211: This is How You Land a REMOTE Data Job!

All right, I got to admit that landing a remote data analyst job in 2026 feels virtually impossible, and most people listening will not succeed. But there are five things that you can do to give yourself an unfair advantage in landing a remote role, and I will show you all five of them in today's episode. But first, why does this feel so gosh darn impossible? And the answer is because it kind of low-key is. If I'm being honest, the odds are stacked against you, and really what it comes down to is math. There was a study done in 2023 that showed that 98% of workers want to work from home. They want to work remotely. And I get it, working remotely is awesome. I love working from home. It's the best. But that means when you're applying to a remote data job, you're not only competing with the people inside of your local city or inside of your county or your state or even the country, you're competing with people from all over the place. And so the odds of you being the best candidate just kind of go down with the number of applicants that are actually applying. And even if you are a great applicant, the odds of your resume and you actually getting noticed through the applicant tracking system is so low, so it virtually feels impossible. Now, you might be thinking, "Well, if everyone's applying to these remote jobs and I can actually apply to any remote job, then I have lots of jobs that I can apply for, right?" Well, and the unfortunate truth is there's not a lot of remote data analyst jobs. Despite what the courses tell you, despite what the influencers tell you, here is the raw number from my job board that I've been running for 18 months. 17%. That means about 2 out of every 10 data analyst jobs are remote. The remaining 8 out of 10 are not remote. So if 98% of us want to work remotely, but only 20% of the jobs are remote, this is a huge supply versus demand issue. And basically, what it means is those remote jobs are incredibly competitive. They get 5 to 10 times more applicants than its normal counterpart, and it feels impossible to land these roles. And actually, in my corporate life, my W2 data jobs, I never had a remote role. In fact, I barely had a hybrid role, if I'm being honest. Now, obviously, since becoming more of a consultant educator, I get to work from home. So with the odds stacked against us, what can we do? Well, here are five things that you can do today to increase your odds of landing that data analyst role remotely. The first thing you can do to land a job more successfully, and hear me out here, don't stop listening, don't hate me, is to, one Not go for a remote data job. And, and let me explain real quick. Please keep listening. I think that there's something that you actually want that you have a better chance of landing that will get you most of what you are actually desiring, and I'm gonna call it an 80% remote job. It's not 100% remote, it's 80% remote job, and another term for this is hybrid. And hybrid roles are actually more common than remote jobs. There's about 22% of all posted data analyst jobs that fall into this hybrid category. And the cool thing about hybrid is you have a lot of the perks of working remotely, but you have way less competition. Because unlike 100% remote jobs, you're not competing with everyone in the entire country and the entire world for this role, it's only the people in the area of the actual job office. This means it's gonna get a lot less applicants, it's gonna be a lot less competitive, but you're still gonna have the opportunity to work from home at least a percentage. Now, hybrid is a spectrum. Sometimes hybrid means that you go to the office four times a week and you work from home one day a week, but it can also mean the opposite, that you work from home four days a week, and you come to the office one time a week. Heck, I even have some students who graduated from my accelerator program who are hybrid, and they have to come to the office once a month, and I have one that has to come to the office once a quarter, which is insane. That is basically remote to me. But the job that she applied for was labeled hybrid. So answer me this, are you okay potentially going to the office one to two times a week if it was going to help you land a job a lot faster and probably have a higher salary? Would that be worth the trade-off for you? And while I have you thinking about this, I'm gonna suggest one more thing, and that is that you actually go for an on-site job. Because as you can see, 61% of data analyst jobs are posted on-site. This is the majority, and these are less desirable than the remote and the hybrid jobs, right? So they're gonna be way less competitive because people don't wanna do it. There's also a smaller applicant pool just because you're not going to be competing with people from all over the country. But let me also point out, if you're trying to land your first data job, another two reasons why this in-person job might be a really good bridge for you. Number one, you have no proven experience of being a data analyst, and when you're going through the hiring process, the hiring manager is thinking, "Is this person a risk, yes or no?" When you have no experience, you're already kind of by default a risk. Let me tell you that corporate and managers see people working remotely often as a risk as well because they can't see you, and they can't keep track of what you're doing and if you're actually working or not. Now, does every manager think that way? No. But corporations do think that way, I promise. And working remotely, you are a risk to a lot of companies. So no experience risk and working remotely risk, you're just not likely to get hired. The second reason you might wanna consider an in-person job is you're gonna receive way better training. I love working remotely, I love working virtually, but I can't disagree that you get better training with a human right next to you than you do on Zoom. I promise you're gonna learn a lot more in the office. You're gonna make more friends. You're gonna have better visibility opportunities. You're