Explore People Analytics Job Postings (even when you don’t want a new job)

There are so many open jobs in the people analytics field today. At the time of this writing the company One Model maintains a page on their website where they compile a list of open people analytics jobs (https://www.onemodel.co/roles-in-people-analytics-hr-technology), it regularly has between 300-600 open people analytics positions at any time. Yet somehow, there always seems to be a large number of individuals who struggle to find a job. How can that be?

It’s because there are so many different types of people analytics jobs out there and those who are looking for positions have such a variety of skills, experiences, interests, and needs. The issue isn’t always having enough jobs or enough people looking for jobs. The difficulty is usually in matching what organizations are looking to hire for with the right people. When you add to this the complexity of finding a match between work location requirements, salary, culture, work style, communication, and interpersonal preferences – it gets even more challenging. But, just because it is difficult, doesn’t mean it’s impossible. If you are looking for a job, the whole process does get easier when you have clarity and understanding on what you are looking for. Plus you can more clearly articulate and show how your skills align with what what others are searching for. This step in the guide is intended to help you do just that. If you aren’t looking for a job right now, do not skip this step! Looking at open job postings is one of the best things you can do for awareness building and self-development – even if you are happy in your current situation and have no plans of looking for a new position. It provides you an understanding of the type of work being done in the field and gives you a way to benchmark your own skills to see if you are up-to-date. It can also spark new ideas for how to apply your skills.

Action – Explore Job Postings to Identify in Demand People Analytics Skills:

1. Identify at least five different job postings that look interesting to you. Choose any currently posted position in the people analytics field. It should be a real job, one that is actively seeking applicants today – this provides validation that the skills indicated in the posting are things someone is willing to pay for. While it does not need to be a role you feel you will apply to today, it should be one you find interesting and that could be fulfilling for you in some way or at some point in your career. Tips for finding and selecting job postings to review:
   • Look beyond the title. Not all people analytics jobs come up in a simple search for “People Analytics.” Instead, focus on responsibilities and use keyword searching rather than relying on the job title alone. Look for phrases like “data analysis,” “workforce analytics,” “reporting,” and others you’ve read about in this guide that excite you paired with descriptions of “Areas of Practice” described in the last section of this book.
   • Consider the type of work that excites and energizes you. Do you gravitate toward technical analysis, strategic problem-solving, or research and experimentation? Reflect on the different job roles described in the last section and select some that interest you. Going back to your strengths assessment earlier and entering those skills as keywords can also help.
   • Mix it up. Try not to include job postings from only one type of role or area. This is an exploration activity, so have fun and see what’s out there. You might be surprised what you find when you look beyond certain job titles and assess them in new ways.
2. For each job posting you select, fill in a table like the template below. For each job that you analyze,
   1. Identify the expected job duties, responsibilities, requirements, qualifications, and/or skills necessary for the job. Summarize and simplify them. Input what you believe to be the most important expectations for the role in the table.
   2. Alongside each expectation, indicate the skill(s) needed to meet that expectation. If more than one skill is needed, you may need to use more than one row per job expectation. For example, if a job posting listed, “Ensure data integrity and accuracy in reports and analyses” as a job responsibility, you would write that responsibility in the first column, but you might create three rows in your table showing that this responsibility requires the three different skills of 1) Data Cleaning, 2) Data Quality Management, and 3) Data Governance (see example below).
   3. Continue this until you feel you have filled in the table for the most critical and differentiating requirements of the job. You do not need to list everything indicated in the job posting, and it is up to you how many or how few differentiating requirements you include. This part of the activity can be a bit tricky since you will need to do a lot of the work sifting through what is listed in the job posting and deciding what seems important and which things are more general. You will also need to understand and translate the requirements to skills, and identify any implied (but not explicitly stated) job requirements. Here are some tips for working through your review of the job postings:
      • Start by looking at the skills required and key responsibilities. If there are specific types of analytics, technology, or business skills clearly required as part of the role, those go on the list. When deciding what else to put down, look for items that seem to be unique or critical to this role.
      • Job descriptions will use different terminology than we have used in this book. You’ll need to use your translator skills and make some assumptions. For example, if a job posting requires “Tableau expertise,” you may need to first look up what Tableau is. When you see that it is a visual analytics platform, you can then translate that to the skill “Data Visualization Tools” and even if the job posting never said the words data visualization, you might want to go ahead and assume you’ll probably need some of those other data visualization skills we talked about in the “Data Visualization Skills” section in Step 3 even if all it said was “Tableau required.”  
   4. Once you have your job expectations and the required skills identified, use your previous self-discovery exercises to compare what is in demand for these job roles with your interests and strengths. For each skill in your table, indicate if it was one you have a strength or are interested in.
   5. Finally assess whether you believe your current level of skill matches, or is close to, the required level of skill for this job posting. Here are some tips to help you fill in the “Further Development Needed” column: 
      •  Do not worry too much about accuracy. No one can perfectly assess their own skills and no job posting will give you a clear enough description of what they are looking for. If you feel that you could realistically perform actions as described in the posting after some simple learning or refreshing of your skills, you probably do not need significant development and can indicate a “No, further development not needed.”
      • This is an exploration activity and you can personalize it however you like. If you don’t know whether it is a Yes or No, feel free to write “Maybe” “Some” “A little” or go deeper and list the nuances. (e.g., “I am really good at the X part of it, but still need to develop more when it comes to the Y and Z part of it.”)
      • Keep in mind that the purpose of the “Development” column is to help identify where you have strengths that match well with what others are looking for and where you may wish to develop further. the purposes of meeting job requirements and those that you would for you distinguish between things others want you to have a skill in and those you want to develop in.
      • Example: 

