Data Skills Are Now a Baseline: What That Means for Your CV

New analysis from RRC International puts a striking number on something many workers already sense: roughly 15 million people in the UK want to improve their data skills but are given little or no dedicated time at work to do so. Nearly nine in ten workers say they want to develop these skills, yet almost half report that their employer simply doesn't make space for it.

Alongside this, a separate YouGov survey cited in the research found that 88% of business leaders now consider basic data literacy essential to everyday work — ranking it alongside writing and project management as a core workplace expectation, not a specialist extra.

What this actually means if you're job hunting

The gap between what employers expect and what workers have been trained in is your opportunity. If you've picked up any data skills — even working with spreadsheets, interpreting dashboards, running basic reports, or using tools like Excel, Power BI, or Google Analytics — those are worth stating clearly on your CV. Don't assume hiring managers will infer them from your job title.

This applies well beyond technical roles. The research specifically flags HR, operations, and finance as areas where data literacy is becoming a baseline expectation. If you work in any of these fields, burying 'data analysis' at the bottom of a skills list is a mistake.

What to do if you don't have much to show yet

If your employer hasn't invested in your training, that's frustrating — but it's also common, and recruiters know it. The practical move is to close the gap yourself, even modestly. There are free and low-cost options that can get you started:

• Google Data Analytics Certificate (Coursera) — widely recognised, self-paced
• Microsoft Learn — free modules on Excel, Power BI, and data fundamentals
• LinkedIn Learning — short courses you can complete in an evening
• GovUK's Data Skills Bootcamps — funded training available in some regions

Even a short, completed course is worth a line on your CV if it's relevant to the role. The key word is *completed* — a half-finished certificate doesn't belong there.

How to frame it on your CV

Don't just list 'data analysis' as a skill and leave it at that. Where you can, show what you actually did with data in a previous role. 'Produced weekly performance reports used by the senior leadership team' is more useful to a recruiter than 'proficient in Excel'. Specifics win.

If you're applying to a role that mentions data literacy in the job description, make sure your CV reflects it directly — not just in a skills section, but woven into your experience. FixMyCV tailors your CV to the specific role you're targeting, making sure relevant skills land in the right places without inventing experience you don't have.

Source: OnRec. FixMyCV summarises and comments; we never reproduce articles.