gonna be seen by the manager more. Honestly, you're probably gonna get more promotions. I'm just telling you, I hate to say it, I wish it wasn't the case, but when you're in the office, good things happen. Now, before all of you guys accuse me of being a corporate wog in the comments down below, I don't like going to the office When I worked at Exxon, I was working hybrid. It was during COVID. It, it really is an in-person job, but I decided I didn't really want to go to the office, and so I didn't go to the office for six months, and I promise you, that hurt my growth at the company. So step number one to landing a remote data analyst job is to first not land a remote data analyst job. I know, kind of wonky, kind of meta, but it's something I actually really believe in, and it's honest advice coming from someone who's been in your shoes. But if you want to ignore all that and say, "Avery, I'm going for the competitive 17% remote job. I want it. I need it," then okay, step two, three, four, and five will help you become the best candidate to stand out in that pool. Let's start with step number two, and that is the obvious one once again, and it's to learn the skills. You can't become a remote data analyst if you don't have good data analyst skills. Now, I've made a lot of episodes in the past talking about this, but my philosophy is you shouldn't try to learn every single data skill out there, every single data tool out there, because there's way too much to learn, and it's way too hard to learn them all, especially at the same time when you're just getting started. So what skills should you actually learn? Well, for me, I think there's two factors. One, how in demand the skill is, and two, how easy is it to learn? Now, what's the most in-demand data skill there is? It's Python, right? That's what everyone says. That's what all the Influencers say that's what the course is. No, it's not. It's Excel. It's boring freaking Excel, you guys. And if you don't believe me, I actually analyze all the job descriptions on my job board, findadatajob.com, and I created this graph right here that's actually live on the website, updates automatically to show you what skills are most listed in the job descriptions for a data analyst. So you can see that Excel is basically mentioned in half of all data analyst jobs, followed by SQL at 38%, and then the business intelligence tools of Power BI and Tableau are on that 24 to 25% mark, followed by Python and some more complicated tools down below. So what's in demand? It's Excel, it's SQL, and it's a business intelligence tool. And in terms of ease of learning and using, most of us have already used Excel before, so it's a great place to start, and it's really not that complicated. The next easiest in my mind is the business intelligence tools of Power BI and Tableau. If you can figure out how to make a PowerPoint presentation, you can figure out how to make these. And then I think SQL is a lot easier than Python because there's a lot less coding involved, and there's really only, like, 17 commands you need to know to get started with basic SQL for data analysts. So those are the three skills I would focus on in the order of Excel, Tableau or Power BI, and SQL. Now, you might be saying, "Avery, those are the best skills for data analyst jobs. What about remote data analyst jobs?" And the answer is the data doesn't really change that much. On the website, findadatajob.com, you can look at this report and actually filter by remote jobs only, and you'll see that the top five are still the top five, although SQL and Excel do change place, and SQL is required in 48% of remote data analyst jobs. So SQL might be a little bit more important for remote data analyst jobs, and so that might be something you wanna focus on a little bit more. But even if you've learned these skills, you're still a risk to the hiring manager because you have no proof, you have no experience. So you need to actually figure out how to create your own experience. And that leads me to step number three, which is creating your own experience by building a portfolio. Once again, if you're going to be hired remotely, you are a risk. They haven't met you in person probably. They won't be able to walk by your desk and see what you're working on day to day. You'll probably have less conversations with the people on your team and your manager. You are a foreigner and you are a risk, and so you need to build up every single ounce of evidence that you can actually analyze data to present to the recruiter, to present to the hiring manager, that you can actually be a productive data analyst on their team. And in my opinion, a portfolio is the best way that you can present this evidence. If you've never heard of a portfolio before, it's basically you do pretend work, and you call it a project, and you publish it online somewhere, so it's very accessible for them to, like, read through your case study of how you actually analyze data. And it's basically like, "Hey, look, this is what your job description says that I need to do. Here's evidence of me doing this for a different job." It could just be a job you make up, whatever project you're interested in. And it proves to the hiring manager, oh, this person's actually capable. So in terms of where to host your portfolio, I have a new favorite, and it's because I'm extremely biased, I built it, but it's called mydatafolio.com. And it's really what my solution was to portfolio making. It used to be hard, it used to take a long time, it used to be ugly. I think this is the fastest and easiest way to build a data analyst portfolio. So you can get started for absolutely free at mydatafolio.com. But here's the catch. Even with a portfolio, even with the skills, that's not gonna be enough to make you stand out in this huge pool of applicants. In fact, I suggest skipping the applicant tracking system altogether. And how do you do that? Well, it's easier said than done, but it's step number four, which is networking. The ATS applicant tracking system is a complete mess for these remote jobs. They're getting 200, 500, 