Data Analyst Resume Keywords (Action Verbs + ATS Examples)
Analyst bullets should sound like ownership of insights: diagnosed, quantified, recommended—not only ‘created reports’.
Analysis & diagnostic verbs
Core analyst impact.
- analyzed
- diagnosed
- quantified
- segmented
- benchmarked
- forecasted
- reconciled
- validated
- investigated
- root-caused
Weak: Analyzed data
Strong: Diagnosed activation drop to onboarding step 3; recommended UX test that recovered 8% activation.
Weak: Looked at metrics
Strong: Segmented cohorts by channel; reallocated spend improving ROAS 17%.
Reporting & enablement verbs
How insights spread.
- built dashboards
- automated reporting
- standardized metrics
- documented definitions
- trained stakeholders
- enabled self-serve
- presented findings
- facilitated reviews
- supported planning
- tracked KPIs
Weak: Made reports
Strong: Automated weekly KPI pack; saved 8 hours/month and reduced definition disputes.
Weak: Dashboards
Strong: Built self-serve Looker explores for PMs with certified fields.
Experiment support verbs
Growth analysts.
- supported experiments
- validated results
- defined metrics
- monitored guardrails
- sliced results
- summarized readouts
- recommended next steps
- tracked adoption
- measured lift
- checked for bias
Weak: Helped with A/B tests
Strong: Defined primary and guardrail metrics; analyzed ratio metrics with appropriate variance.
Weak: Ran analysis
Strong: Recommended rollout pause when guardrail metric degraded.
Process improvement verbs
BA/analyst hybrid.
- identified inefficiencies
- proposed process changes
- reduced manual work
- improved accuracy
- cut turnaround time
- streamlined
- documented workflows
- partnered with ops
- tracked savings
- implemented controls
Weak: Improved process
Strong: Cut manual reconciliation time 40% with automated checks and exception queues.
Weak: Worked with ops
Strong: Partnered on SLA dashboard; reduced breaches by clarifying ownership.
Weak analyst phrasing
Replace with specifics.
- helped
- assisted
- supported reporting
- data entry
- general analysis
- various ad hoc
- looked at
- touched
- familiar with
Weak: Ad hoc analysis
Strong: Owned weekly funnel diagnostic; surfaced three actionable issues for product each sprint.
Weak: Helped finance
Strong: Reconciled revenue definitions across systems; eliminated $XM variance in quarterly close.
Where to use these keywords (ATS + readability)
Experience bullets
Tie verbs to decisions: recommended, influenced, changed budget/roadmap.
Experience bullets
Prefer active voice: ‘Built’ over ‘Was responsible for building’.
Summary
Use one strong verb in opening: diagnosed, owned, scaled, led.
Skills
Keep verbs in experience; skills stay nouns.
Experience bullets
Pair ‘quantified’ with actual numbers whenever possible.
Common mistakes
- ‘Analyzed’ without what changed because of the analysis.
- Reporting verbs without audience or decision context.
- Buzz stacks: ‘leveraged insights’ with no metric.
- Passive voice: ‘was tasked with’.