experience is because they were going through a tough migration and they didn't believe that someone who had a few years of experience was going to be proficient enough to handle the responsibility of the migration from Power BI to SQL. Through conversation, We're recruiting the staffing agency because we've interviewed and we learn and grasp the skill sets of those professionals we mentioned. If the big concern is the proficiency to be able to accomplish the task of the migration, why not let us use a— I'm losing the word for it right now. Let us use an assessment. There you go. Let us utilize an assessment for the professionals so that we can prove to you that you don't need professionals to have this, this many years of experience. You just need someone who's already proficient enough to be able to accomplish the task. And what that would do for them, and then what that'll do is just let you know that you don't need somebody at 5 years. We can actually lower it and increase the amount of candidates we're going to get. And the assessment will then weed out those that are not skilled enough, and the ones that are, you get a chance to talk to them, and that's going to be the ones you can take. And so through that, we've been able to help analysts and just tech professionals and anything from any type of role in the tech world through those conversations, get through an assessment, and then the assessment will then provide you the ability to exercise your skills and ensure that you don't need the years of experience. You just need to actually be the proficient person to be able to execute it on task.

Yeah. That being said, I feel like a lot of times, like you said, Pedro, somebody maybe copy and pasted this job description. I have really a lot of compassion for people who are applying like in quotes for anything, because we honestly, like, we don't know what is really going on behind this job description. Is it something that was posted 4 years ago and now we need to replace that person because they've moved on or gotten promoted or whatever? And we're just like not thinking about it because we don't have the time and resources and we just click like repost. So it's a possibility. So I would say, you know, when, when you're the job seeker and you're going out and, you know, trying to apply for roles, maybe taking into consideration, like what is the salary level? If it's like, if it looks like it aligns more with like a, uh, more of an entry-level role, then, you know, you could probably feel a little bit more encouraged to apply. I know that salaries aren't always posted, but that could be an indicator for you. Um, other than that, like getting as much information as you can from the, uh, from the company.

Yeah. Okay. Um, see, um, when a person is pivoting into data, what are some things or recruiters are looking for? So I guess this goes back into how, how can people with, you know, non-data experience, you know, how can they make their LinkedIn and their resume, you know, speak data analyst when they don't necessarily have the experience?

Hmm, you want to take this one, Emily? Because honestly, all I was gonna do is say everything you said earlier.

Yeah. So I mean, I really feel like if you're pivoting into it, like, look for basically checkboxes, things like, what is this person hiring? What kind of boxes are they looking to check off with, with this job description? Are they looking for a bachelor's degree? Do I have that? Check. Are they looking for somebody with SQL? Do I have that? Check. You know, if you haven't used SQL in a job before, how can, how can you present, you know, ways in which you've used it? Have you done projects? And if you haven't done projects, you need to do projects, otherwise you're not getting hired. So start there. But just, you know, linking to your portfolio, you know, get that up and running, get some feedback around that. So I want to know that you've got the tools that I need you to have. I want to see that you know how to use them. And also, like, when it comes to data, I mean, one of the really big things that I was looking for is like those social skills, you know, communication skills. So you know, use your transferable skills and the experiences that you've used in, you know, organizations, clubs, um, former roles. Even if you think like customer service or like a job that you had working in front desk somewhere, you think it's not applicable, but I will look at that person and say I might have a conversation with them over like a backend engineer because backend engineers— and this is a prejudice honestly— but backend engineers are not known for being like good communicators. But I know that if you've had like face-to-face interactions with people on a daily basis, then absolutely, like we're having a chat. So, you know, think about transferable skills. If you don't know what they are, ask ChatGPT, have it pull them out of you.

Yeah, basically the intangibles too. Like if you read, if you get like job description, data analyst job descriptions, just remove or block out the technical stuff, you should be able to see yourself in those requirements too. Communication, you know, maybe leadership or whatever, talking to stakeholders. Those are the ones I feel like people don't really think about. We just skip to the technical skills, but you should be able to see yourself in those other skills, those softer skills, be like, oh yeah, you know, I've been doing that, you know. And then you're like, oh, these skills, I can start learning them because the tools don't matter, to be honest. Any— like, tools I didn't say they matter, but it's like, again, some people, they won't— they— some career changers, they will not apply for a role because it says 3 to 5 years of experience or 3 years of experience with SQL when, hey, they've gotten pretty darn proficient in it in like 4 months. It's possible. Like, like, it's hard to like believe that, but it's possible. Um, okay. Um, let's see what Um, let's see. Um, no, this is what— so what would you advise a person who has a LinkedIn profile but is also shooting at getting other jobs that he is skilled in but it does not show in his LinkedIn profile? The first thing that came up to mind was like, um, if you're shooting for jobs or shooting for jobs that Your LinkedIn profile doesn't speak to, I don't know, it was, I was thinking of like people who, like when we're driving on the highway and we need to like go over, but we don't use our signal. Like they don't know, the people over don't know that we wanna turn.

