Ace a data analyst interview

A good data analyst doesn't produce numbers — they produce decisions. In an interview, the recruiter tests your technical skills and your ability to tell a clear story from data. Here's how to prepare.

The questions you'll almost certainly get

• "Write a SQL query to answer this business question."
• "A metric drops 20% overnight. How do you investigate?"
• "What's the difference between correlation and causation?"
• "Describe an analysis that changed a decision."

The golden rule: from number to action

Never stop at "I found that…". Always finish with "…so the team did X, which led to Y." An analyst's value is measured by the impact of their analysis, not the beauty of their dashboards.

For the case study: structure before you calculate

Facing an ambiguous question ("is our retention dropping?"), clarify first: which population, which period, which definition of retention? Asking the right questions beats jumping straight into SQL.

Nail your stats fundamentals

Mean vs median, sampling bias, A/B testing, p-values: be able to explain them simply, as if to a non-technical manager.

Practise on the exact job offer

Every sector has its own metrics (e-commerce, finance, product…). Take a mock interview for the role you're targeting: the AI recruiter will give you concrete cases and you'll get a detailed coaching report.