How can I get into an Analyst role if all Analysts roles require 3 years experience?

bigolsausage

Hi guys, 
I’m in a bit of a pickle with my next career move. I currently work as an HR Administrator and I’m looking/aiming to get into HR Analysis/Data Analytics however every job that I find in my area (London) requires 3-5years experience in HR Analytics. How I can I get this experience if every job already needs the experience? 

I have about 3 years experience in HR admin and after my Masters has finished, I’m looking to move into a more specialised section of HR but from my general quick searches now, it doesn’t look likely. 

I’m familiar with advanced excel & have taken courses offered by my current workplace & on Linked in Learning to learn more. I’ve also asked my manager to give me things that will help gain some data manipulation & analytics experience but it’s still never going to be ‘3years experience as an analyst’. 

I’m not too sure what else I can be doing or if I should be looking at a more junior role first? An assistant HR analyst seems to be far and few between though. 

Thanks! 

click86

You have two options...

1) Stick it out in your current role and get some good experience in data analysis.

2) If you're advanced enough already, ensure you get the point across on your CV and hope that employers are willing to have a chat with you.

To me, the 3-5 years is just an indicator of what skills they would require the successful candidate to have and just want to get the right person.

As I'm not sure of your skill set, being a data analyst generally consists of more than just advanced Excel skills.

No doubt, you would be required to work with big data to provide insights so automation naturally also plays a big part in an analyst role.

If not already, I'd start getting well-versed in TSQL to automate the pulling of data directly from databases, in the format you need it.

Perhaps, if not already, your IT team can set up a backup/reporting server (which will probably hold data from the day before and earlier) and query directly into that. So if you break anything, it won't effect the live server in your business (you don't want this to happen!).

You can use TSQL in Excel but perhaps look into using tools specifically tailored for business intelligence such as Microsoft Power BI. It can create really modern dashboards which, from experience, management find easier to digest than a huge table of data.

From here, you may even want to look I to Microsoft SQL server and its reporting services. Or even look at how to set up a data warehouse and data cubes for faster querying.

Good luck in your career!

Brynsam

bigolsausage said:

Hi guys, 
I’m in a bit of a pickle with my next career move. I currently work as an HR Administrator and I’m looking/aiming to get into HR Analysis/Data Analytics however every job that I find in my area (London) requires 3-5years experience in HR Analytics. How I can I get this experience if every job already needs the experience? 

Presumably the same way that other potential applicants got their experience - and that truly isn't meant to sound glib or flippant. Do you know anyone in the field so you could ask them how they got where they are today? Is there a professional body which is likely to have a high number of members who work in this specialism? What research have you done to establish if you'll enjoy what is, at present, a rather vague job area - and do the vacancies which are appearing do so with such regularity as to suggest people tend to get there and find they don't enjoy it (which could be why 3-5 years' experience is requested, so that anyone who finds it isn't for them has already made that discovery!). 

bigolsausage

Brynsam said:

bigolsausage said:

Hi guys, 
I’m in a bit of a pickle with my next career move. I currently work as an HR Administrator and I’m looking/aiming to get into HR Analysis/Data Analytics however every job that I find in my area (London) requires 3-5years experience in HR Analytics. How I can I get this experience if every job already needs the experience? 

Presumably the same way that other potential applicants got their experience - and that truly isn't meant to sound glib or flippant. Do you know anyone in the field so you could ask them how they got where they are today? Is there a professional body which is likely to have a high number of members who work in this specialism? What research have you done to establish if you'll enjoy what is, at present, a rather vague job area - and do the vacancies which are appearing do so with such regularity as to suggest people tend to get there and find they don't enjoy it (which could be why 3-5 years' experience is requested, so that anyone who finds it isn't for them has already made that discovery!). 

I don’t know anyone in the field, I can ask my lecturers but they’ve been out of industry for like 20 years so not sure the same applies today... 

I’ve been an admin on the ER path for a year now and I know for a fact that’s not the route I want to go down although if I have to I will... I’ve studied an Analytics module for my Masters and really enjoyed it. It gave an insight into what businesses are looking for with their HR Analytics teams, how you’d go about doing it and real life examples. My two lecturers are specialists in the field and have always talked about their experiences. My manager is also the solo HR data specialist in the organisation (it’s a medium sized org so not really much room for an entire team) and I enjoy what he shows me and teaches me although it’s pretty basic and related only to our software system as opposed to the more popular Workday system that seems to be used in private companies. 

The job descriptions I’m seeing online look interesting and sound like exactly what I want to do. I should mention I also have a background in Sociology and so equal opportunities data, gender pay gap data etc is and has always been very interesting to me. 

jimbo6977

By "knowing" (preferably biblically) the right people. 

Same old same old. 

bigolsausage

jimbo6977 said:

By "knowing" (preferably biblically) the right people. 

Same old same old. 

Yes well unfortunately I don’t have those kinds of contacts at the moment. Any way on getting them? Aside from making contacts on Linked In. I’m trying to do all related courses too. 

alittlelife

What size is your organisation? If there is a change / projects function then there will be analysts there who you could buddy with. There is frequently the need for SMEs (subject matter experts) in project work so get yourself in with people there, ask about current and roadmap projects, suggest you would be ideal as a support. It often works on a short-term secondment basis, so you could be adding value to the project with your HR / business process knowledge while you gain useful analytic and data mining skills. 

bigolsausage

alittlelife said:

What size is your organisation? If there is a change / projects function then there will be analysts there who you could buddy with. There is frequently the need for SMEs (subject matter experts) in project work so get yourself in with people there, ask about current and roadmap projects, suggest you would be ideal as a support. It often works on a short-term secondment basis, so you could be adding value to the project with your HR / business process knowledge while you gain useful analytic and data mining skills. 

Thanks. It’s a medium sized university so not sure if I could but I guess I could speak to my analytics lecturers and see what they suggest? 

alittlelife

Yes, that’s a possible route definitely. I meant more outside of the academic staff - with that size organisation there should be a change management function who will deliver system and process change for the uni. If you have a organisational directory then search for ‘project manager’ or ‘business analyst’ or ‘data analyst’.