7 Data Analyst Resume Examples & Guide for 2023

The statistical and mathematical skills required of a data analyst are important to any business. Companies collect massive amounts of data, and someone has to make sense of it all.

Data analysts interpret data and provide solutions that impact the success of the whole organization.

As demand for data analysts grows, the field becomes more competitive. So how do you make yourself stand out among all the other qualified candidates?

A great data analyst's resume plays a crucial role in this competitive environment.

Data analyst resume examples

Entry-level data analyst resume example

• Focus on accomplishments. This candidate has limited experience but utilized their experience section to focus on accomplishments. Recruiters want to see what you have achieved in the field, even in an internship.

• Add a section for industry expertise. Adding something like industry expertise bars can show skills in a creative way that stands out from other resumes. It’s a good way to show originality while making use of all the space on your resume

SQL data analyst resume example

• Choosing the right layout. Your experience, industry, and seniority can dictate which is the best resume layout for you. This candidate uses a single-column layout that puts the focus on their experience in the industry.

• Opting to leave out your summary. Not every resume requires a summary or objective. If the job you’re applying for requires a cover letter, you may choose that as your opportunity to introduce yourself and leave more room for experience on your resume.

Healthcare data analyst resume

• Optimize readability. Squeezing a lot of information onto one page can be overwhelming for the reader. Be sure to choose a layout, fonts, and colors that are clean, professional, and easy to read.

• Including references on your resume. Not all job listings will request that references appear on your resume, but it can be a quick and easy way to have all your important information in one place for hiring managers.

Power BI data analyst resume

• Explaining your strengths. This candidate provides context for their soft skills with a strengths section. Don’t expect recruiters to take your word for it, show that you’re “globally recognized” by including an example.

• Sharing publications. Adding a section for work you’ve published is a great way to show your impact in the field. Consider adding a section to show any articles, books, or research papers you’ve published that relate to your target job.

Financial data analyst resume

• Tailor your summary to your target job. Be selective about what you choose to include in your summary. Highlight accomplishments most related to your target job. Writing a boring, generic summary will lose recruiters’ attention.

• Keep your education basic. Unless you’re a recent graduate, your education section should be simple. The name of the school, degree, and years attended are sufficient. No need to include a GPA.

Marketing data analyst resume

• Use industry terms and keywords. Tailor your resume by using the same industry words and phrases that appear in the job description. Be sure to add them in naturally. “Copy-and-paste” resumes will be obvious to recruiters.

• A simple and professional header. Don’t get too carried away adding information to your header. It’s the first thing recruiters will see. Keep them interested with a header that is concise, relevant, and professional.

Choosing the right layout for your data analyst resume

There are several variables that dictate which is the best resume layout for you like industry, seniority, and your target job.

In your data analyst resume, it’s good to include information like certifications you’ve taken, projects you’ve worked on, and specific skills.

These can be anything from handling data and using the best statistical methods to explaining what said data means.

Make space for all of this in the resume outline you choose!

Here’s what you should consider when choosing a data analyst resume layout:

• Readability and design that naturally guides the reader through the different sections
• Make your greatest achievements stand out with a separate section
• Dedicating a section to data analyst projects you’ve worked on, especially if you have little formal experience in the field
• Include certifications to show potential employers you spend time constantly honing your skills
• Ensure you include skills not only related to data management but also visualizing results and communicating them to stakeholders.

Nailing your data analyst resume header is more important than you think

Whether it’s a CTA or a regular hiring manager, the first thing someone is going to see when they look at your data analyst resume is the header. That’s why simple as it may seem, it’s essential to get it perfect.

A data analyst header should have the following:

• Your name and any relevant certifications like CCA or EMCDSA
• Your title should be as detailed as possible and include details like “entry-level” or “senior” if relevant
• Your contact info, be sure to use a professional email and add a phone number in case the recruiter needs to call you
• Links to your portfolio of work like LinkedIn or GitHub to show that you post your work, collaborate, and network - all great qualities for a data analyst.

What works here:

• Customized job title tailored for the target job
• Professional email address
• Just the city and state for location
• Link to an online portfolio

What doesn’t work here:

• Generic job title
• No portfolio link
• Unprofessional email address

The second example is just “phoning it in” while the first says “I’m a proud data analyst ready to show what I can do and learn.”

The second is the message you want to be sent.

Why the data analyst resume summary or resume objective is so important

The resume summary or objective can serve as a trailer for your resume - it has to get the attention of the reader and keep it.

To write an effective resume summary or objective, you need to think about your impact. What have you helped the company accomplish?

