Stand Out in the Hyper-Competitive 2023 Data Science Job Market
I was asked last night: Do you have any tips for standing out in the hyper-competitive data science job market in 2023?
My response: Do not subvert the hiring process; treat talent acquisition specialists, recruiters, and human resource professionals respectfully, and follow the directions they share for free on LinkedIn.
Example: Since November 2014 (When I retired from the US Army), I have yet to get a job by talking directly to a hiring manager. Instead, I was hired in each position after having a talent acquisition specialist or recruiter as my advocate throughout the hiring process. Lots of negative and sometimes false information flows like a raging river on LinkedIn, so I will share my perspective (Again, this is a personal approach, and results will vary).
I will go out on a limb and share an exact copy of how I messaged the Senior Talent Sourcing Specialist at Wells Fargo, which ended with me joining the Risk Modeling Group (RMG). I was connected with this individual, and he is a fellow Army Veteran (Ahem- When you connect, do not bombard people with messages, engage on posts, find commonalities amongst yourselves, and be authentic):
Good Evening (Insert Name),
I wanted to let you know (I apologize if this is not your requisition number or line) that I applied for the following Quantitative Analytics Position at Wells Fargo:
R-162074 Quantitative Analytics Specialist
I appreciate you accepting my connection request, and I wanted to let you know if the above requisition was one of your lines for application review.
Thank you for any consideration you give this message, and have a great rest of your week.
Respectfully,
Matthew Kolakowski
Results- The individual set up a call with me, and even when I was passed over for the position above, they pointed me to a requisition number that was more appropriate for my background. In that interview process, I was successful and accepted a position at Wells Fargo.
The Cost- Free. I went to Eugene Hayden’s website (He has a substack now) and found a one-page (No, you do not need to limit your resume to one page, and it was a strictly personal preference of mine) resume template. Next, I followed Amy Miller’s free advice on YouTube to get each bullet into STAR (Situation, Task, Action, and Result) format. Then, I decided to post on LinkedIn daily throughout 2021 and 2022 about what was on my mind in the data science space (I am not an influencer nor have one post with over 1 million impressions (My highest is 600,000 impressions)).
Takeaway- Lots of free advice exists on LinkedIn and YouTube. Beating the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a farce. The resume that has the highest probability of success is the one that aligns with what the company and hiring team are looking for, written in STAR format. Please prepare for the interview process involving programming exercises and technical/behavioral/situational questions.