Mm-hmm.

Right. They don't know that they're trying to get over. So again, to like Pedro's point before, like we can't read your mind. So if you are putting energy into applying for roles that your LinkedIn doesn't speak to, I don't— I'm not sure if you're expecting good, uh, results there. As long as you're expecting not good results, I think we're fine because there's no alignment there. So as long as you're expecting like low, like low probability of getting those rolls, I think we're good. But if you're expecting like high probability, I, I don't— I feel like that's just, uh, like that's just setting yourself up for failure. What do y'all think?

I think that if you have a LinkedIn profile that doesn't reflect your job search, the only way you're going to get a job is through like knowing somebody really well in, you know, the field that you're looking to enter. Um, because anybody else who doesn't know you, how do they get information about you? I mean, they looked at your LinkedIn profile. So I think that's my 2 cents.

You know, when you're reading it, Kedisha, I thought I was thinking, okay, well, I wonder if this person— and maybe I'm wrong— I wonder if they're like, I need to get a job because I'm waiting for the skills to pay the bills. So I'm applying to roles while I'm still growing as an analyst and getting my, my experience underneath me and earning the proficiency desired for an organization to say yes to my future resume. So I don't know, for me, I would need more to that question. To kind of help give them a solid direction, uh, which naturally is going to refer me back to what we said earlier, and you mentioned it— we can't read between the lines. And so applying for roles that doesn't necessarily match who you present yourself to be, you're gonna, you're gonna spark a question. And sometimes if you find the right person, they'll be willing to ask you that question and have a conversation about it. But it's hard to find those kind of people. I would like to consider myself one of them. However, that in recruiting and in staffing and, and the hiring process, not everybody's going to give you the time of day. So don't, don't leave it open for question. Have it, have it all match and carry the same message in the same story.

Yeah, as long as people understand how uh, people perceive what you're putting out. Like, just make sure it's not misaligned. Um, so, um, we have a question here. If you don't have data analyst title in your resume, can I put my current role and 3 data analyst projects? So this is something that, like, okay, um, I like to tell people to put data analyst in their, in their title, um, or, or whatever it is. But, um, how do, how do people— maybe it's another thing too, just like, how do they speak, make their past experience speak to analytics when their title, their given title for their roles wasn't data analyst? Um, what would y'all say to that?

I, I would say I'm not even alone unless it says it. So I mean, if you— if you're— whatever is on your resume, this is where the, the art of communication comes into play. It's how you present it. This may be, you know, who— I might get in trouble for this, but whatever, right? There's so many people on this platform, who's— some— somebody might not see it. When it comes to doing the reference checks for when you're in the hiring process, okay, When I'm calling for the reference checks, I'm basing it off of the conversation and the questions that I'm delivering in the reference checks for the person that you've given me the ability to, to do the check on— do the check with, excuse me. And so if everybody's having the same message about your skills and your experiences and what you did, I mean, I'm not asking for a transcript from that company to tell me by day and by need of what you did in your role. Now, this also is the other side of the coin, that whatever you present, your ability has to also measure to what you're promising to deliver. And your ability is not what you can do tomorrow or in 6 months, it's what you can do right now on the spot. So to answer the question, sure, your few— your past roles may not have had data analyst to it, If there were ways it could tie into it, that's, that's going to be up to you on how you present it to somebody and put it on your resume. Now, if you were like, hey, I was a law enforcement officer, don't, don't put a law enforcement officer as a data analyst, all right? Like, there's no way that that connects. But if there's similarities to how it's done, I mean, great question. I think it's pretty self-explanatory. Um, but at the end of the day, nobody's going to go ask that previous company about every single thing that you did. And usually when you give references, we're calling the references that you provide.

Yeah. And I think, you know, when it comes to your resume, if you're aiming for a data analyst role, the simple answer is put it. If you're already doing data analyst tasks, say that you're a data analyst. Maybe you're an aspiring data analyst. Maybe you're a beginning data analyst, but you are a data analyst. And if, if that's what you want to be and you want to be employed as a data analyst, then please tell me that you are one. Um, also, I would say, you know, you would be surprised how much experience you actually have that is transferable. So in my first role after I graduated, I was working in a student services office at a grad school, and I was— you know, it doesn't sound very data-driven. Like, what are you doing with data, right? And every year we actually had to have a database built that would accommodate all of the applicants. and the admissions and the rejections and all, all of these things. So it was my task inside the grad school to kind of manage this database. And then at the end of each year, at the end of each application cycle, to pull the data on that and create reports. So even though I was a, you know, student services officer or a director of student services, I would be highlighting those tasks because what we're doing with our resume is we're basically giving a curated view of all of the things that we've done that are relevant to the job search. We are aligning, we are giving them the Coke. So what should you do? Give them the Coke.

