Spent 8 months trying to land a data analyst job with no experience

I kept applying to entry level data analyst roles online and got zero callbacks for months. Finally I decided to look at what skills employers actually wanted, not just what job descriptions said. I spent a weekend making a project using public data from my city's open data portal about housing permits. That project got me an interview within two weeks, but only after I figured out what they really wanted from the job postings. Has anyone else had that experience where the job posting and the real job were totally different things?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_wren1mo ago

My buddy Tom spent 6 months trying to get a warehouse supervisor job. Every posting said "needs 3 years of leadership experience" so he kept skipping it. Finally he just showed up to one of those places, asked to talk to the shift manager, and told them his story. Turns out they needed someone who could work weekends and he was the only applicant willing. Sarah_hart might say Tom just got lucky, but I saw his resume before and after he changed it to focus on "scheduling" and "inventory" instead of just "team lead." The job description said one thing, but what they really wanted was someone who could cover the Saturday shift nobody else would take.

sarah_hart1mo ago

That project didn't land you the job, you just got lucky with timing.