A regional comparison of the skills sought by employers for entry-level data scientists, data analytics, business analytics, marketing analytics and digital analytics professionals

Abstract

Fact-based decision making is changing job functions within organisations more than any other technology. Analytics, once the purview of the data scientist, is now spread throughout organisations. No longer is there a single job title, job function or set of required skills and credentials for an analytics career. Companies now recruit analytics talent based on required skill sets. Part 1 of this research1 focused on a cross-region comparison of the demand and employer requirements in job ads posted on LinkedIn for entry-level marketing analytics professionals. In Part 1, the authors reviewed the skills employers seek when hiring entry-level marketing analytics professionals in three geographic regions. The authors presented evidence of the growth in marketing analytics worldwide and how it has become a global phenomenon. Using job postings scraped from LinkedIn, Part 1 of the study extended previous research by focusing only on entry-level marketing analytics professionals' skills, knowledge and abilities in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The authors presented findings across the three regions, clearly noting where distinct differences were identified in job postings by employers seeking entry-level marketing analytics professionals. Finally, the authors provided emerging and creative methods for recruiting analytics talent in a very complex and dynamically changing environment. This paper, Part 2 of the research project, focuses on a cross-region comparison of demand and employer requirements in job ads posted on LinkedIn for entry-level data scientist, data analytics, business analytics, marketing analytics and digital analytics professionals. The authors examined the similarities and differences in employer expectations by region across requirements for hard skills, soft skills, software skills and credentials.