Summary

Zachary Quinn provides insights on personal branding for data science job seekers, emphasizing the importance of a unique and memorable professional identity.

Abstract

Zachary Quinn, in his column "ZachOverflow," addresses the challenge of standing out in the data science job market by advocating for a personal brand that goes beyond technical skills. He recounts a formative experience with a co-worker who emphasized the need for a distinctive brand, even suggesting a specific color to represent himself. Quinn critiques the homogeneity of LinkedIn profiles, which often focus too heavily on technical skills, educational background, or career aspirations without conveying a unique identity. He argues that a well-crafted personal brand should combine these elements coherently, highlighting soft skills and real-world experience, which are highly valued by hiring managers. Quinn offers a formula for creating a compelling personal brand statement that balances one's background, industry experience, and technical proficiency, illustrated by his own branding example. He encourages job seekers to communicate their value proposition clearly and authentically, setting them apart from those who rely on clichés and keyword stuffing.

Opinions

Personal branding is crucial for job seekers to differentiate themselves in a crowded market.
Overemphasis on technical skills in job profiles can make candidates appear one-dimensional and less appealing to employers.
Soft skills, such as communication and teamwork, are as important as technical skills and can set a candidate apart.
Real-world experience, even if unconventional or outside the data science field, can provide a valuable perspective and should be incorporated into one's personal brand.
A LinkedIn headline should be concise and strike a balance between showcasing technical expertise, industry experience, and educational background, without exceeding the character limit or becoming too dense with information.
Hiring managers appreciate candidates who can demonstrate a genuine desire to learn and adapt, qualities that are not always reflected in technical qualifications alone.
The suggested personal branding formula aims to help candidates create a cohesive and attractive professional identity that resonates with potential employers.

ZachOverflow

How Can I Shamelessly Market Myself As A Data Science Job Seeker?

Plus: A formula for crafting a genuine, memorable and attention-grabbing personal brand.

ZachOverflow is a recurring column in which I attempt to answer one frequently asked data science question thoroughly and honestly. No oversaturated topics. No listicles. No clickbait. Just my (mostly) unfiltered responses based on professional experience, technical exposure and, yes, the occasional unsubstantiated opinion.

A painfully long time ago, I was an undergraduate writing tutor who booked an appointment with a fellow tutor for resume help.

Actually, I don’t remember if it was an appointment as much as having advice yelled across the empty room at me.

Clearly, it was a slow day.

But in that fast-paced, slightly echoing conversation, my co-worker raised an important point about job seeking.

Gesturing to my laptop, she said “There’s nothing about that resume that stands out; at least change the font color.”

I changed the color to the first color the cursor landed on. Royal blue.

She smiled. “That’s it! You’re blue. That’s your brand. Blue.”

I looked at her, clueless. She explained that even as job seekers and not organizations, we need something to distinguish ourselves: A personal brand.

As a gainfully employed professional (at least at the time of this writing), I hardly log onto LinkedIn anymore. But when I do and I’m sifting through messages and connect requests I notice something.

Or rather, the lack of something.

Nearly every profile I review is the same, breaking down into one of three categories.

Tech-focused: Python, SQL, AWS
Goal-focused: Aspiring data (analyst/scientist/engineer)
Education-focused: BS Computer Science; MS Data Science; PhD

For SEO-driven platforms like LinkedIn, I can understand the temptation to keyword stuff your headline and profile.

After all, isn’t that what every 5 Job Tips article urges? No — screams–at you, to do?

On paper this is a good idea. But in practice, unfortunately, everyone has started doing it — the wrong way.

In overly focusing on one area, whether that is tech, goals or education you’re an HR manager’s easiest “no” — a one dimensional candidate, as flat as the resume you’re blasting out to every LinkedIn quick apply portal.

Based on that logic, you would think that I’m leading you to the conclusion of combining these approaches to create more dimensionality and interest in your candidate profile.

This is partially true. But, again, you need to be tactful and a bit creative in how you combine these aspects of your candidate submission.

Otherwise you get a LinkedIn headline that exceeds the character limit and is a bit information-dense.

“B.S. Computer Science/M.S. Data Science; Python, SQL, AWS, DBT; Pursuing Data Analyst, Data Engineer and Data Scientist Roles”

Don’t get me wrong. This is a better start than a candidate headline that just emphasizes a singular focus, especially a tech focus.

Don’t believe me that candidates with a heavy tech focus are passed over?

A friend of mine who’s interested in breaking into a data-oriented field relayed a conversation with a contact of his, a hiring manager at an academic organization, when discussing post-graduate roles.

The hiring manager said: “A lot of candidates can write code, create models and use the cloud. But I’m more interested in hiring someone who can communicate the work we’re doing and work well within a team.”

A hiring manager I spoke to during my job search said a similar thing.

“Coding and tech skills can be easily taught. Communication, teamwork and a genuine desire to learn take a lot longer to develop.”

Both comments hint at and/or explicitly state the need for candidates with soft skills that can be developed in nearly any non-data or non-tech role. I mean, I learned how to talk to people when I’d have to calm hot-tempered guests at Disney resorts.

In another life when I was working in television production a high-ranking producer at a late night show you’ve definitely heard of said she wants to hire people who have that summer they worked at a hot dog cart or semester they were a gym lifeguard. Because those are people who have gained real-world experience and can bring a different, grounded perspective to their work.

I’m not saying go out and take an hourly job. Actually, as someone who did for at least 3 years post-graduation (undergrad), I definitely recommend not doing that if at all possible.

But I am saying that you will have a surprising amount of success in a rocky job market if you can embrace whatever your “hotdog cart” unconventional experience is and coherently express that.

Though I dislike LinkedIn as a platform (or maybe I got a bit too addicted on my phone), the LinkedIn headline is a perfect structure for developing your candidate branding.

Since you’re going into data science, I’ll assume you’re comfortable with (or at least tolerate) most formulas.

Consider this your data science personal branding formula:

Your name + education | Prior industry ≈ target industry + target role | Tech skills ^ (YOE)

Breaking this down, your brand is a combination of…

Your name and education. I put education first in a branding headline because this is typically a non-negotiable for managers/employers.

Industry experience and industry preference. I defined industry preference as target industry in the above formula. This is to show that there’s some connection between your past and future aspirations. If you don’t believe that you should be looking for jobs in an industry you already have experience in, I invite you to read this.

I’d put tech skills last to avoid the temptation to keyword stuff. The distinction here is adding years of experience because this is often how recruiters will search, according to my two recruiting sources.

Putting it all together, here’s how I would (and should have) branded myself in one sentence. Feel free to steal this for your own purposes:

Zach Quinn M.S. Data Science | Former journalist targeting data analyst/engineering roles at legacy media orgs | 3+ YOE Python, SQL & R

Professional branding is all about presenting a concise, compelling statement of value. I’ve tried extending this truth to my Medium bio, where you’ll see a similar line of thinking:

Journalist →Data Engineer; helping you target, land and excel in data-driven roles.

Intuitively understanding and being able to express your professional value, even as a beginner, will put you ahead of the crowd of resume fluff artists and keyword stuffers.

And you won’t even need to change your resume font color.

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