Having conducted numerous interviews in my career to unearth the next Power BI talent, I want to share the top 5 pieces of advice that can help you stand out. Whether you’re a novice setting sail for the first time or a seasoned warrior seeking new horizons, this guide is for you.

Three of these tips focus on crafting your resume to secure an interview, while the remaining two are geared towards excelling during the interview process.

Let’s begin with crafting your resume!

On your CV

1. Make it accessible

While your experience with Power BI might be obvious to you, it may not be as clear to the person reading your resume. For each job opening, I often received hundreds of applications. Since the initial screening is typically done by HR, who may not be familiar with Power BI, it’s crucial to highlight your expertise. Simply stating that you are a DAX guru, a Power Query master, proficient with Tabular Editor, and that DAX Studio holds no secrets for you makes you an interesting candidate. However, your application might still be overlooked in the first round if you haven’t mentioned “Power BI” multiple times. This ensures even those unfamiliar with the tool recognize your fit for the role. A good tip is to reuse the vocabulary from the job posting to make sure a novice can see the alignment between your profile and the position.

2. More is less

Unfortunately, no matter how impressive your CV is, it’s unlikely that a recruiter has read it from start to finish. With so many applications, I often had to skim through CVs, searching for specific keywords and the most important information. Focus on relevant experiences and your strengths. A CV is not meant to be a biography, so minimize unnecessary details to stand out for the role.

In my experience, CVs from more junior profiles have often been the most impactful. Since they don’t have extensive experience, they are compelled to highlight their strengths effectively.

3. Portfolio

During an interview

4. Be prepared

The expectations during an interview will vary depending on the specific profile being sought (e.g., data modeling, DAX, admin, etc. ) and the level of seniority. Here are some tips based on your profile’s seniority:

Junior
For junior candidates, it’s perfectly fine if you are not very comfortable with the tool. From my experience interviewing several junior candidates, I don’t expect you to have in-depth knowledge of Power BI.

The primary qualities I look for are a willingness and ability to learn. Since Power BI Desktop is free, I expect motivated candidates to have at least opened the tool to explore its components and see if you like the role. A background in similar fields is advantageous: skills in other visualization tools, Business Analysis, or SQL are clear assets for example.

Intermediate
As an intermediate candidate, you should have some experience and have worked on several reports. I look for the ability to create a report independently. I will ask questions about each step of report creation (requirement Analysis, data acquisition and transformation, modeling, DAX, report creation, and deployment). It’s important that you are aware of best practices, such as using Import rather than DirectQuery by default, using unidirectional relationships, and the importance of having a date dimension for example. Not knowing how to spell Power BI correctly or saying “dashboards” when you mean “reports” are red flags.

Senior
As a senior, in addition to all the tasks an intermediate should be able to perform, I expect you to not only apply best practices but also understand why they are best practices and the consequences of not following them.

Given that Power BI is a rapidly evolving product, you must stay updated with the latest developments, whether through the official Power BI blog or various high-quality community content.

You should also understand the ecosystem in which Power BI operates. This means having at least a basic knowledge of related tools and technologies relevant to the position. This could include other Power Platform tools, data engineering skills, SQL knowledge, etc.

5. Don’t fear the unknown

During an interview, it’s common to encounter questions you can’t answer. Instead of guessing, be honest and use this as a chance to show your growth mindset. Ask the interviewer to elaborate on the topic and take notes. This demonstrates your eagerness to learn and adaptability, while also building trust through your honesty. If you get a second interview, review these questions thoroughly to show that you can learn from unfamiliar situations and that the company can help you grow.

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May these five tips guide you to your dream job! Should you have any questions or seek further counsel, do not hesitate to reach out. I stand ready to assist you.