        Job Title & Company #1: HR Data Analyst, Reporting” at Healthcare Company	Skill	Passion	Strength	Development
        Job Expectations	Are you currently skilled in it?	Is it an interest or passion?	Did you assess it as a strength in the last activity?	Is further development needed to meet the job requirements?
        From responsibilities section: “Ensure data integrity and accuracy in reports and analyses.”	Data Quality Management	Interest	Yes	No
        	Data Cleaning	Interest	Yes	No
        	Data Governance	Interest	No	Yes
        From required qualifications section: “Familiarity with data visualization tools such as Tableau or Power BI.”	Data Visualization Tools	No	No	Yes
        From responsibilities section: “Collaborate with the People Analytics team to assist in various projects.”	Collaborative Teamwork	Passion	Yes	No
        	Active Listening	Interest	Yes	No

3. Analyze the results. The table you created is now filled with in-demand skills. Through this activity you identified a set of People Analytics skills others need and are willing to pay for. Analyze them. What do you notice? Which skills came up more than once? What similarities or differences did you notice between the different types of jobs you reviewed and how well they fit you? How do the in-demand skills relate to your strengths and interests? When you review the column for “Development,” would you be happy spending your time developing in the needed skills if you were to follow this path?
4. Identify your ikigai skills.
   • Current ikigai. If you listed skills that appeared in job postings that were a strength and an interest for you, then you’ve identified ikigai opportunities. This is where the things you are good at align with career opportunities, and happily they align with career opportunities you may enjoy! Highlight or circle these skills. Take note of them. These are special.
   • Future ikigai. Next, look for skills where you have an interest or passion, but not yet strength. These are special too. These are ones where ikigai is waiting for you at the end of your development journey. Mark and take note of these. These will likely be the skills you’ll want to focus your self-development efforts on.
   • If you got to this point in the exercise and you didn’t have any skills that are current or possible future ikigai opportunities for you. Good news, you are learning what roles aren’t a good fit for you. And, you are probably saving yourself a lot of heartache and time by realizing this now. Rather than forcing yourself to fit a set of skills that don’t fit you, consider that the jobs you reviewed may not be the right fit for you. Take note of this and seek out completely different types of roles or areas and repeat the process to see what kind of career paths might be a better fit for you.
5. Identify possible career paths.
   1. Assess job fit. There’s no correct definition of “fit” – if it excites you and you are willing to develop the skills needed to be successful, it’s a fit. But, if you would like a little more guidance, keep in mind that finding the right job role fit is a lot like shopping for clothes. You want something that matches your style and fits you well, but finding clothing perfectly tailored to you is rare. Aim for around a 70% fit, this leaves room for you to develop and grow. You also might discover that some of the skills you thought you weren’t interested in become exciting when they are combined with a lot of things you do enjoy.
   2. Identify a few paths. When identifying a career path, the clothes shopping analogy works well as well. You don’t only buy clothes for one season, so why only focus on one type of career path? Consider identifying a few paths that seem like they could produce at least some ikigai moments for you. The more alternate paths you identify, the more possibilities you open up. And just like when trying on clothes, remember you get to bring multiple items into a fitting room to try them on. Maybe you need to try different styles (i.e., different job types). Or just a different size. For example, maybe you are (or are not) ready for a position with a different level of responsibility required than you realized. Or, maybe you’ve been following a misguided belief that you are only supposed to go “up” the career path you are currently on – maybe you’ll discover you’d actually be happier taking a different level role on a totally new path that’s more fulfilling. Just like how you don’t have to buy every piece of clothing you try on, you don’t have to apply to the jobs you are assessing in this activity. So go ahead and have fun, try on some new and different roles to see what’s out there.

Keep in mind: When reviewing job postings or assignments, keep in mind the following Rolling Stones song lyrics, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.”  Sometimes, people don’t discover their true strengths or interest until after diving into the work. Give yourself time to embrace aspects of your role that might feel unfamiliar or outside your comfort zone. You could uncover an unexpected passion or talent.

Note. This activity was designed around job postings because they are easily searchable online. You can also do this activity by considering projects available in your workplace, consulting or freelance work, or volunteer opportunities.

Tip. Since many job postings exist online for only a short time, you may want to save a copy of any aspect from the job posting that was valuable to you from this activity.