Interesting Article

At a time when there is so much negative news regarding the economy and the job market, here's some positive news for MS graduate candidates in analytics from sascom MAGAZINE.

The making of an analyst
Find, hire, and train employees with analytical minds
By Ted Cuzzillo

The first graduates with a master’s of science in analytics from North Carolina State University found evidence this spring of a growing demand: Recruiters offered starting salaries to new business analysts that were at least comparable to – and perhaps higher than – the nationwide average offered to new MBAs, statisticians and computer scientists.

The 20 graduates of the university’s Institute for Advanced Analytics are starting at an average salary of $83,300. MBAs start at $65,500 for computer science and $54,700 for math and statistics, according the Graduate Admissions Council and the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

As vast quantities of data flow into corporations, a new problem has arisen: how to approach and analyze it all? It’s no longer just quantitative. It’s often unstructured, messy and possibly corrupted, and it’s constantly changing and swelling. Often, it has to be fit for executives’ perusal in the morning.

The old methods don’t work, and those who know the new methods are in short supply. How do you find them, and how do you train them? Wayne Eckerson, the director of TDWI Research, suspects that most companies look first on the open market for analysts. Failing that, they look inside to find a business-savvy person doing similar work who might be trainable. “This could be a subject-matter expert, a report developer who spends a lot of time talking with the business, or a data or systems analyst who supports a business department,” he says. He warns that a serious, long-term shortage of analysts may have serious effects on the industry. Companies will find it harder to launch predictive analytics programs or improve existing ones. The word “analyst” may mean any of several sets of skills. Some analysts know the programming required to pull together mountains of data from different sources and extract what they need to answer a question. Others have enough knowledge of business, math or statistics to see in the data what happened and what may happen next. Harder to find, says Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, education industry strategist, are those who can do both. Even harder to find are people who can also define the business question and come up with recommendations for senior managers. Top analysts understand the industry they’re in. And they understand what to do with data that doesn’t yet come shrink-wrapped and ready to serve.

To read further, click here.

Don't Worry, Be Happy...

… that you selected an analytical career path! Even in the face of daily dire economic news, the quantitative job market continues to hold its own. Many of you may have read this interesting take on how one man has tried to stand out in the job-hunting crowd. News outlets around the world featured the story of Paul Nawrocki, an unemployed Manhattan manager who has been sporting a sandwich board to advertise his job search. While you’ve got to admire Mr. Nawrocki’s originality, you can feel confident that more traditional recruiting and job-hunting tactics are still serving our industry well. Since my last post four weeks ago, many have wondered how our corner of the job market has fared. I am happy to report that, in the analytical groups of the companies I work with, there have been very few layoffs. The managers and directors who head these groups understand how difficult it is to recruit solid quantitative talent and are hesitant to let anyone go.

And believe it or not, there are still plenty of career opportunities for analytical specialists. Job hunters who have kept their skills current and worked to broaden their expertise across a few industries will likely have a few options to consider. It’s important to be flexible on location and be willing to roll up your sleeves to work with data and SAS. And in this market, there is not a lot of room to negotiate compensation. My best advice for everyone is to keep your professional network current, so you are able to tap into those connections when and if you need them.

(By the way, are we connected on LinkedIn? If not, click here!)

Stay tuned for updates. And as for Mr. Nawrocki, I bet he has started a new job by now!

I welcome your comments and observations.

Linda Burtch
Burtch Works
Email: lburtch@burtchworks.com
Don’t Forget to Connect to me on LinkedIn and become a Facebook fan!

Job Market Update

First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Many people assume that this famous quote from Roosevelt was about World War II. In fact, it was part of his first inaugural address in 1933 and was specifically meant to ease the country’s fears about the worsening economy. Since my last blog entry on the state of the job market for the quantitative business professional in July, there have been dramatic changes in the economic and business climate. It is rare these days that I have a conversation without being asked for my take on how these changes are affecting the current job market and the near-term prospects for job seekers in our industry.

