How to show data analyst skills on your CV

By Sophie · Published 30 October 2026

Data analysis know-how

Data cleaning and validation

Describe a dataset you checked and the issue you corrected.

On your CV Cleaned customer records by checking duplicate entries and resolving inconsistent date formats.

Data analysis

Name the question you investigated and the data you used.

On your CV Analysed monthly order data to identify products with rising return rates.

Dashboard development

Identify a dashboard you built and the measures it tracked.

On your CV Built a sales dashboard tracking revenue and order volumes by region.

Reporting and data visualisation

Describe a report or chart you produced and who used it.

On your CV Produced a weekly chart of support ticket volumes for the operations team.

Requirements gathering

Explain how you established what a stakeholder needed from an analysis.

On your CV Met with the finance team to agree the measures needed for a monthly spend report.

Qualities

Attention to data quality

Give an example of a check that uncovered a data issue.

On your CV Checked report totals against source files and identified missing transaction records.

Communicating findings

Describe how you explained a finding to an audience without an analysis background.

On your CV Presented changes in delivery times to warehouse managers using a short chart-based summary.

Curiosity about data

Show how you investigated an unexpected result rather than accepting it at face value.

On your CV Investigated a drop in website conversions and traced it to a change in tracking setup.

Tools and languages

SQL

Name the data you queried and what you used the results for.

On your CV Used SQL joins to combine order and customer tables for a retention report.

Microsoft Excel

Mention the Excel feature you used and the task it supported.

On your CV Used pivot tables to summarise monthly expenditure by department.

Power BI

Describe a report or dashboard you created in Power BI and its purpose.

On your CV Created a Power BI dashboard showing open and resolved service requests.

Python

State how you used Python on a data task and name a relevant library if appropriate.

On your CV Used Python and pandas to combine and clean survey responses.

Qualifications

BSc in Mathematics

List the degree and institution, adding a relevant project if it demonstrates analytical work.

On your CV BSc Mathematics, University of Leeds; dissertation analysed public transport journey times.

Level 4 Data Analyst apprenticeship

Record the completed apprenticeship and a relevant piece of work undertaken during it.

On your CV Completed a Level 4 Data Analyst apprenticeship, including a project on stock availability.

BSc in Data Science

List the degree and institution, with a relevant project where it adds evidence of practical analysis.

On your CV BSc Data Science, University of Essex; final project examined patterns in energy use.

Choose data analyst skills for the role

Start with the responsibilities in the job description. A role centred on operational reporting may call for regular dashboards and careful checks against source data. Another may involve investigating customer behaviour and presenting findings to a product team. Select examples from your experience that show you have carried out similar work.

Pay attention to the tools named in the requirements. If you have used SQL to combine tables, describe the query and its purpose. If your experience is in a different visualisation tool, name that tool accurately and explain the reports you built. Avoid listing software you have only seen demonstrated.

Check whether the employer asks for experience with a particular type of data, such as sales or finance. A project using similar data can provide useful context. For an entry-level application, coursework, an apprenticeship project or voluntary work can provide evidence when employment examples are limited.

Where to put evidence on your CV

Use a short skills section to make relevant tools easy to find. Name the tools you can use and give a clear indication of your experience where that helps, such as SQL for querying relational databases. Recruiters can then look to your employment or projects section for the supporting detail.

Under each relevant role, use bullet points to explain what you analysed and who used the result. Include a measure when it is reliable and helps explain the scale of the work. You can also show the outcome without a number, for example by saying that a report helped managers monitor late deliveries.

Put degrees and completed apprenticeships in your education section. A qualification can support an application, although requirements vary between employers. If a course project is your strongest evidence, give it a separate project entry with the question you investigated and the method you used.

Mistakes to avoid

A long list of tools gives little indication of what you can do with them. Pair each important tool with a task elsewhere on the CV, especially when the job involves using it day to day. If your knowledge is limited to training, make that clear and describe an exercise you completed.

Keep claims accurate. Do not add a result you cannot substantiate or present a team achievement as work you completed alone. When an analysis informed a decision, explain your contribution without claiming responsibility for the whole decision.

Remove details that do not help the employer understand your work. An internal project name may need a short explanation, while a table name from a database may add little. Check that the terms on your CV are consistent with your experience and that each example is clear to someone outside your previous organisation.

Official source on this job: Data analyst-statistician job profile, National Careers Service