Charlie Bauer

NLP, LLMs, Dynamic Pricing, Demand Forecasting, Stochastic Optimization

4 minute read

Landing your first data analyst role requires strategy. Here’s my proven approach for new graduates navigating today’s competitive market.

1. Craft an Outstanding Resume

While countless resume guides exist online, the most valuable advice I can offer is simple: get human feedback. Find someone experienced to review your resume and guide you toward writing precisely the right bullet points. Their perspective can transform good content into compelling achievements.

2. Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn should mirror your resume exactly—every job description and degree detail should match perfectly. Since you’ve already polished your resume wording, this consistency ensures recruiters see the same professional narrative everywhere.

Quick LinkedIn wins:

  • Add a professional profile photo and banner image
  • Connect with classmates, friends, and recruiters
  • Avoid the Jobs tab—it’s mostly spam
  • Remove phrases like “sophomore” or “looking for an internship” when transitioning to full-time roles

3. Use Jobright.AI (Skip Traditional Job Boards)

Stop wasting time on Google, Indeed, or LinkedIn’s job search. Jobright.AI is significantly better for finding relevant opportunities.

Setup checklist:

  • Log in with your Google account
  • Upload your resume and complete your profile
  • Install the Jobright Chrome Extension
  • Use the green “Edit Filters” button extensively

Search strategy: Don’t limit yourself to one title. For “Data Analyst” include related titles like

  • BI, CRM, Technology, Operations, Business, Strategy, Financial + Analyst
  • Product Manager

For “Software Engineer” consider

  • Developer
  • Acronyms like SWE, SDE
  • Frontend/backend/full stack/web/app
  • Member of Technical Staff
  • Programmer
  • Product, Platform, DevOps, Data, Systems, Infrastructure, ML + Engineer
  • DevRel, Developer Advocate

Look for “new grad” in titles, but don’t require it. Be open to apply to “intern” roles, especially if they mention they are open to mutliple levels (junior, senior, master’s) as many companies hire new grads as interns and a 3 month internship is way better than spending 3 months looking for a job.

4. Leverage GitHub

Create a GitHub account using your personal email, then download Git and VS Code.

Upload any school projects involving code—R, HTML, Python, or any programming language. Follow an LLM’s guidance if needed. One repository per project. For technical business roles, having visible code projects demonstrates practical skills that set you apart.

5. Try Kilo Code

Kilo Code is a free AI coding assistant that significantly outperforms basic chat interfaces for coding.

Quick setup:

  1. Create a free account at kilocode.ai by pressing “Sign Up” and “Continue with GitHub”.
  2. Download the VSCode extenstion for Kilo Code by going to the Extensions tab on the left and searching “kilo”. Make sure to install the one with the verified blue checkmark.
  3. Set the model to “Minimax M2” or “Grok Code Fast” for free usage. The free models change over time.
  4. (optional if you are only using free models) Follow the documentation to add your API key to VS Code
  5. (optional) Add core MCP Servers. Click the Settings icon (not the MCP Server icon, this is for advanced users). Go to Settings > MCP Servers and press install on Context7, Sequential Thinking, and Knowledge Graph Memory. These three are free and helpful. Avoid giving Kilo access to GitHub. You should be responsible for your GitHub repo by using the Source Control tab in VS Code or terminal.

Kilo Code is an “agent” that handles coding tasks more effectively than directly prompting ChatGPT.com. Kilo has access to read and edit all code in your repository and the intelligence to choose which files are necessary to read to answer a question.

In addition to swapping the models, you can swap modes between Architect, Code, Ask, and Debug (beginners should avoid Orchestrator). Architect lets you plan multiple coding steps. Code edits your code directly. Ask has read-only access to your code. Debug is a little more tailored to fixing errors.

6. Build a GitHub Pages Site

Creating a personal portfolio website is easier than you think, especially with Kilo Code’s assistance.

Step-by-step setup:

  1. Visit mmistakes/mm-github-pages-starter
  2. Click “Use this template”
  3. Make the repository public
  4. Name it <your-github-username>.github.io
  5. Use VS Code to edit your site

Why GitHub Pages?

  • Free hosting
  • Professional standard
  • Easy to maintain and share the source code

Resume integration: Add your resume using a simple <iframe> or copy the PDF viewer approach from my site by examining the HTML structure.

Cross-promotion: Include your GitHub Pages link on LinkedIn and add both LinkedIn and GitHub.io links to your resume.

Alternatives GitHub Pages is a good way to create a free website, but might be a little challenging. Look at my post How to Quickly Build a Personal Website for more ideas.

7. Demonstrate Skills in a Side Project

Formal education doesn’t cover everything. Kilo Code can quickly set up Python-based data analysis projects using any dataset.

Project strategy:

  • Choose an API from the Public APIs repository
  • If Kilo Code struggles, provide documentation details
  • Use the prompt enhancement feature to expand “create an extensive data analysis report of this API {link}” into a comprehensive prompt

Real-world projects demonstrate initiative and give you concrete examples to discuss in interviews.

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