Why Soft Skills Matter (When Getting an Analytics Job)

Let’s talk about why soft skills matter so much. There’s a huge emphasis on hard skills with people trying to get an analytics job but let me give you a mental framework about why soft skills are just as important. Picture this, you’re sitting in an interview, you could be the most technical and the most brilliant analyst that they’ve ever seen but if you’re unlikeable because you lack communication skills or you can’t show how you would be a pleasant person to work with, they’re not going to hire you. Think about this, they have to work with you 40 hours a week. So, if you are brilliant yet insufferable you’re going to lose out against the person who might not have as strong of a skill set but they like more. If your counterpart can signal in an interview that they have the soft skills that people value in a work environment and they can later get better at the hard skills that person is going to get the job and this can apply directly to you.