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About Aditya: 

I am a second-time entrepreneur and co-founder of Hiration – an AI solution to help job-seekers find their way in the treacherous job market across the world. With an organic reach spanning 170+ countries, we have helped 50k+ job-seekers get a step closer to their dream jobs. Our core team consists of resume-writing experts from top institutes like IIT & IIM, and former high-fliers from Adobe, BCG, Ranbaxy, etc.

About The Hiration Team: 

We’re a growing tech start-up highly focused on helping professionals all over the world land their dream jobs. We have created an AI-powered state of the art resume builder to help job-seekers build stellar resumes. In addition to that, we provide career solutions such as professional resume writing services, LinkedIn makeover, cover-letter builder, digital portfolio, etc.

Hiration purpose, vision, and mission:

We are on a mission to create a personalized digital career assistant for professionals across the globe. Our vision is to transform the career discovery & career transition space while single-handedly focussing on providing people with expert guidance on revamping one of the most important tools in their professional arsenal – the humble resume.

Why are you an expert at data science and giving this advice?

As a core member of the founding team at Zostel (the previous startup), I led the data analytics division and played a key role in scaling one of India’s largest networks of hostels and homes to 44 cities. I have leveraged my expertise in data science and resume rewriting to write an arresting guide on mastering the data science resume for Greg Shapiro and Matthew Mayo – stalwarts in the field of data science and editors over at KDnuggets. In addition to this, I have written numerous guides to help data science professionals bag their dream jobs. Doing this allows me to club the two things I am passionate about – data science and resumes.  

5 Best Practices to make your Data Science Resume shine

According to LinkedIn’s 2017 US Emerging Jobs Report, data science was ranked second in the list of Top 20 Emerging Jobs, with a 650% jump in demand. What does it mean for your data science resume? 

In simpler words, your resume should address the needs of the job instead of focusing on what is “trending.” Read on to learn the five best practices to make your data science resume stand out:

Customize your resume according to your targeted data science job:

To bolster your chances of getting shortlisted, it is essential to customize your resume. Making the changes will help you bring your resume in line with the profile you are targeting, which will help you set yourself apart from the rest of the applicants.

How can you achieve that? 

Before applying to the job post and submitting your resume, scan the job description to find keywords and skills that you can highlight in your resume. Also, there may be instances where you missed out on adding key information that is highly critical for the target profile. 

Tailoring your resume as per the job description will help you showcase the relevant skills and experience to make an ideal data science resume. For instance, let’s say you missed out on writing “dashboard creation,” one of the critical requirements in the job post. 

But you can go to your resume and identify pointers that reflect “dashboard creation,” you can highlight this function by bolding it or including it in the career summary. The idea is to make it available for the recruiter’s perusal.

Write one-liner bulleted points and highlight achievements to effectively communicate your data science expertise:

The world is changing. Your resume needs to change too.

Adding relevant information to your resume can be a redundant practice if it is ill-formatted. For instance, your work profiles may not be written in a reverse chronological order to emphasize the most recent experience over the rest. 

The fact is that recruiters do not spend more than 6 seconds on a resume, so you need to make sure that each piece of information is appropriately highlighted. 

Most candidates make the mistake of adding lengthy paragraphs in their resume that ends up looking more like an essay. Statements in a resume should be written in a bullet format while restricting the information in one-line. 

Let’s demonstrate this with an example: 

What using paragraphs looks like (example 1):

“As part of my job description as a Data Scientist in Company XYZ, I was responsible for a wide range of roles & responsibilities including but not limited to engineering algorithms in 2 to solve the company’s business problems and increase its market share. I had some degree of success in using my data science skills to correctly develop forecasting models, which helped increase the forecasting accuracy, thereby yielding better results. Additionally, I used the best tools like analytics and data visualization to correctly predict the marketability of the products and services we had developed at the company. I was also responsible for using statistical methods to interpret complex simulation data.”

What using one-liner points looks like (example 2):

• Engineered customer segmentation algorithm in R to increase market share by 30%
• Implemented forecasting models leading to 50% improvement in forecast accuracy
• Deployed analytics & visualization components to predict the marketability of products
• Interpreted complex simulation data with 100% accuracy using statistical methods

On a precise inspection of the two above examples, you will find that using paragraphs is not the best way to document your resume’s work experience.

The reason? Your data science resume is hard to read. 

Due to the bad readability factor, most recruiters might be tempted to cast your resume aside without even reading it. This means that you won’t get a fair chance at getting the job you’re after.

Hence, excellent readability is the key to make a stellar data science resume. To achieve this, all you have to do is use crisp one-liner points instead of using bulky paragraphs to communicate the events of your data science job.

Distinguish your data science skills using a distinct ‘key skills’ section:

If you’re looking for that dream data science job, just arming yourself with the necessary skills isn’t enough. You need to know how to showcase your expertise on paper with eloquence too.

A great way to get this done is by outlining your skills under a distinct ‘key skills’ section in your resume. Since data science is a technical profile, make sure that you bifurcate your core data science skills from your technical skills. 

Technical skills relate to your knowledge of specialized tools to interpret and analyze data, whereas key skills refer to your functional data science skills to work in a multidisciplinary environment.

What is the ideal resume length? 

We know you have years of experience, and you want to show-off every skill you acquired, but it is not possible to fit in all those years of sweat in just two pages.

It is advisable that if you have less than ten years of experience, you condense your resume into a one-page resume. Data science professionals with over ten years of work experience can extend their resume to two pages.

Perfect your summary to show your data science savviness

You should aim to write an informative summary that squarely addresses aspects of your professional achievements that fit the job position.

Your summary should not discuss why you want the job, but what makes you qualified for the job. It should be able to communicate why you are better than those competing for the same position.

A good tip to start your resume summary is, to begin with, your work experience details. Here’s an example of what a good data scientist resume summary looks like:

“5+ years experienced Certified Data Scientist with proven experience in solving real-world business challenges using data analytics. Adept at rendering consultancy services to top clients and Fortune 500 companies. Proficient in deploying complex machine learning and statistical modeling algorithms/techniques with a track record of using ML to identify gaps in products and services.”

Displaying Work Experience in your Data Science Resume

Work Experience is not just about mentioning your previous employers but more about what you can bring to the table. A recruiter is not interested in knowing your former employer’s name but wants to see what you have accomplished in your past experiences.

Below are some points you can note when writing the experience section for your data science resume:

• Always quantify and highlight your accomplishments from previous or present jobs.
• Mention all job-related tools you have mastered over a period of time.
• Highlighting job-related keywords in your experience section will benefit from gaining more attention from a recruiter.
• Always use action verbs- Example: Instead of using words like “started,” you can use action words like “managed,” “led,” “formulated,” etc.

Below is an ideal example of the experience section:

ABC Pvt. Ltd.

Data Scientist

Jul ’15- Apr ’19

• Formed multivariate regression-based attribution models using ad stock analysis 
• Developed a performance assessment & pricing analysis platform via k-NN Algorithm
• Designed a clustering & regression model to identify & resolve a shipping consolidation issue 
• Implemented loss minimization techniques leading to a 10% loss reduction on monthly revenue 

Data Science Resume Sample

Now that you know how to formulate an impeccable resume, here’s a data science resume sample to give you a better idea of what your resume would look like once the tips in this article are implemented. 

Closing Remarks

With the growing competition, making an innovative data science resume is necessary to help you land a data science job. By performing the above actions, you will increase your chances of getting shortlisted and getting a call for that coveted interview.

These steps are useful for any professional seeking to make their data science resume spruce up for the hiring game. So, without wasting any more time, get started with the best practices to make your data science resume shine over the rest of the applicants.