Data analytics has become the norm and every organization looking to have an edge over their competitor has begun to invest heavily in analytic tools and technologies. The advantages are many. Analytic insights not only enables companies to better profile and hence better target their customers, but it also helps better manage employees, helps make better budgets and improves operational costs. There are no areas that analytics cannot help improve. The opportunities are limitless and as the analytics industry evolves and newer, faster and more sophisticated technologies emerge, so will the demand for data savvy professionals.

Yes today India Inc has begun to seriously build up its data talent teams. But guess what? New trends are emerging which show that apart from their specialized data scientists, corporate recruiters are increasingly demanding that new recruits ( in finance, marketing, HR or Operations), showcase an understanding of popular analytics tools and techniques.

And why is this? Well organizations have begun to be highly data driven. They have begun to advocate a data culture through all layers of their organization, with the end goal of making better business decisions. They have acknowledged that for data to work effectively everyone from even mid level managers to those in the boardroom, need to understand and be comfortable with data. Across the organization management needs to be able to understand the insights that the data scientists bring to them. Only if they understand the tools and technologies that helped draw those insights, can they use them to effectively make decisions that impact their organizations profitability.

So yes, if you are a , you need to get going and pick up some analytics skills before placements. Encouragingly enough, several business schools have recognised that analytic skills are in demand and they have begun to introduce analytic courses within the regular curriculum. However often these modules skim through the popular analytics techniques and tools, giving you knowledge but little practical learning.

Let’s face it. It’s a tough business environment out there. The first in and the one that is the fastest has the edge. Organizations are forced to be tough on new recruits and expect them to get off the ground running. If you can come in and show that you have the practical experience to deal with data sets, you will definitely have an advantage.

So here’s what you got to do. Read and research a lot. There are tons of free resources out there, ebooks, videos, analytics blogs and forums where you can connect with industry experts. Such learning goes a long way. They are also several training academies that offer short duration courses in data analytics. A good source of reference is Analytics India Magazine’s list of Top 9 Analytics Training Institutes in India.

If you can pick a training course that allows you practice on real world applications of data analytics, you will be able to really pick up the skills in demand. Corporates will snatch you up and you can look forward to an exciting, challenging and fast growth career path.