10 General Data Analyst Interview Questions You'll Be Asked
Typical Data Analyst Interview Process
The data analyst interview process typically involves the following steps:
Recruiter Screening Call: Your first step will often involve a screening call with a recruiter to get a sense of your experience, interest, and salary expectations, as well as provide you with details about the position.
Hiring Manager Interview: The next call is normally with the hiring manager. They might ask more about your direct experience, as well as why you are interested in the position.
Technical Screen: This part is specific to data analyst roles. The technical interview can involve SQL and Python questions or a take-home test.
On-site interview: The final step tends to focus on your business acumen.
Once you have passed through these core parts of the interview process, you may have to wait for an offer. Regardless of whether you get the job or not, you may get a chance for feedback, which can be helpful for your career.
General Data Analyst Interview Questions and Answers
These are some of the questions you might encounter early on during the interview process, usually in the HR interview. They are often the data analyst behavioral interview questions used to determine what kind of professional you are and how much you understand about the role and the company:
1. Tell me about yourself
Despite being a relatively simple question, this one can be hard for many people to answer. Essentially, the interviewer is looking for a relatively concise and focused answer about what’s brought you to the field of data analytics and what interests you about this role.
You should focus on why data analytics is meaningful to you, what excites you about this specific role, and what you’re hoping to gain from it.
2. What makes you the best candidate for the job?
Although this can be a broad question, remember the interviewer wants to hear about you as a data analyst. So consider your journey with data analysis, what got you interested in the first place, your previous experience, and why you are applying for this role in particular.
3. Tell me how you coped with a challenging data analysis project
Here, the interviewer is essentially asking how you overcome challenges, giving you a chance to highlight your strengths in action. Make sure to talk about some of your strengths and weaknesses that you're working to improve.
Be honest about what went wrong or what you found difficult, and try to highlight any skills listed in the job requirements of this role. Again, make sure you give an answer with a positive outcome, showing the lessons/skills you learned to cope with similar challenges in the future.
The interviewer may instead ask you to talk about a successful project, but your approach should be the same either way. Give a specific example, highlight what went well and what was challenging, and mention the lessons you learned.
4. What type of data have you worked with?
This question asks you to be as specific as possible. Focus on the size and type of data you have worked with, whether from previous work experience or your own projects and programs. Many hiring managers will be looking to see if you can handle large, complex data.
You can draw on all kinds of examples here, whether it’s career-related or something that’s part of a personal project or online course.
Data analyst process interview questions
In your day-to-day work as a data analyst, you’ll spend a lot of time working on various tasks and processes. During the hiring manager interview, you’ll likely encounter questions about processing, including:
5. What is data cleaning, and how do you do it?
Data cleaning (also known as data preparation or data cleansing) takes up a large part of your work hours as a data analyst. When you answer this question, you can show the interviewer how you handle the process. You’ll want to explain how you handle missing data, duplicates, outliers, and more. Be sure to explain why it is important and how you have dealt with it in past projects.
6. How do you communicate technical concepts to a non-technical audience?
Much of data analysis involves ordering your findings into a narrative and clearly explaining it to both technical and non-technical audiences. This is where your soft skills come in: communication and storytelling. Give examples of how you’ve drawn insights from data and communicated those to audiences. These might include presentations to shareholders or written communication within your portfolio.
7. How would you go about measuring the performance of our company?
When an interviewer offers up a question about the company, this is an opportunity to show your research into their work and how you align with them. Consider how your analysis skills can bring insights specific to this company in particular, with their problems and goals in mind.
8. How would you estimate…?
They may give you a situational question here, asking how you’d approach a task from start to finish. This question will test your analytical skills, as well as your ability to think on your feet. You should talk the interviewer through your approach and rely on your knowledge and skills to guide you.
Data analyst technical interview questions
9. What data analytics software are you familiar with?
This question helps the interviewer assess what level of experience you have and how much training you might need for the role in question.
You can prepare by including any software listed in the job description that you have worked with, mentioning software solutions and how you have used them for different stages across the data analysis process. Be sure to include relevant terminology to keep on track.
Software to mention for data analyst roles includes R, Python, Tableau, and Microsoft Excel. Be sure to try some extra data analyst training if you’re uncertain of these.
10. What is your statistical knowledge for data analysis?
This question is usually asking if you have a basic understanding of statistics and how you have used them in your previous data analysis work.
If you are entry-level and not familiar with statistical methods, make sure to research the following concepts:
Standard deviation
Variance
Sample size
Mean
If you do have some knowledge, be specific about how statistical analysis ties into business goals.
There are of course a lot of other questions you could be asked, but these are fantastic questions to study and know how to answer well. You most likely will be asked questions like these in your interviews!
What if the interviewer ask for references...