What Are Analytical Skills? Examples and Tips

In today’s workforce, nearly one in every four employees has a job where analytical skills are the most important factor. Companies seek analytical skills because they demonstrate a candidate’s ability to think logically and use data to inform decision-making. Indeed discovered the most in-demand skills for employers — and several analytical skills are at the top of the list.
That is why it is critical to understand how analytical skills apply to your career and what you can do to improve these skills over time.

So, what exactly are analytical skills, and how can you develop them?

What are Analytical Skills?

Analytical skills refer to a person’s ability to recognize a problem, investigate to uncover relevant facts, and arrive at a logical solution. They are important skills in many fields, but they are especially important in finance when evaluating financial securities.

Types of Analytical Skills

The five types of skills required for success in a wide range of jobs and industries are as follows:

#1. Interaction

The ability to communicate the results of an analysis is an undervalued skill. It is pointless to be able to identify problems and find solutions if the conclusions and findings are not effectively communicated to decision-makers.

The results of the analysis may need to be presented orally in the form of a presentation or a meeting. The analysis may need to be presented in writing, either as a report or via email. As a result, communication skills are critical when developing overall analytical skills.

#2. Creativity

Another crucial ability is the ability to think creatively. Many problems necessitate “out-of-the-box” thinking to find the best solution. The obvious solution is not always the most effective, so it is critical to be able to think of creative solutions.

#3. Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is crucial for developing strong overall analytical skills. It refers to the objective examination of a complex problem in order to reach a decision.

Effective critical thinkers can think clearly and rationally, as well as comprehend the logical relationships between data points and ideas. Critical thinking is a critical skill to master in order to find rational solutions.

#4. Data Analysis

The ability to analyze large data and identify patterns and trends is critical in all disciplines. As a result, understanding statistics and quantitative analysis are becoming increasingly important. Data analytics skills is becoming more popular in finance, as trends such as technical trading and quant-investing gain traction.

Quantitative analysis necessitates not only the identification of patterns in data but also the ability to communicate the findings to decision-makers, which ties into the communication aspect of these skills.

#5. Conduct research

Analytical skills necessitate patience and curiosity. It is highly unlikely that a problem will be solved effectively if it is solved quickly and without considering all relevant information. As a result, developing an effective solution necessitates spending time learning more about the problem before attempting to solve it.

The research entails gathering information and relevant data, compiling it, and then analyzing it. It is necessary to collect data and thoroughly research a topic before applying strong analytical skills.

How Do Analytical Skills Work?

Using your analytical skills typically entails several steps, including:

Determining a topic, problem, or issue
Information gathering through testing and observation
Creating solutions or expanding your knowledge of the subject
Putting new ideas or solutions to the test based on what you’ve learned
Examining which solutions worked in order to evaluate and apply your new knowledge

The ability to identify cause-and-effect relationships is a necessary component of analytical thinking. Understanding what might happen during the problem-solving process, for example, and examining how new ideas relate to the original topic, are examples of this.

Critical Thinking vs. Analytical Skills

Analytical skills are demonstrated by someone who uses logic to discover patterns, brainstorm, analyze data, and make decisions based on that information. Critical thinking is one of the skills required for this.

To put it another way, critical thinking is only one of many skills required to be an analytical thinker.

You probably use critical thinking more than you realize, such as when you:

Inquire whether a piece of information is true or false.
Break down problems to understand their reasoning.
Draw conclusions based on data rather than intuition.
Make deliberate, logical, and goal-oriented decisions.

Marketers with strong critical thinking skills make rational, logical decisions and carefully consider all options. They support their decisions with facts and logical arguments, which leads to wise decisions and increases company success.

While each role has its own set of analytical skills, there are a few that will help any marketer throughout their career.

Why are Analytical Skills Important?

Analytical skills are important because they enable people to solve problems and make concrete decisions and action plans to solve those problems. As previously stated, they are essential skills in all disciplines, including data science, project management, marketing, law, medicine, scientific research, accounting, and so on.

In finance, these skills are extremely important. Financial analysts must be able to synthesize large data of data, analyze it, and solve various problems. Consider an equity research analyst for an investment firm. The issue at hand is determining the best equity investment for the portfolio’s philosophy.

To solve such a problem, the analyst must use financial information from company reports, pricing information, information on the current portfolio, and other relevant data points.

How to Sharpen Your Analytical Skills

It takes time and effort to develop analytical skills. Analytical skills are more difficult to define and develop than technical skills, which have a structured approach to follow. The steps to becoming an effective communicator are more hazy and undefined than learning how to use Google Analytics for SEO.

