Top 12 Junior Analyst Skills to Put on Your Resume
In a crowded market, standing out as a junior analyst isn’t optional. It’s oxygen. A sharp, relevant skill stack on your resume signals you can crunch data, spot patterns, and translate noise into something leaders can act on—fast.
Junior Analyst Skills
1. Excel
Excel is Microsoft’s spreadsheet workhorse for analysis, modeling, and quick-turn reporting. It’s the Swiss Army knife on most analyst desks.
Why It's Important
Because it’s everywhere. Excel lets you clean, reshape, analyze, and visualize data with speed, and it plugs into the rest of the stack when needed.
How to Improve Excel Skills
Go beyond rows and formulas. Learn the features that bend data to your will:
- Core mechanics: tables, conditional formatting, data validation, named ranges.
- Modern functions: XLOOKUP, FILTER, UNIQUE, SORT, LET, TEXTSPLIT—ditch VLOOKUP when you can.
- Analysis tools: PivotTables, Power Query for ETL, Power Pivot with Data Model and DAX basics.
- Speed: keyboard shortcuts, structured references, dynamic arrays, templates.
- Automation: record macros; learn basic VBA for repetitive workflows.
- Data quality: error checks, audit trails, and clear documentation inside the workbook.
How to Display Excel Skills on Your Resume
2. SQL
SQL is the language of relational databases. You query, join, filter, aggregate, and turn raw tables into answers.
Why It's Important
Most business data lives in databases. If you can pull the right slice without breaking performance, you move faster than everyone else.
How to Improve SQL Skills
- Foundation: SELECT, WHERE, JOINs, GROUP BY, HAVING. Get airtight on nulls and data types.
- Advanced querying: window functions, CTEs, subqueries, pivot/unpivot, conditional aggregation.
- Performance: read query plans, index strategy, predicate pushdown, smaller scans.
- Model awareness: normalization trade-offs, star schemas, surrogate keys.
- Dialect nuance: know what changes between Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server, BigQuery, Snowflake.
- Data hygiene: constraints, deduping strategies, idempotent scripts.
How to Display SQL Skills on Your Resume
3. Python
Python is a versatile language with powerhouse libraries for analysis, automation, and tooling.
Why It's Important
With pandas, NumPy, and visualization libraries, Python turns messy data into tidy insight, and it scales from quick scripts to production-grade pipelines.
How to Improve Python Skills
- Data stack: pandas for wrangling, NumPy for arrays, matplotlib/seaborn/plotly for visuals.
- Notebooks and scripts: Jupyter for exploration; package your work into clean, reusable modules.
- Quality: write tests with pytest, add type hints, document with docstrings.
- Environments: manage dependencies with virtual environments; pin versions.
- Performance: vectorize operations, profile hot spots, avoid loops where it hurts.
- Automation: schedule jobs, parse APIs, build small CLI tools.
How to Display Python Skills on Your Resume
4. Tableau
Tableau turns data into interactive visuals and dashboards that people actually understand.
Why It's Important
It shortens the distance between a question and an answer. Exploratory analysis becomes a conversation, not a static report.
How to Improve Tableau Skills
- Design with intent: clear layouts, thoughtful color, minimal clutter, purposeful interactivity.
- Calculations: level-of-detail (LOD), table calcs, parameters, and dynamic filtering.
- Performance: optimize extracts, reduce marks, aggregate wisely, tune data sources.
- Data prep: shape data before it hits the canvas; consider Tableau Prep or upstream transforms.
- Storytelling: annotations, tooltips with context, guided navigation.
How to Display Tableau Skills on Your Resume
5. Power BI
Power BI is Microsoft’s analytics platform for modeling, visualizing, and sharing insights across the business.
Why It's Important
It unites data modeling, DAX, and enterprise sharing. Reports don’t just look good—they scale and secure well.
How to Improve Power BI Skills
- Modeling: star schemas, relationships, role-playing dimensions, calculation groups.
- DAX depth: iterators, filter context vs row context, time intelligence, variables.
- Power Query (M): robust, repeatable transformations and data hygiene.
- Governance: Row-Level Security, workspaces, endorsement, lineage.
- Performance: aggregations, incremental refresh, composite models, fewer visuals per page.
- Ecosystem: publish to the Service, schedule refreshes, leverage Microsoft Fabric where relevant.
How to Display Power BI Skills on Your Resume
6. R
R is purpose-built for statistics and visualization, with a rich ecosystem for data science.
Why It's Important
Complex modeling, elegant plots, reproducible analysis—R handles the heavy stats cleanly and transparently.
How to Improve R Skills
- Tidyverse fluency: dplyr, tidyr, ggplot2, readr—pipe-driven workflows that stay readable.
