Data Analyst Resume Example & Writing Guide

If you’re a data analyst, your job is to collect, clean, and interpret data. That’s exactly what you’re going to do while creating a data analyst resume once you start looking for a job.

The best way to land the job of your dreams is to show your professional prowess right from the get-go by creating a captivating application document. Since you should be good at looking over data and putting it in a way that makes sense, you should also do that in your resume and stand out from the crowd.

We’re not here to teach you what you already know. The goal of this article is to simply nudge you in the right direction through guidelines and tips and help you create a riveting resume. Let’s jump in!

What is the Right Format to Use for a Data Analyst Resume?

As a data analyst, you can easily extract useful information from a cluttered source. Recruiters, on the other hand, are likely not as skilled as you in that area, which is why your data analyst resume needs to convey information in the simplest and most efficient way possible.

To ensure that, use the chronological resume format. It’s the neatest and most popular option, and the recruiters favor it over the other formats. Moreover, it’s ATS-friendly, which means there’s no risk of having your application documents discarded automatically by software before they even reach hiring managers.

The main benefit of this format is that it emphasizes the essential and most recent professional accomplishments in your career before listing the rest in reverse-chronological order. This way, recruiters get a precise timeline of your work history.

However, if you don't have any work experience to showcase, a functional resume format will make up for it by putting the focus on your skills. This format might run into issues with the ATS, but it’s ideal for a data analyst resume of entry-level applicants.

On the other hand, industry veterans with a lot of work experience could use the hybrid or combination format. It mixes chronological and functional formats to highlight skills first and then back them up with relevant professional achievements.

Resume Layout

Presenting data is just as important as organizing it, which is why you want a clean and professional resume layout.

For starters, you want to keep your data analyst resume to one page. Having everything concisely presented that way ensures that hiring managers will see all the important information as quickly as possible.

To achieve that while keeping your resume legible and professional, follow these guidelines:

What Sections Should a Data Analyst Resume Contain?

There are 5 must-have sections for your data analyst resume, and they are:

After adding all that, consider the following optional sections to dress up your resume and stand out among the competition:

Now, keeping track of all that information shouldn’t be a big deal for a competent data analyst such as yourself. Nevertheless, if you want to create a resume in a matter of minutes while being certain it’s professional and ATS-proof, use our resume builder. You’ll find plenty of top-tier templates where you only need to fill in your information and you’re good to go.

Let’s take a look at one of our expert resume templates to give you a general idea of what we’re going to talk about further in the article.

Data Analyst Resume Contact Information

Adding your contact information to your data analyst resume is fairly straightforward. You should put it at the top of the document as part of the resume header, and state the following about yourself:

While resumes used to feature full candidates’ physical addresses some time ago, that’s an outdated practice nowadays. Still, you could add your city and state if required by the job posting or if you’re applying for a job abroad.

In addition to the required information, you can also add your LinkedIn and GitHub profiles, which are not required but highly recommended.

Avoid unrelated social media accounts, odd job titles (you're a "Data Analyst," not a "Data Wizard"), and unprofessional email addresses.

Here’s an example:

Data Analyst Resume Objective or Summary

Imagine you ran into your potential employer in an elevator, and you only had a couple of sentences to grab his attention before he got off. That’s what a resume objective or summary aims to accomplish.

These are usually short paragraphs at the beginning of your resume that sum up your career and serve to spark recruiters’ interest, but each is used in different circumstances.

A resume objective is written by entry-level candidates with no prior work experience. You can use it to display drive and ambition by talking about your future career goals. Furthermore, you could include a couple of your imposing, position-specific skills.

On the other hand, if you have a lot of experience in your field, you should use a resume summary to impress recruiters by mentioning the greatest accomplishments in your career.

Junior Data Analyst Resume Objective

A professionally written data analyst resume objective will show that a junior candidate with little to no work experience shows promise.

What you should do here is emphasize your key skills that would benefit the company you’re applying to the most to grab their recruiters' attention. Furthermore, if you have any relevant achievements from your internships, college projects, volunteer work, or similar activities, this is the time to mention them to make a bigger impression.

Let’s take a look at a good example:

Now, check out a bad example for comparison:

While it’s perfectly fine—even desirable—for a candidate to want to learn and develop, that alone isn’t enough to grab the recruiter’s attention. You want to show them that you already bring something to the table.

