It's week 7 of my #MeritAmerica cohort and as we continue to hone in on cleaned and reliable data, I find myself being more careful filling out surveys and questionnaires. Some data analyst out there is laboring over this information and trying to make decisions with it. (Gotta put some good karma out there for when it's my turn.) When I'm doing internet searches or online shopping, I wonder what my behavioral info. looks like as it's collected. Does everyone return to the item description a weird amount of times after it's already in the cart? How many people abandon carts to see if they really want the stuff tomorrow, maybe with a coupon that appeared in their email? Anyway, it's been pretty fun to learn more about analytics and how they're a part of our everyday lives. I'm super curious to keep learning more.
On the career side, we're talking about the job search and cover letters in particular. There seems to be a general disdain for the cover letter, but I think (and Merit coaches confirm) that they can be a magic bullet, if done right. Your resume can show whether you're qualified for the job, but the cover letter can demonstrate, early, that they're going to like you, you care about the role a lot and they should schedule an interview.
One important take away I had this week, as I thought about how to show my passion in a cover letter, is that it isn't easy to find open roles that I feel naturally passionate about. In fact, many just leave me cold. I ended up learning that the job search really isn't about anxiously applying for everything that posts under "Data Analyst". What I need is a focused search for companies and open roles that appeal to me, that I connect with and that I can tie to my own interests and background. It's more about "job shopping" than "job searching". It seems like a luxury to approach needing a new job that way, but the change in perspective has taken away a lot of my fear of beginning the process. Ideally, I'll be able to show genuine enthusiasm and excitement and hopefully, my personality and story will become a part of the cover letter equation, and eventually my new job too.
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