- High-performance: data.table for speed on large datasets.
- Reproducibility: Quarto/R Markdown for reports; renv for dependency locking; project-oriented workflows.
- Visualization craft: layered grammar, themes, facets, annotations with intent.
- Interactivity: basic Shiny apps for exploratory tools and stakeholder demos.
How to Display R Skills on Your Resume
7. SAS
SAS is a comprehensive suite for data management, statistics, and reporting used widely in regulated industries.
Why It's Important
When governance, auditability, and stability matter, SAS offers battle-tested procedures and controls.
How to Improve SAS Skills
- Core workflow: DATA step processing, PROC SQL, and bread-and-butter PROCs (MEANS, FREQ, SORT, SUMMARY).
- Macros: parameterize repetitive tasks and build resilient pipelines.
- Output: ODS for polished reports and export formats.
- Performance: indexing, efficient joins, memory-aware processing.
- Access: practice on SAS OnDemand for Academics if a local license isn’t available.
How to Display SAS Skills on Your Resume
8. SPSS
SPSS is a point-and-click friendly environment for statistical analysis with strong support for social and behavioral research.
Why It's Important
It speeds up common analyses and reporting, especially for teams who prefer menus over code—while still allowing syntax for rigor.
How to Improve SPSS Skills
- Statistics foundations: descriptive stats, hypothesis tests, regression families, nonparametrics.
- Syntax: move from manual steps to scripted, reproducible workflows.
- Data handling: value labels, missing data strategies, transformations, recodes.
- Reporting: custom tables, pivoting features, templated outputs.
- Automation: integrate with Python Essentials for repeatable, auditable pipelines.
How to Display SPSS Skills on Your Resume
9. MATLAB
MATLAB is an environment for numerical computing, modeling, and visualization.
Why It's Important
When math-heavy workflows and signal-heavy data show up, MATLAB keeps the math crisp and the visuals precise.
How to Improve MATLAB Skills
- Language mastery: vectorization, matrix operations, function handles, scripts vs functions.
- Toolboxes: focus on the ones matching your domain (Statistics, Optimization, Signal Processing, etc.).
- Live scripts: combine narrative, code, and output for shareable analysis.
- App Designer: craft lightweight tools for stakeholders.
- Data at scale: tall arrays, timetables, and performance profiling.
How to Display MATLAB Skills on Your Resume
10. QlikView
QlikView is a BI platform for building interactive dashboards and guided analytics. Knowledge transfers well to Qlik Sense, which many teams now prefer.
Why It's Important
Its associative model lets users explore data quickly, surfacing relationships and outliers that static reports bury.
How to Improve QlikView Skills
- Data model discipline: avoid synthetic keys and circular references; use link tables and proper keys.
- Set analysis: build powerful comparative metrics and flexible KPIs.
- Performance: QVD layers, incremental loads, concise expressions, fewer heavy charts.
- Security: section access and robust governance for sensitive data.
- Design: simple layouts, consistent filters, purposeful actions; consider migration patterns to Qlik Sense.
How to Display QlikView Skills on Your Resume
11. Salesforce
Salesforce is a cloud CRM platform spanning sales, service, marketing, analytics, and custom apps.
Why It's Important
Customer data lives here. When you can shape it, report on it, and automate around it, teams move faster and smarter.
How to Improve Salesforce Skills
- Data quality: validation rules, duplicate management, field governance, picklist discipline.
- Automation: prioritize Salesforce Flow (the modern approach) over legacy Process Builder and Workflow Rules.
- Analytics: strong grasp of reports, dashboards, custom report types, and row-level security.
- Operations: Data Loader for bulk jobs, sandbox-first changes, change sets or DevOps tooling.
- Schema: objects, relationships, lookups vs master-detail, record types, page layouts.
How to Display Salesforce Skills on Your Resume
12. Google Analytics
Google Analytics (GA4) tracks user behavior and outcomes across web and apps using an event-based model.
Why It's Important
It reveals what users do, what converts, and where friction hides—vital signals for growth and product decisions.
How to Improve Google Analytics Skills
- GA4 mindset: events and parameters over pageview-centric thinking; custom dimensions for business context.
- Measurement strategy: map KPIs to events, conversions, and audiences; maintain a tracking plan.
- Privacy and consent: implement Consent Mode v2 correctly; ensure tagging respects regional rules.
- Tagging: manage with a tag manager; test in preview; implement server-side tagging when appropriate.
- Analysis: build explorations, funnels, paths; segment ruthlessly; compare cohorts.
- Data export: push GA4 data to BigQuery for deeper SQL analysis and blending with other sources.
How to Display Google Analytics Skills on Your Resume
