ETC5523: Communicating with Data

Professional Skills Communication

Lecturer: Michael Lydeamore

Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics



SETUs

Professional Skills Communication

Research as a career

There are two main paths after your degree: Industry and Academia.

The doors are not as exclusive as they used to be, but it can still be difficult to move between the two.

Why pick an academic career?

  • (Typically) on the cutting edge of research
  • Discover things no-one has ever known before
  • Often a broad and diverse set of work
  • Eventually freedom to pursue your own interests
  • Not commercially driven

Why pick an industry career?

  • Often better pay
  • “More” stable work
  • Faster pathway to impact
  • (Typically) 9-5 work hours and better balance
  • Supported by a team
  • Often better resourced

Today we will focus on industry careers. If you would like to talk academia, please let me know.

Job applications

Be pretty broad in your search. Some examples (from today):

Job application tips

  • You can probably do anything that mentions the word “data” and doesn’t require an enormous amount of experience
  • This would include jobs like Business Analyst, Data Analyst, Data Scientist, Data Engineer, Reporting Analyst, and probably more
  • If they ask for Python, you can probably still do it. You know some Python already and you have deep knowledge in a language you can apply to any other language.

Resumes / CVs

  • Cut ruthelessly
  • Sub 2-pages
  • No photo (this is a cultural difference)
  • Tailor to the job

Often the Resume also acts as the cover letter these days. This means your Resume needs to do the job of a cover letter and hit a lot of keywords in the job ad, and highlight your experience.

Building a Resume

Resume Structure

  • Contact information
  • Employment history
  • Education maybe swap this with Employment early in your career
  • Achievements / Awards
  • References (often by Request)

Typically add paragraphs under each job and education to describe your relevant experience and skills.

Resume examples

Built a Shiny app for a university assignment

Refactored a Shiny app to share one reactive dataset across four outputs, eliminating inconsistent results at boundary values

Put a Shiny app in an R package

Packaged a Shiny app with a documented launcher and audited its files, dependencies and empty-data behaviour for web deployment

Applicant Tracking Systems

I wish it wasn’t the case, but pretty much every company uses automated software to screen resumes.

It is therefore critical that your resume can pass these automated checks.

It pains me to say that PDFs produced by LaTeX are often not ATS friendly.

It is probably a better idea to export PDF and Word versions of your resume.

Build and Review

Cover letters

Usually the first thing the recruiter will see (not the hiring manager).

Use formal language, and be gender neutral whenever possible.

Cover letter critique

The letter on the next slide is a real application for an academic role. Read it as if you were the recruiter.

In pairs, identify:

  1. one sentence you would cut;
  2. one claim that needs stronger evidence;
  3. one example that should be more closely tailored to the role; and
  4. how the opening could focus more clearly on the employer’s needs.

Be ready to explain one change. You have six minutes.

The original letter

Dear Sir/Madam,

I wish to apply for the position of Lecturer in Business Analytics. I would relish the challenge and the exceptional opportunity to learn provided by this position.

I am currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash University, where my focus is on constructing network models of patient transfers to predict and later control the spread of antimicrobial resistance. I was awarded my PhD in 2019 from The University of Melbourne, supervised by Prof James McCaw, Prof Jodie McVernon and Dr Patricia Campbell. My project is focused on constructing mathematical models of Scabies and Group A Streptococcus transmission in remote Indigenous communities in northern Australia. I have previously completed a Masters of Philosophy at The University of Adelaide, where I constructed a household-based model of influenza transmission and modelled the use of antivirals. My experience in these projects has given me a strong background in statistical modelling and operational research.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I created and led the modelling and forecasting team, which later became the COVID-19 Analytics Team. My time working in this team allowed me to improve my skills in communicating to non-experts, as well as in leading and supervising a team that consisted of vastly different experience and skill levels.

Each of my research projects has been heavily collaborative, often involving colleagues across mathematics and statistics, epidemiology, public health and bioinformatics. This has allowed me to develop my communication skills, both written and verbal, to a variety of target audiences.

I have lead authored four publications which appeared in peer-reviewed journals, and made substantial contributions to four others, often with coauthors across a wide variety of research interests. This indicates my ability to work well in a team and to communicate my work effectively.

I would appreciate the opportunity to be considered for this position as I believe it would be a fantastic utilisation of my experience and education, as well as offering a great breadth of experience.

Sincerely,

Michael Lydeamore

A tighter version

Dear Hiring Manager,

I am applying for the position of Lecturer in Business Analytics. I bring experience applying statistical models to public-health problems, explaining technical results to non-specialists and leading analysts with varied levels of experience.

At Monash University, I created and led the modelling and forecasting team that later became the COVID-19 Analytics Team. I coordinated analysts from different technical backgrounds and communicated forecasts to audiences who needed to act on the results. Across my research in antimicrobial resistance, scabies and influenza, I have also worked closely with collaborators in epidemiology, public health and bioinformatics.

These experiences would allow me to contribute applied examples to business analytics teaching while supporting students with different technical backgrounds. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how my modelling, teaching and team-leadership experience could contribute to the role.

Sincerely,

Michael Lydeamore

Cover Letter Practice

Tailor the evidence

Open the job advertisement, then:

  1. identify three skills or requirements the employer emphasises;
  2. choose one experience from study, work or volunteering that demonstrates one of them; and
  3. draft a short paragraph that states the relevant skill, gives specific evidence and explains why it matters for this role.

Exchange paragraphs with a partner. Underline the specific evidence and circle any statement that could have been sent to any employer.

You have ten minutes.

Online presence

For analysts, an online portfolio is becoming increasingly useful. This used to be restricted to just software engineers, but given the way we now think about data analysis, you can see why the portfolio might be useful.

  • GitHub profile
  • Personal website (doesn’t have to have a nice URL)
  • Key pieces of software you have written

You can list all of these in your resume as well! Don’t rely on recruiters to find them for you.

Online presence

Social media is sadly a part of professional life now. This is particularly true of LinkedIn where recruiters will often look you up.

Posting your achievements can be confronting, but it is a good way to get your work out there and show that you have skills.

You may feel like you are one of millions, but actually the skills you have are rare and in demand.

Networking

Networking is still one of the best ways to get a job.

It is confronting to talk to people you don’t know. Most people feel this way.

Some tips:

  • Practice your elevator pitch (30 second summary of who you are and what you do)
  • Every event you attend, try to meet 3 new people
  • Follow around people you know and use their connections
  • Never point out your weaknesses!

Networking

Some places to start building your network:

  • Graduate events (although these are less common now)
  • Industry talks (often held by universities)
  • Meetups (e.g. Data Science Melbourne, R-Ladies Melbourne, RunApp, Hackathons)
  • ETC5543 Internships

Ask other people to go with you! This includes more senior people like your lecturers or colleagues that are already in the industry.

Interviewing

Interviewing

After probably many applications, hopefully you get an interview!

Every interview is a bit different. It may have:

  • Multiple rounds
  • Technical assessments
  • Group interviews

How would you prepare for each of these?

Interviewing

Some tips:

  • Research the company
  • Ask who will be on your panel and look them up
  • Prepare answers to common questions
  • If your interview is online, you can keep notes in front of you in a way that is hard to see
  • Prepare questions to ask the interviewers

Interviewing

Remember, it is important to also interview the company.

  • Will you be part of a team?
  • What is the company culture like?
  • What kind of work will you be doing?

Good luck