Okay, perfect. Perfect.

I'm about to go buy me a Coke after this call. We're

not sponsored. Maybe we should be though.

Some folks posted some questions about portfolio projects and what they should look like. I posted a link to my last video about that. It gives you like 7 minutes, literally shows only 3 types of projects that you need, what they should look at, level of proficiency. So definitely take a— take 7 minutes out of your time and watch that. That should answer all of your questions. Um, okay, so listen, um, we're, we're about 16 minutes over time. Um, We're definitely gonna, you know, I want to know what you guys are interested in, what topics, what kind of burning, more burning topics would you guys like to hear about next? You know, all right, y'all asked for a panel discussion, I gave y'all a panel discussion. Um, I was thinking about teaching, showing folks like how to use AI to empower their job search. So, you know, actually how to show them how to create a custom GPT or customize their GPT. All this other stuff, like actually see you two actually, you know, how you guys use it and how you guys use it effectively. I think that would be interesting. If that, if that's something y'all will be interested to see, post a 1 in the chat or post something else that you'd like, um, to know about or go over. But I think this was a good session here. Um, I know everyone always loves to hear tech recruiters' perspective. So, all right, Rose says put a 1. All right. All right. AI, you know, how to use AI to, you know, power your job search. Okay. Okay. All right. Wait, I only see 1, 1. So is that— that's all? No one, no one else wants to?

Okay.

Good idea. All right. Melissa says good idea. Okay. Okay. Who else thinks it's a good idea? All right. Yeah, another 1. All right, who wants to see it? She had it seen. All right, all right, Frank. All right, Frank wants to see it too.

Okay. Rose is like no one else.

Rose, we're just gonna have a chat with you, okay? That's, that's it.

Scott says he'd definitely be interested in seeing tips on how to do— and also, Scott, listen, that's a very impressive beard going on there, okay? Very impressive. All right, Ruth says 1, 2. Okay. All right, this might be it. All right. Yep. Rachel says 1. Hey, Rachel. Rachel is in Minnesota. So Midwest folks. Yes.

Midwest in the house.

All right, so I guess that's— I guess the people have spoken, y'all. We want to see how to use AI and you guys will be the the experts in that, on seeing that. So

let's do it. Let's do it.

Okay, so again, you guys definitely reach out to Pedro and Emily and y'all share, share quickly. How do you guys help when, you know, how do you guys— people want to connect with you further and speak with you further? What are ways that you help job seekers?

So for me, I'm working right now as a career coach. If you scan my QR, you will get a link directly to my calendar where you can book a 25-minute alignment call to see whether we're aligned and whether we'd be a good fit for one another for coaching. So that's how you can connect with me. And also a little ad right now, if you're at the phase in your, in your process, you can definitely do this at the beginning so that you're ready if those interview calls start coming spontaneously. Interview Tuesdays, every Tuesday I run a group where I go through interview questions and, you know, it's a, it's It's an easy way to start, you know, seeing a little bit more of Emily every week.

You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to join that, that interview Tuesday.

I don't host experts in my, in my call, Pedro.

So QR code, I believe the QR code leads to my LinkedIn profile. Is that correct? Right, Kedisha? Yeah. I am still learning how to do the fancy stuff, and you know, I'm actually wanting Emily to teach me how to do the thing which I can get to my calendar. So connect with me via LinkedIn. We'll have a virtual coffee chat. You know, I love those things. Obviously, you see me picking my cup up and down throughout this this conversation and this call. When we talk, I believe some of the strong suits that I'm just gonna. I'll use to to to the time that I'm not on LinkedIn anymore. I'm just gonna shoot you straight. I will give you the the full authentic view about where you sit. I'll take your questions, give you some good insights, and then like like Emily, sometimes you align better with with certain people. With me, and look out. I might be too much of an advocate because I'm gonna want to pour too much into you, so you may have to. Tell me to stop. At the end of the day though, I'm a huge candidate advocate. I want to see everybody win, especially in the job market. And you'd be surprised at how simple the process really is if you just put a little bit of tactician work to it with your resume, your LinkedIn profile, preparing for the interview. Professionals every day lose out on opportunities not because of skills but because of conversation. So by all means, connect, send me a message, we'll do a virtual coffee, and I'm gonna fight my way in to get into that, to that interview chat with Emily no matter what she says. And I'm gonna go buy a Coke after this call.

Okay, perfect. Listen, again, y'all better— if you— when you guys connect, make sure you attach a message, okay? Make sure you attach the message. But otherwise, listen, I'm glad that it was a great night. And listen, we will be back. We'll be back with more value. And please make sure you guys connect with us afterwards. So hope y'all have a great weekend. So, all right, we're at the end of the week. All right, see y'all later.

Thank you so much, Kedisha. Thanks, everybody.

Thank you. Thank you, Kedisha.