Senior Data Analyst Summary

As a senior in the industry, you want to bring your A-game when writing a data analyst resume summary. To do this, you should select a few of your most prominent achievements and feature them in your resume to give recruiters a preview of what you’re capable of. Here’s what this may look like:

Compare that to a bad example below:

You can’t just say you’re a great candidate—you need to show it with results and achievements. Give recruiters concrete data based on which they can evaluate your skills and workplace proficiency.

Data Analyst Resume Work Experience

Your work experience section is the go-to one for recruiters. Out of every section in your resume, this one describes your workplace competence most accurately, which generally makes it the most important.

Data Analyst With No Experience

We talked thoroughly about how your professional history should be the focal point of your application document. But what happens when you’re creating a data analyst resume with no experience?

Actually, the process doesn’t change too much. You could opt for a functional resume format, though you can still write a clean and professional work experience section by following all the general tips we discussed previously.

Let’s take a look at the example:

The candidate made the most of their internship to show that they were skilled and able to do well in the workplace. The achievements written in bullet points are concise and information-packed. There are also some numbers to quantify the results obtained for a bigger impact, as well as several effective action verbs.

Senior Data Analyst Experience

If you’re crafting a senior data analyst resume, you likely have plenty of professional experience to add. More often than not, you should trim some of the achievements down to focus on the most impactful ones and declutter your work history section.

Let’s see an example of the work experience section on a senior data analyst resume:

Data Analyst Resume Education Section

The goal of an education section is to give you more credibility and put weight behind your skills. In this part, you should list your highest degree, the institution that issued it, and the years attended. 

Also, if you have notable achievements to showcase (GPA of 3.5 and above, extracurricular activities, exchange programs, etc.), add them to a bulleted list that should be placed below the basic information.

Here’s what that looks like:

If you want to include multiple degrees, list them in reverse-chronological order. However, don’t add your high school diploma unless it’s your highest one.

Here are some more tips you can use when creating an education section:

Data Analyst Resume Skills

The point of your entire resume is to show your skills and competence to potential employers. With that in mind, when you actually get to adding data analyst skills to your resume, there’s a bit more to it than simply creating a list and calling it a day.

For starters, you want to research the job posting to find out what the potential employer is looking for. As a data analyst, you likely have a vast and diverse skill set, but not every skill needs to be mentioned on your resume. Figure out which skills recruiters want to see, match them with the ones you have, and include those in your resume.

Another important thing that you need to know before writing this section is that there are stark differences between soft skills and hard skills. Because of that, you want to list the two separately after your education section, starting with hard skills.

Hard skills are taught and learned in school through classes, courses, and other reputable sources. They are job-specific and often easily proven with diplomas and certifications.

Soft skills are broad, transferable, and usually obtained through life experience. They affect the way you interact and get along with other people and influence your effectiveness, organization, time management, etc.

Data Analyst Resume Optional Sections

One of the easiest ways to score bonus points with recruiters is through optional sections. They allow you to highlight more of your skills and accomplishments and show that you strive to go the extra mile.

Certifications

Certifications serve to demonstrate that you have acquired specific skills and knowledge in the field of data analytics. Listing them in your data analyst resume adds further credibility to your competence. Some of the certifications you could list in this section include:

To add relevant certifications to your resume, include their names, the names of the institutions issuing them, the dates when these were obtained, and (optionally) the dates of expiration.

Languages

Although the language section is optional, it can be very beneficial to your resume. It may even be mandatory if your job requires you to communicate with clients or coworkers from other countries. Keep the section brief and concise, and list languages based on your proficiency levels.

Should You Submit a Cover Letter With Your Data Analyst Resume?

Not every job posting asks for a cover letter, which is why many don’t bother writing it. As a result, those who send a position-specific cover letter that matches their data analyst resume immediately get ahead of the competition.

Here are some job-winning data analyst resume samples to give you inspiration and help you visualize everything that we’ve talked about so far.

Job-Winning Data Analyst Resume Example

Use this example

Closing Thoughts

A strong resume is essential in job-seeking endeavors. If you’ve read this far, you have learned that you must emphasize your technical skills, highlight relevant experience, use data-driven language, and write a tailored cover letter to make your data analyst resume attention-grabbing.

The information in this article will lead you every step of the way until you’ve created a clean and professional application document. And if you need any help, our resume-building tool is just a click away!