Applying for a Data Science Job? Here is How Your Resume Will Stand Out

You are scouting for an exciting job in Data Science, and know enough of statistics, machine learning, programming, etc. then what are you waiting for? Yes, the one document which will get you to the interview calls, you guessed it right, and it is the humble Resume! A resume is an important component as it is your ability to show potential employers what you can do instead of just telling them.

There has been an upsurge in the demand for data science professionals over the last several years, a trend that has been increasingly seen worldwide. So, if you are looking forward to entering this increasingly competitive field and wish to apply for the data science job, here are few tips that will make your CV stand out to recruiters and hiring managers.

What You Must Include in Your Resume

• Domain knowledge

• Data management knowledge

• Coding skills

• Relevant experience

• Relevant education

• Relevant skills

• Quantitative and statistics knowledge level

When Your Resume Will Get You an Interview Call

1. Gaining Experience with Projects

Projects are a great way to polish your skills. Work on projects that demonstrate your academic and professional skills. If you are a fresher, try on some internship projects on SQL, R, and Python and so on. You can make a decision tree answering business questions to make your resume stand out. Show that you can automate repeatable everyday tasks and if you can show that, you will be able to demonstrate your ability to increase business efficiency an essential skill that will get you the interview call. If you have worked on data science projects, add them to your resume. To get on the top of recruiters, you will need to market these go-getter skills effectively.

2. Leverage the Power of Social Networks

This is the new recruitment trend and bet you won’t want to be left behind. Pull up your socks and create a Github page, a Kaggle profile, and be an active contributor to Stack Overflow, etc. as these actions will provide an impetus to your resume. Having online profiles are a good signal for hiring managers as people can find your resume online through various sources like Medium, Stack Overflow, Kaggle, Tableau Public, Quora, LinkedIn, GitHub, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

3. Learn to Bypass Applicant Tracking Systems

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is the automated software tool increasingly being used by recruiters and companies to choose which applications to forward to the hiring manager and which applications to reject with a rejection letter. Here is a tip, the ATS cannot read graphs, logos, pictures, or tables in the resume, so don’t use them.

4. Get SEO into Action

Yes, you heard it right, SEO or keywords are essential to make your resume go past the applicant tracking system (ATS) used by most of the recruiters to weed out resumes that don’t meet specific on-page standards. SEO and Keywords match form an essential part of the recruitment process to screen the best candidates. If you do not explain your certification or experiences with the industry-specific qualifications, your resume probably would not make it past a cursory keyword search. You can master SEO through Google AdWords.

5. Get Certifications

When you want your resume to stand out against the competition, look no further and peruse data science certifications ASAP! There are many Certifications that will pay off, the top data science certifications include are Applied AI with Deep Learning, IBM Watson IoT Data Science Certificate, Dell EMC Proven Professional, SAS Academy for Data Science, Microsoft Professional Program in Data Science, Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert, Cloudera Certified Professional: CCP Data Engineer among others. Majority of these certifications are paid and are online where you can learn at your own pace according to your professional and academic schedules.

6. Join Technical Societies and Clubs

Joining technical societies and clubs give you access to specialized knowledge, diverse people and a plethora of opportunities to star your CV ahead than the rest. Joining professional associations like ASA (American Statistical Association), Data Science Society, Data Science Association, Society of Data Scientists will catapult your data science career and job application to new heights.

7. Read and Know about the Job

Before you start making that impressive data science resume, make sure you know about the job requirements and whether you fit into the profile. Your resume should not be wildly different from the job that is being advertised. Make a tailored resume that catches the attention of the hiring manager who will gauge whether or not you are a good cultural fit.

8. Make a Professional Resume, Templates will Help

Last but the most important one, yes taking assistance from professional templates is not a crime, and in fact, you must do that. Professional resumes catch the recruiter’s attention with their crisp and well-documented information. You can select a pre-existing template, or design your own. The format of the resume itself does not matter, but it should be short and one-page maximum as hiring managers are busy and often inundated with resumes and only skim through the first page. Microsoft Word offers resume templates and the good exercise is to create dummy sheets and organize your resume layout. You don’t need fancy graphics or visualizations on your resume, but if you are still going with some charts and visuals make sure they are a reflection of you and not of a graphic designer who made them.