Fortunately, analytical skills can be developed. Here’s how you can improve your skills while also contributing to your company’s productivity and success.

#1. Take classes, get certified, or get on-the-job training.

There are numerous resources available both in-person and online to help you improve your analytical skills. Universities and online companies such as Coursera provide online education, while HubSpot Academy provides free certification courses and many businesses provide stipends for continuing education.

Begin by determining which skills you want to improve and conducting research to find resources that are appropriate for your skill set and budget.

#2. Look for a mentor.

You probably know someone who is a great negotiator or who always writes the perfect email. Observing how these people approach a situation and solve problems can help you improve your skills. Take notes, save examples, and incorporate their process into your own work.

To take it a step further, invite them to a coffee date or a phone call to discuss how they honed their skill. They can most likely point you in the right direction or advise you on what you should do to excel at the skill.

#3. Try out some practice problems.

When it comes to improving analytical skills, role-playing is extremely effective. Rather than simply reading a case study about an innovative digital media campaign, look for a tool to help you improve your brainstorming skills.

You can find a practice book or an online resource to walk you through various mental models and scenarios, depending on the skill. Working on an idea, then presenting it to a trusted colleague or mentor for feedback.

#4. Play games to hone your skills.

Investing hours in your phone Playing Sudoku has more advantages than just beating your previous high score. Mental agility and memorization games can improve your ability to think logically and challenge norms. While game trends change all the time, there are a few classics that have stood the test of time.

Sudoku
Puzzles of various sizes
Games for the table (i.e. Scrabble, Settlers of Catan, Splendor, Pictionary, and Bananagrams)
Computer or smartphone games (i.e. Lumosity, Elevate, and Peak)
Chess
jigsaw puzzles

Workplace Analytical Skills

Analytical skills can help you with a variety of tasks, including:

Resolving customer complaints
Product design enhancements
Troubleshooting technical issues
Creating learning and development programs that meet the needs of the organization
Discovering new sales opportunities
Strategic project management
Creating internal communication programs to help employees connect
Making prototypes for new products
Putting in place continuing education programs

How to Demonstrate Your Analytical Skills

In order to make a good impression on a hiring manager, emphasize these skills in your job application materials. When applying for a job, here’s how you can highlight your analytical skills:

On your resume

In your resume summary, job description, and special skills section, you can include information about your key analytical skills. Here’s how to highlight your skills in each section:

Resume Summary: Your resume summary includes information about your key qualifications. In this section, you can describe yourself as analytical or problem-solving.
Work experience: Describe how you used your analytical skills, such as data management, to meet or exceed job requirements in the work experience section. Consider including concrete details, such as the types of problems you solved, to demonstrate your abilities.
Skills: Having a separate section for skills allows you to restate your key analytical abilities while also including keywords relevant to the job description. You can combine the skills with interpersonal and technical abilities in this section.

On a Cover Letter

You can use your cover letter to expand on the analytical skills listed on your resume. Consider a time when you used your analytical skills to solve a problem or improve your work output after reviewing the job description.

In your cover letter, describe the situation, using concrete details to explain your thought process and the solution. Consider using a situation related to the job description or industry to demonstrate to the hiring manager that you have the necessary skills.

During a Job Interview

Before your interview, consider your previous employment history and make a list of your achievements. You can also list the analytical skills that assisted you in achieving these victories, such as problem-solving or data literacy.

That way, you can confidently answer interview questions about your skills and provide concrete examples of your success in previous roles. Also, go over the job description so you can tie your responses to the position you want.

Conclusion

Analytical skills allow you to delve into problems and come up with fact-based solutions. While some technical skills, such as data analysis and visualization, are components of analytical skills, soft skills, such as creativity and communication, are also required to be an effective analytical thinker.

Show off your analytical skills on your resume and in the interview by detailing your unique, informative analytical problem-solving process.

Analytical Skills FAQs

What are examples of analytic skills?

Research.
Forecasting.
Problem-solving.
Data mining.
Data and metrics interpreting.
Reporting.
Organization.
Communication.

How do you describe analytical thinking?

Analytical thinking entails scrutinizing information, gathering facts, and determining whether a statement follows logically in identifying causes and effects. One of the most important aspects of analytical thinking is reasoning.

Can analytical skills be taught?

Analytical thinking is a skill, just like carpentry or driving a car. It is teachable, learnable, and improvable with practice.