WHY ARE DATA ANALYST INTERVIEWS LIKE THIS

[u/Nearby-Cockroach8655]

I’m currently interviewing for data analyst roles (mostly entry level) and every take home task i get is the same. It’s a bunch of tables with masked data, and they all want actionable insights, except i feel there’s never enough information to actually find an actionable insight. you can rarely use domain knowledge as identifiable data is anonymised and they never provide enough historical data to see if differences really matter.

Do other people feel this way or have i gotten the wrong end of the stick, if so any advice would be appreciated.

EDIT: Thanks you for the advice in the comments, I think being curious, documenting my process for the analysis I can do and explaining what data I needed to delve deeper is the way to go.

[u/Nearby-Cockroach8655]

Wow super insightful

[u/Anybody220 → u/Nearby-Cockroach8655]

Well, it definitely wasn’t insightful, but they aren’t wrong.

I get 3,000+ applicants when I post a job, and only about a third are actually qualified. At that point, a resume alone isn’t enough to find the right person.

I sort the qualified resumes into three groups: average, good, and great. The “great” candidates get the first assignment and an interview slot. I typically have about 50 interview slots, so if I don’t have 50 in the great group, I pull from the good group.

The first assignment is intentionally basic like counts, sums, simple statistics, and so on. I have them use whatever program you want, just not Excel or VBA. About 50% don’t complete it and some respond with “see resume/portfolio.” Those go straight to the trash.

From there, I narrow it to 5–8 people for a second assignment and presentation. That’s where I’m looking for useful insights beyond the obvious, while still expecting basic accuracy.
Ultimately, I’m trying to see if this person can work independently, be accurate, communicate, and not need to hold their hand. Also, you need to be curious in the field, so I hope to see something a little beyond what I ask for.

Also, before you think we are trying to get free work, no. I am using 10+ year old data that I and hundreds of others worked through. I got the answers, I just need to see if you can get them to while enjoying doing it.

The final interview is with the 1–3 finalists, my boss, and the team. No assignment at that point.

[u/Nearby-Cockroach8655 → u/Anybody220]

My strife comes from tasks asking for an “actionable” insight when, in my opinion, the data is too vague to produce one without knowing the inner workings of the company. There’s definitely interesting findings available in these tasks but nothing i’d call actionable.

[u/Anybody220 → u/Nearby-Cockroach8655]

I think you are over thinking it. Take the interesting findings, and apply it to a department you think the company has and state how you’d present it to them.