Back that information up with hard data - after all, this is something you need to do on a daily basis as a data analyst.

You can tell this one almost gets it right, but vague wording makes this sound meaningless.

What makes you motivated? What certifications do you have? Of course, you’re eager to grow and learn. What data analyst isn’t?

This summary conveys a lot of important information as is still short and to the point.

You know the candidate’s level, get a snapshot of their experience, their certifications, what they want in their next role, and even their motivations.

But what if you’re an entry-level data analyst?

This resume summary strikes the perfect balance between sounding qualified and professional, along with conveying a deep passion for the field.

What you should include in your data analyst resume summary:

• An elevator pitch that presents what your value to the company will be
• Hard data on what your impact has been
• A hint about your motivation and interests
• Who you are and what your personal qualities are
• Why you’re a valuable hire
• What is your motivation and career trajectory.

This information will help recruiters decide if you’re a good culture fit for the company and whether the company can accommodate your career development dreams.

Alternatively, if you will be adding a cover letter to your application, you can expand on this information there and skip the resume objective or summary altogether.

This is not a required section in your resume, but it may play a role to distinguish you from the competition.

How to make your data analyst resume experience section powerful and easy to read

The experience section in your resume gets the most attention from recruiters. It should represent everything you’ve learned during the years you’ve spent honing your skills.

To make sure your experience section says it all, make sure you highlight a few key bits of information.

First, be clear on your role in your previous company and what industry you were working in. Then make sure you demonstrate the impact you had on the business - and back it up with numbers.

Usually, we recommend keeping jargon to a minimum but don’t shy away from some data analyst terminology. It will convince the recruiter you know your stuff, but you’re not trying to show off for the sake of showing off.

Data analyst resume experience examples:

What works here:

• Bullets are detailed and highlight achievements
• Real data and numbers
• Industry terms and programs

See the difference? The second example is vague and focuses on responsibilities. It could be used to describe the exact same experience as the first example, but the impression you get as a reader is dramatically different.

Say, you’ve worked on improving the data infrastructure within the organization. Rather than saying “Headed the internal data systems overhaul,” you can highlight what this led to.

Did it lead to a 10% improvement in the time for information retrieval? Did the easier process increase the adoption of regular data checks by other teams? Whatever the result was, add it - and best try to quantify it!

What makes data analyst resume experience effective:

• As a data analyst, you must be concise and clear - so make your bullets specific and to the point.
• Use numbers to demonstrate your impact - be specific and show your achievements.
• Use keywords and data science terminology to show you’re proficient in the field.
• Don’t opt for the easiest vocabulary - use active verbs, and strong and uncommon words.
• Frame any experience in lessons learned and skills gained that will help you for this job.

What should an entry-level data analyst resume experience section look like?

You may have read that last section and thought “Yes, but I don’t have any experience like that in my past, what should I do?” Not to worry, you can show you have relevant experience in other ways.

Start by identifying all of the relevant skills from the job description (a detailed breakdown on how to do that under the skills section below on this page).

Find ways to show you have those skills in other jobs, projects, or education. For example, if they want presentation skills you can mention your university debate experience.

Or, if they want someone adept at SQL, show that you got an online certification.

The best way to show education on your data analyst resume

A data analyst position will often require at least a bachelor's degree in business analytics, data science, computer science, or a similar field that’s highly reliant on statistics.

If you don’t have that, but you’ve still taken a statistics course or two, don’t despair. Just make sure to highlight that information in your education section.

Here’s what you should do to optimize your data analyst resume education section

• Include your highest education degree first
• Highlight any math or statistics courses you’ve taken
• Mention specific tools or database query languages you’ve worked with that also appear in the job description
• Add anything that puts you in front of the pack - be it classes you took, honors and awards, or a capstone project that contained a strong analytical element.

Here’s an example of an education section for a senior data analyst:

Because this person finished their degree a decade ago, there’s no need to include any details beyond the basics. Their 10 years of work experience should speak for itself.

An entry-level data analyst education section should look more like this:

What skills should your data analyst resume include?

A data analyst needs to have both hard mathematical and statistical skills, as well as soft skills that come into play when you present your findings or business issues to different business stakeholders.

Of course, you’re going nowhere if you don’t have the technical skills. After all, as a data analyst, you’ll be handling large amounts of information on a daily basis.

How to show your technical skills

Most technical skills can simply be listed this way (unless you have certifications for them, in which case you should include that in your certifications section).

This section allows the reader to see your strengths at a glance. The rest of your resume can go into more detail about what you’ve accomplished applying these skills.

