Health IT, Hospitals

What skills are healthcare companies looking for in data scientists?

Harvard Business Review called it the sexiest job of the 21st century. Data scientists are […]

Harvard Business Review called it the sexiest job of the 21st century. Data scientists are in huge demand, especially in healthcare. There’s an unquenchable thirst at the moment for analytics information that can help hospitals and payers respond to public health challenges like predicting who is more likely to be readmitted after discharge or who will develop Type 2 diabetes. Gartner projects there will be 2 million data scientist openings across all industries in the next three years in the U.S. alone.

So what are recruiters looking for? Despite the need, they’re looking for a balance of skills according to Deloitte Consulting Principals David Rudini and John Houston. They highlighted a couple of things that shape data scientist recruiting decisions.

Deep advanced mathematics and statistics background OK, that’s a bit of a no brainer. But you also have to have business knowledge, successfully extract data, make sense of it, and recognize what’s important.

Communicating your insights effectively Now that you’ve figured out the answer to the problem you have to be able to explain it in a way that your colleagues get it and stimulates collaboration.

Companies are striking a balance between full-time and contract roles One way companies are coping with the shortage of data scientists is being more disciplined about how they use them. They may have full-time positions in which candidates can effectively balance all the skill sets employers need. But they may reserve certain roles for contract help depending on the demands of a particular project.

[Photo credit: Image of businesswoman looking from Bigstock Photos]

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