Three Key Skills To Consider When Hiring a Data Scientist
As a staffing agency with one of our specialties being Data Science, we have learned a thing or two to look out for when hiring Data Science talent.
There are several factors that come in play when sourcing the perfect candidate for your data science role. One of the biggest contributors is, as you’d expect, their skill set. Essentially, how can they deliver ROI?
The issue with data science is that there aren’t enough qualified candidates to fill the open positions (even in the tough economy). In a candidate-driven market, it is hard to find cream de la cream Data Scientist, and in the employer-driven market, you can waste hours sorting through unqualified resumes just to land on a few worth interviewing.
There are hundreds of candidates with the title but lacking the skills to match. In 2011, the McKinsey Digital estimated there would be a shortage of around 140,000-190,000 data scientists by 2018. And they were right. In 2018, LinkedIn reported there was a shortage of 151,717 data scientists.
With hundreds of resumes in your inbox, how do you determine who is a good Data Science candidate? Here are some of the Top Skillets you should look out for when hiring a Data Scientist.
Understanding the data is one thing, being able to explain it is something completely different. A lot of the work, as a data scientist, is very technical. However, it’s unlikely that people beyond their direct team will understand their models. This is why it’s vital that they have the communication skills and business acumen to discuss their findings with stakeholders.
If they can’t translate data into something that’s digestible, they’re always going to hit roadblocks. At the end of the day, how helpful are the data insights if no one can understand them?
The great thing about Data Science is that the role can require different specialties depending on the industry and the company. For instance, some data scientists focus on analyzing the data and developing predictive models.