In terms of analytical skills, data analysts are usually required to have a good grasp on descriptive and inferential statistics - letting them spot customer habits, valuable segmentation criteria, and other key business information.

As far as technical skills go, there is a growing requirement for data analysts to be proficient in database query languages.

Most businesses work with SQL, but there are some other options out there. In any case, learning the logic behind SQL will help you build queries in other languages, too.

As many businesses are adopting Tableau, it’d be good to familiarize yourself with this powerful data visualization tool.

It is crucial when you need to present information to different teams in the company - or even when you’re trying to make sense of the data yourself.

How to effectively include soft skills as a data analyst on your resume

Technical skills alone won’t put you ahead of the rest.

Actually, recruiters seem wary of hiring a strong technical candidate who’s expecting that their role will be similar to a software engineer, and won’t be effective when communicating with other business stakeholders.

That’s why it’s good to highlight your communication skills, too.

Just make sure that rather than writing a hollow “excellent communicator”, you actually mention a situation that proves your communication skills.

Here you can see how a data analyst doesn’t solely list vague soft skills but instead effectively backs them up with examples, creating a proper skills section.

Matching the data analyst skills on your resume to the job opening

Any resume should be tailored as much as possible to the specific job it’s being used to apply for.

To show you just what this looks like, here’s some text taken from an actual data analyst job posting on Indeed.com.

• Oversee the collection and analysis of due-diligence data, including results of the FLA's Sustainable Compliance Initiative (SCI) assessments and fair compensation program. Analyze trends and connect data across projects and departments.
• Present analytical results and data visualizations in a way that is meaningful for stakeholders and provides actionable insight. Design and prepare reports and presentations in support of the FLA's strategic goals.

Let’s see what those keywords highlighted above should translate into on your resume.

Oversee: You’re going to need to show management and leadership skills. Try and include examples of times when you’ve demonstrated those qualities in your experience section.

Analyze trends: You’re going to be expected to conduct analysis, no surprise there, but be sure to use this same kind of language when describing your analyst experience.

Across projects and departments: You’re not going to be working in a bubble. You need to show that you work well in complex organizations and can communicate effectively with people who may have a different knowledge base than your own.

Present: Presentation skills are important, try and mention them where possible.

Meaningful for stakeholders: You need to show that you can use empathy to understand what’s important to others.

Actionable Insight: Show that you can think beyond your own work to how it’s going to be used by others in an organization to change things.

Design and prepare: You’re going to be expected to manage reports, including their visual style. It would be great to emphasize any familiarity with design.

As a data analyst, you should already be used to doing this kind of deep analysis. Just think of the job description as a mountain of data you need to draw the right conclusions from.

Including certifications on your data analyst resume

There’s a big skills gap in the data science field.

And since this is a newly emerging field, university education can be on par with additional certifications.

The certifications listed below are useful for every data analyst - but especially if you’re transferring to data science from another field.

On the one hand, a certification testifies to your data analyst skills and experience. On the other, the projects you work on as part of your certification provide a proof of concept that you can showcase during recruitment interviews.

You can also include these in a separate projects section in your resume.

Other sections to give your data analyst resume something extra

Besides everything mentioned above, there are a few final sections you may want to consider.

One is projects. If you have data analysis projects that were outside your education or formal work experience, this is a great section to show that experience.

Also, don’t be afraid to include a little personality.

As the job description mentioned above showed, data analysts are expected to have excellent personal skills. Therefore, showing some personality on your resume is vital.

Take a look at the company or organization’s website in addition to the job description.

What personal qualities do they emphasize in their company culture in addition to the job? Now think about how you can show you’ll be a great fit.

This can be done by including your interests, or simply things you’re most proud of. You can also include sections of your favorite books, professors, or thinkers in the field that have shaped how you approach data science and statistics.

All of this goes a long way to let you stand out from the crowd and demonstrate you’ll be more than just a data-analyzing robot.

Key takeaways for making a great data analyst resume:

• Concise and specific information about your achievements and impact
• Overview of your data analyst experience and education that is tailored to the job description
• Skills, both technical and soft ones, matter
• Certifications and online courses you’ve taken to extend your education
• All of this should be presented in a clean, modern resume template.

Although the data science field is very competitive, you’ll maximize your chances to land a job when you pass the first hurdle - getting an interview. A carefully planned resume will help you do just that.

The best data analyst resumes contain no fluff and are focused to present all the key information your target audience - the recruiter - needs.

It is not just an application document - it also shows how good you are at providing concise information and insights. Something you will be doing on a daily basis once you get hired.

So make sure you prove you’re good at it, starting with your resume!