1,000 applicants for these remote data analyst jobs, and you have to stand out in this applicant tracking system. You have to stand out to a computer, and so really all it really has is your resume and sometimes your LinkedIn. So you obviously wanna make sure that those things are up to snuff, as optimized as possible, that they have all your listed skills, and a link to your portfolio as well. Also, if you can actually show that you've worked remotely before on your resume or your LinkedIn, that's bonus points because, oh, look it, they actually have done this before. We trust them. If you haven't worked remotely before, then you can give some sort of bullet points that you can be dependable, and you can communicate clearly, and that can be, uh, suffice. But in my opinion, you really wanna skip this whole applicant tracking system if you can, and you can do that through networking in two different ways. Number one is by getting a referral, which I know is easier said than done, but a lot of aspiring data analysts don't even try. They just think, "Oh, I don't know anyone. How am I ever going to get a referral at a company?" But false. You know lots of people. Look to your left, look to your right. There's people around you. And if you're by yourself, re-listen to this in like, I don't know, eight hours, and you're probably next to someone else. My point here is you have neighbors, you have friends, you have family, you have cousins, you have soccer teammates, you have pickup parent buddies. Like, there are people around you who could refer you to a job that you just aren't thinking about right now. And the key part here is they don't have to be a data analyst They just have to work at a company that would hire data analysts. Start talking to them. Start talking about what you're looking for, start talking about your work life when you see them, and just like, "Hey, this is the job I'm kind of going for. I want to become a data analyst," and you'll be amazed what happens. I promise you, there's miracles. I've seen so many people in my program. In fact, we've had one, uh, lady who talked to her friend and got hired basically with, like, a 15-minute interview. She now works remotely as a data analyst in Houston, Texas. She was an esthetician beforehand, no technical experience, and now a remote data analyst, all because of one person that she knew. It was her friend's husband who knew someone, I think. So just open your mouth. On your girls trip, start talking, and you'll be amazed. The other thing that you can do to network is actually network with the recruiter or the hiring manager that is responsible for this role. And you might be thinking, "Avery, I have no clue who this is." And you're right. For most jobs, you don't know who the hiring manager or the recruiter is. So what do you do? Well, a lot of hiring managers and recruiters will actually post on LinkedIn about the job that they're hiring for. And if you find these types of posts right here, you can actually figure out who they are. So r- in this instance, Tyler says, "My team is hiring. We're looking for a digital analyst to join Urban Outfitters," which is, like, the cool clothes company, right, "uh, analytics team to help run our A/B testing program." Sounds really cool. I like that job a lot. I'm very interested. And so I could actually comment on this post or I could reach out directly to Tyler on LinkedIn, send him an InMail, uh, and say, you know, "I'm really interested. Here's a project I've done with A/B testing previously. Like, I think I'd be a really good fit for this role. Let me know if I'm a good fit," or, "What advice would you have for me?" Or whatever question you want to ask. You can send some sort of a cold message. You could also leave a comment saying the same thing. Now, how do you find these types of posts? It's a little bit difficult. I've made a video in the past about how to actually do this step by step. The easier option is just let me find them for you and give them to you. So I created a second job board called premiumdatajobs.com. That's literally only these types of jobs that have a LinkedIn post where the hiring manager or the recruiter has posted them. You can comment or send an InMail to them directly and skip the ATS altogether and become one of the first names that they actually see in their inbox. I specifically hunt for jobs that are posted within 24 hours and that are good fits for people like you. If you want to check it out, you can go to premiumdatajobs.com, which that actually brings me to step number five, which is to search smartly. Now, obviously, you can just go to LinkedIn Jobs and turn on the remote setting and apply for jobs that way. But that's kind of what everyone does, so here are a few suggestions that I can give you. Number one, try a different job board that most people don't do. My free job board, findadatajob.com is a great place to start. We have a remote filter there that you can test out. Number two, there's a bunch of remote first job boards, like Remote OK or Remote Rocketship. These post only remote jobs. They're not data specific, but they have good options for you to check out, and not a lot of people are checking those out. And number three is to actually find remote first companies, companies that- actually care and do remote work. Then you go to the jobs available and careers on their website and apply directly on their website. Oftentimes, you might notice a job faster than other people, or you might have a better chance of g- doing well in the ATS if you apply directly from the website. Now, I made a list of 50 remote-first companies right here that'll pop up on the screen if you're watching this. If you're listening, obviously you can't see it, but companies like GitLab, Zapier, Buffer, Basecamp, HubSpot. These are remote-first companies, and I'll have a link in the description down below so you can see all 50 remote-first companies. You guys, it's really hard to land a remote data analyst job, but I promise that you can do it with these five cheat codes. I hope this helped. If it did, I will see you in the next episode