Looking at job adverts can make you lose hope sometimes. They often resemble an uninspiring list of requirements that a candidate must meet before applying to a business that, because of a poorly written job ad, they have no reason to be excited for.
At the ‘practitioner level’, it has almost always been the case that candidates can tailor their CVs to appease the HR teams and their checklist of requirements which can get them the interview. However, for senior data leaders, the situation is more complicated.
Edward Chenard, AI Strategy Leader, wrote an article recently that highlights the struggle many D&A leaders face when it comes to vague job adverts. He highlighted an issue seen across job adverts, which is nearly all adverts repeat the same things. Being a good storyteller, having strong communication, being a problem solver – which jobs wouldn’t require you to be those things?
This isn’t necessarily an issue exclusive to the world of data and analytics. Plenty of business roles and technology positions suffer from the same drab ads that look like carbon copies from one business to another.
However, data and analytics professionals suffer uniquely. With many organisations still feeling that data should sit under technology, adverts become a long checklist of technical requirements with a very brief mention of the business and why they should apply. This does nothing to appeal to the wants and needs of data professionals.
Businesses should be trying to SELL the role to their candidates, or at the very least generate some real interest that makes them want to discover more.
As a rule of thumb, to pique the interest of D&A people at all levels, businesses need to address these three things in an advert:
- Value – D&A people want to know how their work is going to provide value to the business in a very tangible way. Particularly with D&A leadership roles, candidates want to take real results to their next opportunity.
- Impact – Is there an opportunity to change the business as a direct result of the D&A function? If you can illustrate the impact that a candidate will have on your business, they can imagine themselves being that candidate.
- Visibility – The days of D&A functions sitting at the back in small teams and not being heard are decades behind us. They’re an integral part of business success and should be front and centre, especially their leaders! (check out my recent blog here on data leadership)
It’s understandably difficult for businesses to create adverts that are specifically tailored to D&A leaders when it’s likely that their HR and talent teams need to have broad knowledge of all the amazing roles within the business.
One surefire way for a business to increase its chances of attracting and hiring data leaders is by working with an organisation that can have the conversations that its HR team can’t.
Rather than working through a checklist of requirements or glancing at CVs for buzzwords, Orbition has real in-depth discussions with data leaders day in, and day out. These come from chats about our podcast, our mentorship, our interview series’ or our events, which all help us get closer to what really drives D&A leaders. If you’d like to connect with our friends in data leadership about your business, let me know!
Ethan Simpkin
Ethan is a highly skilled consultant with us here at Orbition, specializing in data and analytics.
With a passion for technology and a natural talent for identifying top talent, he has become a valuable asset to both clients and candidates in the industry.Read more.
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