How AI Can Help Us See Past Our Perceived Failures!

[Donnelly_Miller]

I’m going to admit that at first glance, it would appear that my job history has not prepared me at all for any Data or Business Analyst role. To many, it may seem like I’m severely underqualified and lack most if not all the skills. Unfortunately, I have have believed this to be the truth and have left out many of my jobs I’ve held on my LinkedIn. Whether we chose a degree that does not have the greatest return on investment or we lack a network, sometimes we have to take jobs that we may not want to do and may not be the most fun, and sometimes can be down right boring and demoralizing at times. However, it may not be all doom and gloom for others who may share a similar job history I have. I will be adding all the jobs I’ve held since 2017 that are non-data related and posting how even these jobs can have aspects that carry over well into an analytics role.

I will start off with my first role after graduating in July of 2017.

October 2017 - January 2018: Sales Floor Clerk at Target

I find this is a powerful way that AI can sometimes help us see things in a more positive light!

I worked as a Seasonal Sales Floor clerk at Target: My duties included organizing shelves and pulling items to the front on each shelve with having to organize a certain department or number of shelves within our shift. Cashiering as needed. Placing non-bought items back onto the shelves. Assisting guests with finding products or calling other departments or management if items are not available on the shelves. How could these skills transfer over to a Data or Business Analyst role?

ChatGPT’s response:
Your experience as a Seasonal Sales Floor team member at Target may not seem directly related to data or business analysis at first glance, but several core transferable skills can be aligned with those roles. Here’s how to frame your responsibilities and connect them to analyst-relevant skills:

Here is an example of workflow efficiency:
Often times, I would be in charge of organizing the toy, sporting goods, and furniture departments. If my shift started at 6:00 pm and I’ve got 4 hours to make the shelves look presentable, I’m not going to be starting with the toy department knowing that from 6:00 pm to around 8:00 pm there are going to be lots of kids playing with the toys and moving things all around. I would only end up having to reorganize everything again at the end of my shift losing perhaps an hour or more. Instead, I would start with the furniture department, then move to sporting goods and then finish up with toys last. As for cashiering, I would answer to requests when they called all available sales floor personnel to cashier, but I also knew not to be volunteering all the time as I had to see how far along I was in my assigned departments. Often times, I would not complete organizing all assigned department depending on how busy we were with assisting guests. Assisting guests was our number one assigned priority over all other tasks.

Next role:

Personal Trainer at 24 Hour Fitness May 2018 - February 2019

Considering that my master’s degree was in exercise science, there is that possibility I may have to fall back on to finding a job at a gym until I finally do land my analytics role. One things this response highlights as that personal training can involve a lot of tracking of fitness metrics which translates well into data analytics. Especially if one has a lot of clients, it can turn into a huge dataset. The results of keeping track of various metrics can help to determine which exercises are best given a person’s goals, age, health, and other factors. One can discover that maybe certain exercises are more conducive to helping someone run a faster 5k along with a structured running schedule. Then there is the interpersonal aspect of training to find out things such as stress, diet, and other information the client gives could be positively or negatively impacting gains.

How to Frame on a Resume (Analytics-Oriented Bullets)

24 Hour Fitness – Personal Trainer
May 2018 – February

• Developed and maintained individualized performance tracking logs for clients using metrics such as reps, sets, weight progression, and cardio output
• Analyzed client data to optimize workout programs, demonstrating early use of data-driven decision-making
• Engaged in prospect outreach and sales conversations, improving stakeholder communication and persuasive presentation skills
• Coordinated with clients to set SMART goals, monitor weekly progress, and adjust training based on trends in client performance

[zack]

Great examples of using the tools to reframe your perspective and find the relevance in your past experience.

I think it’s easy for us to say “oh that job I had isn’t related” but there’s parts of every job you can use to enhance your experience in a job you’re seeking.

I think about it all of the time in my current job, how past jobs that didn’t seem at all connected all ended up teaching me different skills that now enabled me to do the job I have now. And perhaps most importantly since I have (and you have too) held lots of different jobs, it teaches you to LEARN quickly and more effectively.

That’s actually a huge skill in itself.

[Donnelly_Miller]

One thing I have noticed between the retail/customer service jobs versus the internship and office jobs I’ve had was it seemed like the retail jobs were more grueling and often times stressful in nature.

One aspect of these customer service jobs is that one is expected to always be doing something, can be dependent on management, but for the most part if you have nothing to do then you’d be told to find something to do or be assigned new tasks. The aspect is the challenge in dealing with the public. Luckily, my negative experiences with customers minimal yet I still had my moments. Luckily, management was supportive and would not tolerate customer abuses.

I cannot speak for data analytic roles or most other highly professional roles, but in my office job experience, it felt like the workload was much less. Which always made me feel unease when I would finish a task and then have nothing to do until my manager was able to find something else me to do. I learned during my internship that it’s not about GO GO GO all the time. I do make it a point to ask about other tasks ahead of time and or opportunities for continued learning and growth.

As for dealing with customers, it can help us learn conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques, but over time it can wear on mental health. I’m sure the experience will come in handy for when I may be dealing with a stakeholder who is not having a very good day.

At the end, many of the jobs I had taught me to try and be as productive as possible and seek out tasks and or challenges when completing current tasks.

[zack]

@Donnelly_Miller

I cannot speak for data analytic roles or most other highly professional roles, but in my office job experience, it felt like the workload was much less. Which always made me feel unease when I would finish a task and then have nothing to do until my manager was able to find something else me to do. I learned during my internship that it’s not about GO GO GO all the time. I do make it a point to ask about other tasks ahead of time and or opportunities for continued learning and growth.

I think you landed on something really important here. One of the things that separates a good analyst from a great one is identifying potential work before it’s assigned. This also eventually translates into good leadership/strategic thinking, but it’s a good start as an analyst to begin building that muscle.

[Donnelly_Miller]

Thinking of tasks to do ahead of time can also potentially reduce the risk of having to deal with an excessively high and stressful workload when trying to meet tight deadlines with stakeholders. It’s like the difference between getting started on a research project in grad school the day it is assigned and working a bit on it each day versus cramming everything the last three nights before it is due.