Roisin McCarthy, Manager, Datatech Analytics

Path to power

 

Starting her career as a junior recruiter in 2000, focusing exclusively on data and analytics, McCarthy has forged her career by building relationships between people who want to develop their careers and those who need the rare skills that these people can provide. As a result of her own efforts, over two thousand people have moved into more satisfying roles and dozens of teams put together. Furthermore, she has managed a successful team of professional recruiters which, over the years, has placed thousands more.  Today, she runs the successful recruitment firm, Datatech Analytics, and is the co-founder of the ground-breaking initiative, Women in Data UK. Over the past 19 years, McCarthy has been responsible for building some of the UK’s most cutting-edge data teams and has facilitated some of the most influential and successful careers in this sector, building relationships, influence and firm friendships along the way. McCarthy is seen as a thought-leader and an authority on careers, team development and talent acquisition in the field. Her unrivalled network of contacts, commitment to the data and analytics community and her unwavering passion for building strong, skilled teams is what makes her so unique.

 

What has been the highlight of your career in the industry to date?

 

I have an amazing and satisfying career and every time I help someone along the way in their career, it’s a personal highlight. However, the biggest highlight has to be co-creating and delivering the initiative Women in Data UK. From humble beginnings in 2014, last year saw Women in Data UK hold its largest conference, attended by over 900 female Data practitioners at Central Hall in London. The community now sits at 20,000 female data practitioners in the UK and is growing at an astonishing pace. The benefit to the sector has been measurable and the community it has created much needed. I remain convinced that getting significantly more women into the sector would generate competitive advantage for UK businesses and deliver fantastic, well paid careers to women who do really well in this field.

 

If you could give your younger self some advice about how to progress in this industry, what would it be?

 

Do it! There is very little risk.  This remarkable and innovative sector offers an abundance of opportunities which along with the its nature of transferable skills means that before long you could be working in almost any industry sector that sparks your interest. Just do it sooner rather than later! The growth of the WiD Community was as anticipated and grew by thousands over the year. This demand has reinforced the need to expand/develop our WiD agenda and create more opportunities for connecting, mentoring, gaining access to resource, inspiration and role models for our members.   With my recruiter hat on, 2018 saw an overwhelming growth in the business need for the data skill set, but H2 saw an increase in candidates feeling apprehensive about market uncertainty and reluctance to take the plunge despite a healthy job market. We predict this job-move trepidation will continue through the first half of 2019. 

 

What do you expect 2019 to be like for the industry?

 

Very competitive, which is the same as last year as nothing has changed. Despite the turbulent political and economic climate, I don’t see any let up in the demand for people with skills in data across the board. In fact, all the indicators continue to show that there is still a significant demand this year as business continues to see new and exciting ways that analytics can add value. This will undoubtedly have to have an impact on the way industry hires and will also mean a significant change in where we look for talent, how we develop it and importantly, retain the brightest individuals here in the UK. 

 

Talent and skills are always a challenge to find - how are you tackling this in your organisation?

 

It’s our bread and butter! Datatech has an unrivalled candidate/client network, so the talent pool isn’t the question. It’s motivating candidates with the most exciting prospects, understanding clients’ needs and ensuring both are matched and recognised. Candidate attraction is often not the problem. Many of our clients attract huge pools of quality talent.  How organisations manage their candidate experience in this competitive market is key to their success in hiring. Then you have the Holy Grail of retaining the finest talent once successfully engaged. Employers need to consider attraction, engagement and retention, and invest in every step of the cycle equally. 

 

What aspect of data, analytics or their use are you most optimistic about and why?

 

Organisations tackling bias in their data, analysis and conclusions. We believe that industry recognises the importance of eradicating bias in their data methods. Creating diverse teams (in more ways than just gender) is widely recognised as a competitive advantage and a great place to start in resolving the issue. Business and professional services inc. recruitment