Not surprisingly, the drumbeat of negative news about the economy resulting from the meltdown of the financial markets has many people on edge about the stability of their companies and the security of their jobs. At Smith Hanley, we have been paying close attention to every aspect of the current crisis — what I see happening in the quantitative job market is surprising, and should offer my audience relief and even confidence.

We are still seeing a healthy amount of hiring and new job openings. Last year was a record revenue year for the quantitative recruiting groups at Smith Hanley; and this year, even if we have a weaker fourth quarter, we will surpass last year’s numbers. Certainly, the overall unemployment rate has climbed rapidly from 5% this summer to a current rate of 6.1%; the weekly jobless reports are also grimmer, with the number of jobs lost in September nearing 150,000. In the panic of the moment, however, it is important to note that the unemployment rate for college educated professionals is still at very low 2.5% and I strongly believe that for analytics professionals, that number is lower still.

While it’s true that this recession is having a negative impact on employment in most disciplines, professionals with backgrounds in data analytics (including statisticians, econometricians, operations researchers, and mathematicians) are continuing to enjoy job security and employment opportunities. Albert Einstein once said: “Try not to become a man of success, but rather to become a man of value.” In uncertain economic times, the best advice we can give the men and women in our field to keep their jobs secure is to work hard and demonstrate to their employers the value they bring to table. As quantitative professionals, they are uniquely qualified to sift through the mountains of business data necessary to help management develop effective streamlining strategies, a vital tool in this economy. In this case, it is nice to be considered to be among “America’s most wanted”.

These are interesting times. In a news cycle full of gloom and doom, I am pleased to report that employment in analytics remains robust, and with no substantial layoffs or hiring freezes in sight. But in this volatile environment, things could be different next week – so stay in touch with your recruiter at Smith Hanley for the latest updates on the analytical employment market.

Please share your opinions about the economy and current job market by posting them to my blog.

Linda Burtch
Burtch Works
Email: lburtch@burtchworks.com
Don’t Forget to Connect to me on LinkedIn and become a Facebook fan!

Declining Math Skills in the US

Last week, I was disappointed as I read in the New York Times that the number of children in the United States who are excelling in mathematics is in decline. It seems that American culture does not highly value talent in math and as a result, many students, and especially girls, are not motivated to achieve in this discipline.

My own 13 year old daughter, Becky, decided to drop out of the chess club this year, after having competed nationally and internationally since she was in the first grade. “It is just not cool, Mom.” But I am continuing to insist on participation in after school math enrichment through the local Kumon branch. And she is dutifully rising early every morning to get to her 7:15 geometry class at the high school. Luckily, I still have some influence!

As a recruiter for positions requiring quantitative skills, I am very aware of the acute shortage of analytical talent here in the United States. Off shoring these jobs resulted because of the inability to satisfy all the demand (and I did not see any negative impact to salaries here as a result). The demand continues to grow and it sounds like the supply will increasingly come from foreign sources.

Here’s the link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/education/10math.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=mathematics&st=cse&oref=slogin

I would love to hear about your experiences – please share them by posting to my blog.

Linda Burtch
Burtch Works
Email: lburtch@burtchworks.com
Don’t Forget to Connect to me on LinkedIn and become a Facebook fan!

The Numerati by Stephen Baker

As I'm sure you are all aware, we live in an extremely numerically driven world, where many of you mine for information along all sectors and industries. The Numerati, by Stephen Baker is a book describing exactly this, according to John Derbyshire, the author of a book review from The Wall Street Journal. From measuring advertising success, to predicting customer behavior, to electronic name recognition, and blog mining, the elite quantitative professionals are staying competitive and current in trends concerning the most updated data and necessity of data analysis. This is a very interesting delve into the issue of privacy and the impact of data mining.
To read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122143747437734337.html?mod=2_1167_1

Linda Burtch
Burtch Works
Email: lburtch@burtchworks.com
Don’t Forget to Connect to me on LinkedIn and become a Facebook fan!

For your information

Hello,

I wanted to pass along some interesting data that we found from KD nuggets.

From our vantage point, we don't necessarily see this as true for quantitative professionals, but we thought you might find it a worthwhile read. Enjoy.

http://www.kdnuggets.com/news/2008/n14/1i.html

Subject: Surprising Effect of US Recession on Data Miners

The previous KDnuggets Poll asked: How do you expect the US recession to affect the demand for data mining / analytic software and services in the US and worldwide?

