The best Data Analysts are extremely hard to find and are worth their weight in gold to a va...
The best Data Analysts are extremely hard to find and are worth their weight in gold to a variety of businesses. The demand for Data Analysts has continually soared in recent years, as more companies started and continued to embrace the importance of analytics within business.
With the market becoming increasingly crowded, and from our experience, it is absolutely crucial that candidates have a good experience from the get-go, right through to offer stage. With that in mind, we take a look at 6 top tips to hire Data Analysts in 2022 to ensure they choose your business.
Whether these are direct applications or from your chosen recruitment partner, these should be reviewed and responded to within a maximum of 48 hours.
Of course, you want to test the candidate’s credentials. Can they really do what their CV says? The logical answer would seemingly be, “let’s send them a task to complete before interviewing them.”
However, analytics candidates are in high demand, so will often have numerous opportunities on the table but simply not enough hours in the day to complete three or four separate tasks. We need to look at engagement here, and it’s vital to get candidates CV feedback quickly.
Based on our own research throughout 2021, specifically regarding the hunt for Data Analysts, there are 2 key findings which stand out:
The feedback we constantly receive is candidates would like to do their first interview at the potential employer’s office, and importantly, with the hiring manager.
A face to face interview with the hiring manager really enables the job seeker to get a better understanding of the role, the opportunity, and the current challenges facing the analytics team. While we recognise internal teams and HR professionals will play an important role in the recruitment process, given the technical element to analytics, first interviews are better received by candidates with subject matter experts.
Another crucial point here is flexibility. Most candidates would rather not use their annual leave to attend interviews, instead, more in favour of interviewing before work, during lunch hours or after work. If the hiring manager can be flexible, this already sets a good impression of your company!
Interview length – 1 hour. This should be enough time to get to know the candidate on a personal level, as well as test their core competencies and enable them to ask any questions they may have for the interviewers.
Our advice is to provide all interview feedback within 24 hours to ensure the candidate stays engaged and never feels under-valued by a potential employer. If feedback is delayed, you are giving competitors an opportunity to run their process more smoothly!
This is where I believe the task (if required) should come in. The task should be based on the crucial skills required for the vacant role and should take circa 2 hours to prepare.
Time is a huge factor in securing your ideal candidate – you don’t want to be beaten to a hire by a competitor who finished their process smoother and quicker. This interview should also take place at your office and should involve a run-down of the task, asking the candidate to present their findings, and find out about how they structure their work.
Importantly, it should also be an opportunity for the potential hire to meet a variety of stakeholders at all levels to ensure both parties can see a cultural match.
You’ve found your perfect match – now you need to make sure they accept. You should have a clear picture from your recruiter of the candidate’s overall package expectations, what other offers they may have on the table and their main motivations for moving on. Tailor your offer accordingly!
The offer should come within 24 hours of the final interview being completed. For similar reasons as to first interview feedback, it is essential at this stage to make the candidate feel wanted and valued by your organisation. If you make a competitive offer quickly, the candidate is far more likely to pull out of other interviews and therefore you face less competition.
Every organisation and hiring managers have unique interview methods, processes and questions, but we believe if these guidelines are followed, you have a great chance of turning around an interview process within 2 weeks to put you in a fantastic position to hire your first-choice analyst!
Chris Hugo – Specialist Analytics Recruiter for B2C companies. If you’re planning on hiring into your analytics and insights team this year, please get in touch to discuss how we could assist with your hiring needs. Likewise, if you are looking for new job opportunities, let’s have a chat about who I could introduce you to in my network.
