Hello everyone,

In today’s post I am sharing my experience with interviewing and general career advice. Early on in my career, I was given the opportunity to shadow a CFO for the day. I followed him like a little from meeting to meeting, heard all of the questions he was asked, and of course heard all of his responses. The best part of all of this, was we had quick 5-10 minute downloads after each meetings to sync on what just occurred. I was able to ask my own questions and get a feel for how he best prepares for meetings and gives direction. It definitely was an amazing chance to see things from a higher perspective and understand how some of these smaller topics affected the company on a larger scale. After our day spent in meetings, he asked me what my career goals were. Naturally, I had no idea so I explained that I love data analytics and I figure I would like to be involved with this somehow but that was about all I knew at the time. Some of the best advice I have ever received was imparted to me on this day – “Follow what seems to be the most interesting to you”.

This plays perfectly into the advice I, in turn, will share with you. As you begin your journey into data analytics and see which direction you want to go, make sure that you have a north star. What sort of analysis do you like to do? What are some key metrics that stay near and dear to your heart? Business will always care about sales, operations, cost, and revenue. BUT – what do you care about? What little pieces of yourself will you bring to the table?

To truly stand out in an interview among the sea of analysts, have some purpose. Be confident with your purpose. Wear it as a badge and let the company know that you actually care. For me, my motto is “Bridging the Gap Between Business and IT”. I feel this in my soul as so many companies have this gigantic gap between the way business operates and the information they have access to. Heck, it’s even what I use as the slogan for my business. To me, properly leveraging data to best accelerate your business decisions is an absolute must. You make the best decisions given the information you have, so if I can help contribute to that information you have, then I have done my job.

So back to you, what’s your guiding north star? How do you separate yourself among the sea of analysts and how do you shine as not just an analyst…but a person.

As always, happy analyzing 😊

Chris