Data analysis skills gaining importance to employers

It’s impossible to ignore the profound influence technology continues to have on the business landscape. Automation, artificial intelligence and digital devices are reshaping nearly everything we do – and how we do it. Unsurprisingly, as we continue to accelerate toward a tech-dominated world, it’s causing a shift in what types of skills employers look for most in candidates – and how in demand such talent is.

One of the greatest benefits and challenges to come from the rising presence of the Internet of Things – and the enhanced connectivity it creates – is the rapid proliferation and explosion of data. Organizations of all sizes and scales, across nearly every industry, now utilize systems and processes that automatically aggregate and collect vast amounts of data. But for this information to have any real value and be leveraged to gain increased insight and visibility that employers can use to gain a competitive advantage, you need people capable of analyzing and interpreting it in meaningful ways.

This is why data analysis skills are becoming increasingly important among employers today.

Growing demand for data scientists and analysts 
According to research conducted by the Society of Human Resources Management, over the next five years, nearly 60 percent of companies plan to increase the number of jobs that require data analysis skills – with the most popular functional areas for these positions in business and administration, human resources and accounting and finance.

However, finding and recruiting – let alone retaining – IT candidates can be a difficult endeavor for most companies. On one hand, the industry is suffering from a troubling talent shortage that is making it harder to find qualified candidates.

In fact, SHRM reported that nearly 80 percent of businesses looking to fill data analysis positions over the past year struggled with the recruitment.

To get a better understanding of how employers may improve talent acquisition for data analysis roles, it might be helpful to take a closer look at the current state.

• At the basic skill level, a high school diploma or bachelor’s degree is generally required – though the majority of job listings make no mention of whether it should be in a particular field of study.
• For the moderate skill level, which has the highest demand – most companies require a bachelor’s degree, with about one-third specifying it be in computer science, statistics or analytics.
• At the advanced skill level, either a bachelor’s or master’s degree is needed. The most popular preferred fields of study are analytics and statistics, though a good amount also request engineering and data science.

There are a wide range of roles that data analysis skills can be used for, including data scientist, statistician, research manager and financial analyst. And while all of these roles involve the collection, assessment and interpretation of data, there are enough variances between them that are important for employers to consider in their hiring.

Getting more specific about data analysis roles can improve hiring.

Getting down to the specifics
Given the broad nature of this field and skill set, it’s possible that being overly vague is hampering organizations’ ability to attract and onboard top talent.

This concept is something PricewaterhouseCoopers recently alluded to in its new report. According to the firm, when it comes to building the workforce of the future, it’s going to be increasingly important for educational frameworks, as well as hiring strategies, to be geared less toward traditional skill sets and more toward the soft skill sets of data science and analytics.

As the report pointed out: “The demand is for business people with analytics skills, not just data scientists.”

From financial and legal, to health care and retail, every industry is going to need data analysts, scientists and engineers – creating a new wave of multidisciplinary roles. To bridge the current skills gap and prevent it from widening any further, PwC explained that both educators and employers will need to place a greater emphasis on a variety of soft skills, including decision-making and functional analysis.

It was suggested that businesses hire for skills – not just diplomas. To improve their recruitment data analysis talent, organizations should be specific as to which skills in particular they require the most.  Finally, it’s critical for companies to have a comprehensive understanding of the role they are hiring for so they are better able to tailor the job description and employment assessments to attract the ideal candidate.