Here are a few pieces of advice we pulled from the STATtr@k archive to share with you. Hopefully, you can borrow these perspectives for inspiration and see that even though each career is different, themes such as the importance of relationships, communication, and persistence repeat.
Monica Johnston, Survey Statistician, Math Professor
When I was one year out of college (BA in math), an acquaintance 20 years older than me told me the best career advice he could give me was to have two trades/skill sets, an office job, and a seasonal job. He co-owned a bookkeeping/tax preparation company. In late spring through late autumn, when tax preparation was slow, he worked as a home builder/carpenter. He always had a paycheck and, sometimes, two.
Additionally, my boss, who had a PhD in statistics, encouraged me to get a master’s degree (and I did). A women’s civic group encouraged “life-long learning” (so I do). And last, a dear friend once told me when I had to take a job outside the field of statistics, “Every job has honor.” So, I’d give similar guidance to statistics students today:
- Identify and cultivate two different types of work you can do. One might be seasonal work, a family business, or a hobby that generates money.
- Be mobile. Be willing to go where the jobs are. At times, that may take you out of the US.
- For nontraditional (age 35+) students, consider whether a PhD will offer job security or make you overqualified for the work you plan to do. Perhaps dual master’s degrees might be a better fit.
- Commit to life-long learning and fully track it (along with key takeaways and impact).
- Remember, every job has honor.
Jason Brinkley, Biostatistician, Data Scientist, and Health Researcher
Companies are seeing a deluge of high-quality talent applying for every open position, especially those that are remote eligible. When there is a flood of applications for every opening, tools are needed to help separate those qualified from those who are not. A remote job posting for a data scientist or analyst can receive more than 5,000 applications from all over the world. AI helps employers cut through the static and provide a smaller cohort of applications to be reviewed by humans. Therefore, the job-seeker’s goal is to make it into the top 100 applications to cross the AI barrier.
My advice is to expand your résumé as much as possible. Gone are the days of the simple one- or two-page document. Consider the first page of your résumé the main source for AI scanning and matching; focus page one on AI and subsequent pages on human review. Résumés should be tailored to job applications with language that is easy for those systems to absorb. You already understand the importance of having interoperable data; you should think of your résumé as a data point and plan accordingly. Are you finding that when you upload your résumé into a job portal it is always misattributing your education or professional experience? Consider changing your résumé format to make it easier for those systems to read. Professional résumé coaches can be a huge help here for folks with longer résumés.
Martha McRoy, Senior Research Methodologist
Figure out who you admire in your career, identify what impresses you about them, and adopt those traits. I can’t recall who first gave me this advice, but it has shaped my professional and personal growth. I’ve learned diplomacy from one person, versatility from another, and determination from a third. These lessons have guided me in becoming a well-rounded statistician and methodologist.
Jen Park, Consultant, Senior Adviser
Throughout my career, I’ve embraced the idea of being “brave, not perfect”—to move forward thoughtfully, even in uncertain environments. This is advice I found myself giving to my daughter and learned, as parents often do, that I should follow the same advice. This perspective has been especially important in working at the intersection of statistics and data science, where innovation requires balancing uncertainty with rigor, transparency, and trust.
Other advice I think of often is from Stefan Schweinfest, former director, UN Statistical Division. He challenged me by advising, “It’s more important to be together than [absolutely] right.” That is hard for any expert to hear, but essential for a person working in policy. We achieve nothing alone. We must consider different perspectives.
Elvan Ceyhan, Professor
The career advice I try to live by is to optimize for substance and integrity, not short-term visibility. Do work you can defend technically and ethically. Let recognition and impact follow. I first adopted this mindset from my PhD adviser, Carey Priebe, who consistently modeled high standards, intellectual honesty, and long-range thinking in both research and mentoring. Later, David Banks reinforced this perspective by encouraging me to work in modern, emerging areas, so I could both stay relevant and help shape where the field is going—whether in graph-based methods, spatial statistics, or stochastic network models. That combination—deep rigor paired with a willingness to engage with new problems—has guided how I choose projects, collaborations, and leadership roles throughout my career.
Devon Lin, Professor
The career advice I live by is “Stay hungry. Stay foolish,” a quote from Steve Jobs’s 2005 Stanford commencement address. While the phrasing is catchy, the principle is profound: to maintain a relentless curiosity and the courage to pursue new ideas or ask naïve questions. In academia, this translates to continuously seeking new methodologies outside my comfort zone. It’s a daily reminder that learning is not a phase but the essence of a life-long journey.
Richard Zink, Principal Research Fellow
One does not wake up a leader. And attending a single course or reading a single book will not make one a leader, either. Like any other set of skills, leadership takes time and practice to grow and develop. Following are some things to consider:
- Get involved with the ASA to develop leadership skills, broaden your network, and support the statistics discipline.
- Exhibiting leadership before having the title makes it possible to get the title. And it’s okay to not have interest in the title; leadership skills are useful at any level.
- Being able to effectively communicate ideas and convince others to consider implementing them makes good use of knowledge and technical expertise.
- Identify a mentor or peer group to discuss professional challenges and identify potential solutions with.
- Become more comfortable with the uncomfortable by stretching boundaries. Take risks, and do not become stagnant because of the fear of making mistakes.
So, hop to it! It is never too early to think about statistical leadership.
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