The surprising result is that a third of respondents felt that it would increase the demand.
John Elder, one of the leading data mining consultants in the US observed that his company saw an increase in demand. KDnuggets also saw an increase and in demand for consulting. However, this increase did not apply to all.
About 40% of respondents felt that the US recession would reduce the demand, and the rest thought that there would be no change.
Also, based on number of jobs received by KDnuggets, and looking at "data mining" jobs at other large job boards, we see that hiring by large companies (except perhaps Microsoft) has slowed down in the last quarter.

Here are full results of KDnuggets Poll: Effect of the US Recession on Data Mining Demand

Linda Burtch
Burtch Works
Email: lburtch@burtchworks.com
Don’t Forget to Connect to me on LinkedIn and become a Facebook fan!

Quantitative Job Trends 2008 5-6-08

Recession Talk Exaggerated re Analytical Job Market

While talk of recession continues to dominate headlines, with the fresh job market data issued in May, we question whether there is a recession at all. Overall, the economy lost 20,000 jobs in April, significantly fewer than economists had predicted. Furthermore, April saw substantial growth in professional hiring, adding 39,000 new jobs. All this information supports the healthy activity we are experiencing.

Despite some doomsday predictions, current data indicates that we may have passed the period of greatest risk and could even be on the road to another robust hiring phase. For example, Monster Worldwide, the Internet jobs company, recently reported that its monthly employment index for April experienced the sharpest gain in more than a year.

In addition, recent figures on jobs, GDP, business confidence, and consumer spending all tell a consistent story indicating that, while the economy weakened abruptly last fall, there has not been continued deterioration. It seems increasingly probable that the US will skirt a recession this year.

New job orders continue to arrive from all sectors, with consumer packaged goods and pharmaceutical companies leading the way. Energy, telecommunication, and consulting firms are all looking to hire; and we are seeing activity from advertising agencies, insurance companies and retailers, as well – areas we assumed would contract during a soft market. Even the beleaguered credit industry is showing signs of a return to staffing during this second quarter.

This continued hiring seems a testament to the constant level of demand for good talent. While other areas may be feeling the effects of the economy more drastically, our clients are still in need of employees with strong analytic aptitude, and the ability to lead the way with data-driven business decisions. The technical and strategic talents of those in the marketing analytics industry are highly desired by today’s companies, and this helps to shield quantitative professionals from the effects of the softening market.

To understand recent and upcoming conditions, it may be helpful to examine a few substantial differences between the current market softness and the recessionary period of 2001-03. Economists frequently describe modern recessions as being “U” shaped, rather the “V” shape of past recessions. Prior to 2001, recessions tended to be sharper, with a sudden spike in layoffs and unemployment rates. The trough was deep, but short lived and the rebound was quick. During the 2001-03 period, the falloff was not nearly as sharp and the bottom not nearly as deep, but the turnaround was slower, with many months of sluggish growth.

While some believe we may be in the beginning stages of this new kind of economic cycle, many indicators suggest otherwise. During 13 of the 24 months between May ‘01 and May ‘03, monthly job losses averaged between 150,000 and 300,000. In contrast, the job losses reported this year are much less dramatic, at 80,000 per month for January through March, and just 20,000 in April. It is also worth noting that unemployment peaked in June 2003 at 6.3% during the earlier contraction period, whereas the current rate is hovering at about 5.0%.

I am happy to say that the impact of the reported soft market on the analytical community seems likely to be minor. We have not heard of any substantial layoffs and salary offers remain aggressive. Our candidates continue to enjoy a steady stream of new opportunities, and filling these highly specialized positions is a persistent challenge for many companies.

These are the challenges we welcome. We are here to help you understand and prepare for fluctuating market conditions. Let us know of any way in which we might be able to be of service.

Best regards,

Linda Burtch
Burtch Works
Email: lburtch@burtchworks.com
Don’t Forget to Connect to me on LinkedIn and become a Facebook fan!