Helping Business Students Acquire the Skills Needed for a Career in Analytics: A Comprehensive Industry Assessment of Entry‐Level Requirements

Abstract

ABSTRACTFact‐based decision making is changing job functions within organizations more than any other technology. Analytics, once the purview of the data scientist, is now spread throughout organizations. No longer is there a single job title, job function, or set of required skills and credentials for an analytics career. Companies have moved away from seeking applicants with a specific degree to now recruiting analytics talent based on required skill sets. For more than a decade, business schools have been developing new programs in analytics in response to industry's needs. However, in developing meaningful career‐ready professionals, business programs must understand the skills required across different analytics job functions. In this article, the authors present a comprehensive assessment of the skills sought by employers when considering a candidate for an entry‐level analytics position. The authors describe the demand for various types of analytics professionals, identify the job titles and functions with the most significant demand, and then draw a comparison of the job requirements of hard skills, soft skills, software skills, and credentials between three of the most sought‐after analytics areas: data science, data analytics, and business analytics. The authors conclude by providing faculty and administrators with recommendations on how to adapt their courses and programs to provide students with the fundamental preparation necessary for careers in data science, data analytics, and business analytics.