Is there a Shortage of Data Scientists Everywhere and How Can Data Science and AI Talent Stand out from the Crowd?
Ever since Harvard Business Review coined Data Scientist as the Sexiest Job of the 21st Century in late 2012 both the demand for and the number of candidates working in this area has unsurprisingly exploded.
However, whilst the popularity of Data Scientist as a profession and the rise of opportunities in the field of Data Science is unquestionably growing, much has been discussed about a shortage of Data Scientists over the years.
Whilst there is strong evidence supporting this for certain regions - Linkedin’s Workforce Report US August 2018 recently showed most major US cities having large deficits in terms of the supply of Data Scientists meeting the demand of open positions - is this really the case everywhere? Are there some countries showing signs of the opposite problem, saturation from having too many Data Scientists?
Is There a Shortage of Data Scientists in Germany?
Take Germany for example, the country where I live and recruit Freelance Data Scientists for clients, is there also a shortage of Data Scientists here looking for permanent employment? I looked at the first 4 adverts with the job title Data Scientist in Berlin on Linkedin and thanks to the competitive intelligence about other applicants section I was astonished to find there were 291 applicants in total for the 4 roles. Of these applicants, at least 80 of them were applying from within Germany, so excluding migration as a factor and thus falsely including Data Scientists or aspiring Data Scientists from other countries into the figures. Therefore the mean average shows 20 Data Scientists or aspiring Data Scientists from within Germany applied for each position. That’s 19 other people who feel they can do the job and this would be the case for every single Data Scientist position if we apply this average. That’s an incredibly high amount of competition, especially given I deliberately excluded the Data Scientist role at Amazon as this was clearly an outlier with 194 applicants, at least 50 of whom applied from within Germany. I mean who wouldn’t apply to work at Amazon in Berlin as a Data Scientist right?
Is Berlin itself an outlier? The Data Science / Tech Hub of Mainland Europe and therefore unrepresentative of the rest of Germany? I looked at Frankfurt, the financial capital of Germany, to see what the Data Scientist presence was using the same criteria as before and found that of the first 4 Data Scientist job titles advertised on Linkedin for the Frankfurt area there were 439 applicants, 107 of whom were from within Germany, giving an even more competitive 26 candidates on average for each Data Scientist position. Looking to check this pattern, I tried the same for Stuttgart and found an equally competitive 298 applicants but only 55 from within Germany, so a lower average applicants for Data Scientist positions but still a very competitive 13 Data Scientists applying for every position.
Admittedly, this is a very small sample size on partial data in one country, saying nothing about the calibre of candidates, the seniority and complexity of positions, attractiveness of each employer, the language requirement of roles or the time these roles have been open to applicants but certainly worth investigating further should someone be further inclined.
How Can Data Scientists Stand Out in the Job Market?
However, if we are to entertain the notion that the job market is saturated with Data Scientists particularly in Germany, then one key question is – how does Data Science and AI talent stand out from the crowd to get the job they want when there are 19 other people within Germany also applying for every Data Scientist role?
I was lucky enough to meet and interview a man with a solution for this, Pouyan Fard – Data Scientist, Career Coach and Founder of Data Science Career Growth Coaching Program Data Science Circle based in Frankfurt, Germany.
Pouyan created Data Science Circle to help Data Science and AI talent not just in Germany but globally, create their own personal brand to attract attention from recruitment companies and employers to help them generate more job opportunities whilst also coaching them on developing their soft skills and mindset to solve business use cases bringing greater value to data driven businesses. To find out more about Data Science Circle and how it can help you as a job seeking Data Scientist watch Pouyan here.
How To Select the Right Data Scientist For Your Organisation?
For clients who are overwhelmed by the amount of response from candidates and require support to select the right Data Science talent, we can help. The Morgan Philips Talent Consulting Division leverages a range of unique assessment tools such as our digital-multi language, online psychometric platform for psychometric assessment, as well as our combination of remote and group assessment methods.
For more information on how this could support your organisation please contact Morgan Philips Talent Consulting.
Tim Heathcote
Fyte Germany
theathcote@fyte.com