What Questions Should You Expect in a Data Analyst Interview?
To help you prepare for your data analyst interview, we reached out to CEOs, founders, and community managers to share their insights on the most important questions you should expect. From solving problems using data to handling sensitive data responsibly, here are the top 10 questions these experts believe you should be ready for.
- How Would You Solve This Problem Using Data?
- What are Robust Statistics Methods and How Can You Use Them?
- What is Your Preference for Scripting Languages?
- What Limitations and Biases Does This Data Contain?
- What Common Problems Do You Encounter?
- How Would You Measure Our Company’s Performance?
- How Do You Handle Large Datasets and Complex Problems?
- Can You Explain Your Data Analysis Process?
- How Do You Collaborate with Non-Technical Coworkers?
- How Do You Handle Sensitive Data Responsibly?
How Would You Solve This Problem Using Data?
This is a great question to ask an interviewee who’s interviewing for a data analyst position. It makes them think on their feet, come up with a solution, and execute on it. It shows how the candidate thinks and is able to work under pressure.
Additionally, this question allows the interviewer to assess the candidate’s ability to analyze complex problems, leverage data to derive insights, and communicate their findings effectively to stakeholders. It provides valuable insights into the candidate’s problem-solving skills, analytical thinking, and their capacity to drive data-driven decision-making within the organization.
Luciano Colos, Founder and CEO, PitchGrade
What are Robust Statistics Methods and How Can You Use Them?
Robust statistics methods handle data that may have errors or outliers. These methods give you good results even when the data is not perfect.
In practice, a data analyst uses Python or R for coding. Libraries like SciPy in Python have tools for robust statistics. This question touches on a data analyst’s skills in statistics, data cleaning, and coding.
Knowing statistics is a must. Cleaning data is crucial as real-world data is messy. Coding skills are important to work with data. This question is very effective because it tests if the candidate knows how to work with real-world data.
Marliis Reinkort, CEO, Code Galaxy
What is Your Preference for Scripting Languages?
You should be ready for questions about scripting languages. Even if it’s not required explicitly, smart data analysts tend to think in advance about what they would like to learn or use to better automate their processes.
In situations where the job requires it, you should still be able to speak to personal preferences. Occasionally, you’ll even want to acknowledge a preference for a different language than the job requires, if only to show higher-level thinking.
Trevor Ewen, COO, QBench
What Limitations and Biases Does This Data Contain?
One often overlooked question that candidates should expect in a data analyst interview is: “Can you explain the limitations and potential biases of the data you work with?”
This question tests a candidate’s understanding of the data they analyze and their ability to critically evaluate its reliability and validity. It showcases their awareness of potential errors, sampling biases, missing data, and other factors that can impact the accuracy and interpretation of analytical results.
According to a survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 68% of organizations consider data analysis skills to be very important for data analyst roles.
In a real-life example, a candidate might be asked to explain how they handled biased data in a previous project and what steps they took to mitigate its impact on the analysis.
Himanshu Sharma, CEO and Founder, Academy of Digital Marketing
What Common Problems Do You Encounter?
One question that is likely to be asked in a data analyst interview is, “What are the common problems that data analysts encounter during analysis?” This question is aimed at testing your understanding of the role and your practical experience.
In your answer, you could mention issues like dealing with missing or inconsistent data, interpreting data correctly, and ensuring data quality. You might also talk about the challenge of translating complex data findings into easy-to-understand insights for colleagues who are not data analysts. Using an example from your own experience to illustrate how you handled such issues would show that you can solve problems effectively.
Martin Potocki, CEO, Jobera
How Would You Measure Our Company’s Performance?
A common question you should expect is “How would you measure our company’s performance?” This question evaluates your analytical skills and insight-generating ability, with a strong response requiring the identification of relevant KPIs aligned with company goals, analysis of data sources (e.g., financial reports, customer feedback), and utilization of statistical methods to track and assess performance over time.
Tobias Liebsch, Co-founder, Fintalent.io
How Do You Handle Large Datasets and Complex Problems?
As a Business Analyst Team Leader, one question I always prepare my team for in an interview is: “Can you describe a situation where you had to deal with a large set of data or a complex problem and explain how you approached solving it?”
This question tests their problem-solving skills, experience with large datasets, and ability to articulate complex processes and results effectively. It’s critical for a role in data analytics to master these areas, and I ensure that my team is equipped with the necessary skills and prepared for such queries.
Michael Sena, Founder and CEO, SENACEA
Can You Explain Your Data Analysis Process?
To answer this question, explain how you approach a new data set. This may include cleaning and organizing the data, identifying relevant variables, and checking for missing or inconsistent values.
Next, discuss how you use various statistical techniques to analyze the data and draw conclusions, such as regression analysis, clustering, or hypothesis testing. Finally, emphasize the importance of communication in data analysis.
By walking the interviewer through your data analysis process, you demonstrate your proficiency as a data analyst and your ability to communicate complex information.
Karl Robinson, CEO, Logicata
How Do You Collaborate with Non-Technical Coworkers?
Collaborating with non-technical coworkers or clients is like navigating between two worlds. It requires bridging the gap between these two perspectives, and that’s why interviewers often ask about your approach to such collaboration in a data analyst interview.
This question serves multiple purposes. It evaluates your ability to understand and translate business requirements into data analysis tasks, assesses your critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and determines your ability to manage relationships.
Interviewers use it to gauge your skills in identifying data sources, designing an analysis plan, and involving third parties. Ultimately, the success of data analysis projects relies on aligning with business needs and maintaining productive relationships.
When answering this question, highlight your ability to explain technical concepts in a non-technical manner, and above all, share a specific situation where you collaborated successfully with non-technical coworkers.
Nina Paczka, Community Manager, Resume Now
How Do You Handle Sensitive Data Responsibly?
As a data analyst, you may often have access to sensitive data. It is crucial to ensure its protection, so during the interview for this position, you will likely be asked about your experience working with sensitive or confidential information.
While answering, provide specific examples. Show your understanding of the importance of these issues, your knowledge of relevant regulations, and your ability to take proactive measures to protect data while performing tasks.
Ensuring data privacy and security is not solely the responsibility of the data analyst. It requires collaboration with stakeholders such as data engineers, IT professionals, and legal teams. Therefore, by asking this question, the interviewer also evaluates your ability to communicate and collaborate effectively for a shared purpose.
Agata Szczepanek, Community Manager, MyPerfectResume
