Five Steps to Finding Your Next Role
There is no doubt that COVID-19 has affected everyone and every area of business. The analytics community has had a unique spotlight cast upon it from many people who, maybe for the first time, understand the significance of data analytics. Unfortunately, this has not made the analytics community immune to the seismic changes in the economy. We all want to do our part to help those who have found themselves without a job. Here are five steps we think are important to put you on the path to your next role.
Self Care
Losing a job is one of the most stressful experiences we can go through in adulthood. Take some time for yourself. The weeks and months ahead are going to be trying, so take a moment for yourself to cope with what’s happened. There are a wealth of resources from people who have been there before. Learn about the stages of grief and helpful ways to process what happened. One of the best things you can do for those you love and support is to take care of yourself.
Networking and Finding Leads
Ask for help! Almost everyone has had to job hunt before, there’s no shame in being let go or deciding to look for something new. Most of my interactions with the analytics community have been filled with genuine individuals wanting to help their friends and colleagues. Don’t be afraid to have someone review your resume or practice interview questions.
As consultants, we are constantly on the lookout for organizations that we can partner with. Like any other professional service, there is an abundance of boards and platforms to find leads. This is a shortlist of the ones that we’ve been successful with:
Analytics Groups and Events: Reach out to your local Tableau, Alteryx or Analytics User Groups and their leaders. They’re connected to a ton of folks and are always willing to help. Remember any local conferences you attended? Check their website to see if they have job postings.
Twitter: Some of us even found our current roles through it. Reach out to leaders in the community or just tag the #datafam and see what happens.
Linkedin: Beyond the job listings, reach out to those folks you had a BrainDate or a drink with a couple of years ago.
Software Sales Reps: If you have a good relationship with your reps, let them know you’re looking. They are connected to a lot of different companies.
Job and Freelance Boards:
COVID-19 Specific Resources:
- Here is a list of companies currently hiring: Here’s who’s hiring
- Crowdsourced list of company hiring freeze statuses: Hiring Freezes
Updating Your Resume
If you haven’t kept it up to date, now is the time to update your resume. As your gathering all that data about yourself, consider creating visualizations showing off your accomplishments. Tableau has an Interactive Resume Gallery of resumes from IronViz winners to Zen Masters to tons of other data folks.
They even have a webinar and guide on creating your own:
Here are our favorite designs that will inspire you:
Expanding Your Resume
If you’re thinking to yourself “but what would I put in my interactive resume?”, don’t worry, we’ve got some resources for that too. For beefing up your Tableau Public or Power BI Gallery, check out Makeover Monday, Workout Wednesday, Sports Viz Sundays, Data Viz Society Challenges, Driven Data Competitions, and the Storytelling with Data Community. These can be great sources for creating beautiful and practical vizs to show off your skills.
This can also be a great time to learn something new. Curiosity is one of the great things about the analytics community. Completing a new course or receiving new badges can be an excellent way to benchmark your proficiency. Here are some tried and tested courses:
Volunteering
Volunteering can be a good way to provide benefits to others and brighten your day. Consider contacting your favorite non-profit and offering your services for free. Here are some opportunities to help:
Job hunting, with or without a pandemic, can be a difficult process. The continuous searching and rejection can be mentally and emotionally exhausting. We encourage you to take this situation in strides. Careers are marathons filled with ups, downs, and unexpected turns. It’s ok to not have all the answers right now, the important thing is to keep connecting and keep growing.