With the rise of Business Intelligence and Data Analytics, most job postings are requiring for their candidates to know any BI Software. I have collected most common question that I’ve asked to candidates as well as some others I’ve found in the marketplace, and insights on how to reply to each from my experience.

Q1: What is your process for building a data visualization?

To answer this, you need to demonstrate a structured approach: first, understand the data and its context, then exploratory data analysis. Next, identification of major topics in the data by formulating questions that the data visualization will answer. Finally, work on the design, look for clarity and impact, choose appropriate visualization to ensure the right user experience.

Q2: How would you analyze a Key Performance Indicator (KPI)?

Whether the interviewer gives you an example, such as “How would you analyze our sales?”, to answer this you must demonstrate that you can break down the components of a KPI and have thinking aligned with process management, such as comparison to target, visualization of trends, key influencers, and visualization to detect anomalies.

Q3: How do you identify key insights from large datasets?

To tackle this, discuss your ability to filter, sort, group and aggregate data to uncover patterns, trends, anomalies or variables that drives the data. A good example is to start with a descriptive statistical analysis on each of the columns of the data set, this will provide an overview to understand the behavior of the data and also will demonstrate that you are familiar with basic statistical analysis.

Q4: How have your data analysis skills directly contributed to process improvement or cost savings?

A good teacher once said to me: “Do not take data if you do not analyze them, with the analyzed data establish action plans. If no action was taken, what was the purpose of all that work?”. For this question I recommend for you to be preparer ahead and have some good stories regarding your experience with Business Intelligence. I recommend following this structure to tell your story: STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result)

Q5: What is Power Query, and how does it contribute to data preparation in PowerBI?

If You are in a basic level regarding PowerBI, this question may sound like something to worried about, nevertheless, even if you are in the first steps you may be already familiar with it. Explain Power Query as a data transformation tool integrated into PowerBI for cleaning, shaping, and enhancing data. If you are no longer in baby steps, go ahead and deed dive in ETL, data transformation, workflows and data cleaning.

Q6: What are the different types of visualizations available in PowerBI, and when would you use each one?

Demonstrate your knowledge of PowerBI’s diverse visualization options, ranging from basic charts like bar graphs and line charts to advanced visuals like forecasting, custom visuals, tree maps and scatter plots. Explain when each type of visualization is most suitable based on the data characteristics.

Mastering a Job Interview where data analysis and Business Intelligence is required goes beyond the use of a software, it’s about demonstrating your ability to transform raw data into actionable insights that serve to take decisions. Prepare in advance, if you have any questions or need some guidance on how to prepare for your next interview don’t hessite to reach me out.

EP