SAS Career Tips

What's SAS ?

SAS is a software suite developed for advanced analytics, multivariate analyses, business intelligence, data management, and predictive analytics. SAS has evolved over time, and is in wide use for analysis of healthcare, medical, and clinical trials data. It is one of the world's fastest and powerful software for data management, data mining, report writing, statistical analysis, business modeling, applications development and data warehousing. 

 

SAS Jobs Market

Knowing SAS is an asset in many job markets as it holds largest market share in terms of jobs in advanced analytics. According to Burning Glass, there were more than 100,000 job postings in the last 12 months that require SAS as a skill. Some of the functional job titles requiring SAS are Business Intelligence Analyst, Management Analyst, Statistician, or Biostatistician. If your work involves data analysis, modeling, or visualization, SAS is a powerful skill to add to your portfolio. Also, knowledge of SAS is a standard requirement for many biostatistician and healthcare data science roles, typically at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

 

How to Find Your Next SAS Job ?

  • Use Your Network: Make a list of everyone you know. Set a goal to touch base with three people you have not talked to for a year or more. Meet one of them for coffee or lunch. Identify the 25 most influential people in your network and brainstorm ways to strengthen your relationships with each.
  • Target Employers: Developing a list of target employers that meet your criteria and then leverage the information on their websites, social media (like LinkedIn), and search engines to connect with their jobs. You will be more effective in social media, your applications, and your job interviews when you have researched your target employers thoroughly.

Also, at LinkedIn you can also find job postings and employer/company pages which provide you with information about the company, as well as, how you might be connected to current employees.

  • Use Specialized Job Boards: General job boards are perhaps not as effective as they once were. Look for SAS niche boards like sasjobs.org as many companies and recruiters use nich job boards to find the right candidate. You need to check sasjobs.org job board from time-to-time and don't forget to put your updated resume there. Also, if you don’t find a perfect job right away, you can sign up for job alerts to receive email alert about new job opportunities that match your criteria.
  • Contact Recruiters: Senior-level SAS professionals are recruited most of the times though recommendation or by recruiters & staffing firms. The important thing to remember is that recruiters work for employers, not for job seekers.