If you are looking to launch a career in data, land a new role, switch careers, or just see what types of opportunities are out there, this one is for you.

Today, we're talking about how to find jobs in data.

We'll offer specific, practical advice, including links to some of the best resources you should be leveraging when finding job opportunities.

These are the topics we'll dive into...

1. Job boards (including REMOTE-specific job boards)

2. Company career sections

3. Recruiters

4. Local tech and business publications

What are we NOT covering today?

Looking great online, building a brand, networking, and getting the jobs to come to you! Of course, we always recommend this strategy. If you want to successful landing a role, this is one of the best moves you can make. We're just focusing elsewhere today, on finding open jobs.

Alright, let's get into it.

Use Job Boards

There are TONS of job boards out there, and they all have plenty of jobs to dig through.

Many of the jobs won't be relevant to you, so you need to make sure your filtering game is on point.

Here are some things to consider:

1. Know YOUR keywordsexamples: data analysis(analyst), data science(scientist), data engineer(engineering), data visualization, Excel, SQL, Power BI Tableau, Python, R, Google Analytics, etc

2. Leverage all of the search options Use location filters (or remote filters where applicable) and take advantage of boolean logic to combine multiple keywords

3. Take advantage of new job alertsSome of the job boards let you subscribe to alerts when new relevant jobs get posted. This can help you be among the first to see new opportunities.

For example, if you want to work remotely in Analytics and you are great with Python, you could search for jobs that contain both "Analytics" AND "Python" and are listed as remote (shown below at ZipRecruiter):

Here are links to some of the biggest job boards that you should be keeping on your radar:

• Indeed

• Glassdoor

• CareerBuilder

• Monster

• LinkedIn Jobs

• SimplyHired

• ZipRecruiter

Since the pandemic started, most job boards have added remote job filters, making it easier than ever to find remote jobs. And yes, there are lots of them!

For those of you who are considering remote exclusively, and want to check out some job boards that are 100% focused on remote work, these are great options...

Remote Job Boards

• Remote | OK

• We Work Remotely

• Jobspresso

• Working Nomads

• Remote.co

These are all great places to look for open roles. Next up, we'll talk about how you should go after specific companies that you might want to work for.

Check Out Company Career Sections

Let's go through this one with some specific examples.

If I were looking for work right now, and thinking about companies to target, it would make sense to start with organizations that have lots of data (more fun for me, and more relevant jobs) and where I have a relatively good understanding of the product and business model. These are the places I'm likely to fit well and land smoothly.

First, up... Spotify.

I love the product, understand the business model, and they have tons of data and plenty of needs for people like us. Plus, they take care of their people. Last I heard, they offered 12 months of paternity leave! And that's in the US, where 6 weeks is usually as good as you'll find. This seems like a great place to work, and I could help them.

Check out their careers page (pictured below and linked above, with some data filters built in), where you can see 52 remote roles within 5 differeent data-related categories... bingo!

If Spotify didn't work out, where would I look next?

Maybe I'd try... Netflix.

Seems like they've got a ton of Data Engineering jobs, of which many seem to be remote. But that's not really my bag, so I'd filter it down to the Data Science and Analytics roles, and might move on to another company to search more.

For our third and final company, I would check out Shopify. Their mission to enable small business entrepreneurs is something that I would really get inspired by.

They've got some interesting roles here. Like the others, the opportunities span Data Engineering and Data Science groups.

Before we get off companies, it's worth noting that most major tech companies also post their jobs on LinkedIn. Sticking with the Shopify example, here's their jobs page on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn can be useful because it shows you who you are connected with at the company, and even gives recommendations for which roles are a fit. Plus the filtering is pretty good, and there is 'Easy Apply' (just keep in mind, effort and output usually correlate, so don't bank on this working every time).

Alright, next let's talk about getting some muscle in your corner:

Work With Recruiters

You may have heard us talk about using Recruiters in the past, or could have read our Best Advice from Recruiters article here.

I won't go into too much detail about why I think you should work with Recruiters (you can read more at the link above), but in general here's the pitch...

If you can sell a Recruiter that you're great for a data role, it's like nailing 10 interviews at once. If they believe in you, they'll pitch you to their clients and try to put opportunities in front of you. They don't get paid until you land a role (at least in the US) so there's very little downside.

Assuming you're sold on using recruiters, here are some of our favorite recruiting shops to check out and get in contact with:

US-Based Recruiting Shops

• Analytic Recruiting

• HireMinds

• Curate Partners

• Intelletec

• NDT

• Mica Consulting Group

• MarketSearch Executive Recruiting

** Note: unfortunately our Recruiter network outside of the US isn't nearly as deep as it is here at home. If you have good recommendations we should add to this list for, feel free to shoot me a note on LinkedIn.

Follow local tech and biz publications

The final place we'll recommend looking for opportunities is by following technology and business publications in your area.

For example, where I live in Boston, MA, there are a number of great publications focusing on technology, busines, and startups that are all worth following, and most of them have jobs sections:

• BostInno

• Boston Business Journal

• Built In Boston

• VentureFizz (founder is from BOS, jobs go wider)

If you have your heart set on working in a specific location, it's a good idea to figure out the equivalent publications in that area, and start getting familiar with them. Most of them are on social media, so if you're there already, it's easy to follow.

Wrapping up

Hopefully this quick guide on finding jobs is helpful.

I know, we didn't get into how to apply for jobs in this post. That is one of the many career-building topics we cover in our upcoming course, which you can see here:

Launching Your Data Career