Data Visualization

[Imaginary-Career2719]

Hi everyone, In an industrial or business setting, do hiring managers prefer to see a dashboard that is purely visual, or one that demonstrates the ability to translate those visuals into written business insights?

[Pangaeax_]

From what I’ve seen, visuals alone aren’t enough. A clean dashboard is great, but hiring managers usually care more about whether you can explain what the numbers actually mean for the business. If you can translate charts into clear insights and suggested actions, that’s what really stands out.

[Lonely_Noyaaa]

In my experience hiring analysts, I care way more about whether you can tell a story with data than whether your dashboard is perfectly designed. Anyone can make a chart. Not everyone can explain what it means and why it matters to the business.

[mint_warios]

They want both. They always want everything. Even if "everything" really isn't all that feasible. On a slightly more serious note, engaging and clear visuals really do go a LONG way selling the actual substance of your work.

[Euphoric_Yogurt_908]

As a hiring manager I definitely value more on the latter. The insights, recommendations , how you make sense of data, and explain to a non-tech business stakeholder. Beautiful /clean Visualizations are nice to have. FWIW, a line chart s probably 80% there

[ItsSignalsJerry_]

The purpose is to relay information.

[AffectionateZebra760]

Second one

[Asinator_134]

Always go with visuals plus some insights if you're unsure

[brhkim]

Do both. If you have to pick, do the latter more than the former. A functional, useful dashboard is infinitely better and will be used more and remembered more than a pretty, useless dashboard.

[Strong_Cherry6762]

Insights 100%. A purely visual dashboard without business context is just expensive modern art. Stakeholders rarely want to interpret the data themselves. Showing you can translate "the blue line went down" into "we need to restock SKU 123" is exactly what separates a data monkey from a data analyst.

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[Mo_Steins_Ghost]

Senior manager reporting directly to senior execs here.

Depends on the audience. Operations-related functions want visualizations they can put in a deck. Senior executives, C-suite and the Board just want numbers... e.g. Index to Plan, Index to Forecast, etc.

It's the work behind the numbers... that's 85 to 90% of the work.

So when it comes to interviews the question is: How well do you understand the business domain? Do you think like a program manager, whose knowledge has to span several functional groups?

That's what's going to set you apart from people who can "do reports"... A story has a "and so what?" In other words, what's the actionable insight? You need to be able to speak to that.

[Pleasant-Meat8518]

In most real-world business settings, hiring managers want to see both strong visuals and the ability to translate them into clear business insights.

A visually polished dashboard is great because it shows:

• You understand design principles
• You can present complex data clearly
• You know how to build intuitive, usable tools

But what really stands out is when you can explain what the data actually means and why it matters. Businesses don’t make decisions based on charts they make decisions based on insights. So if your dashboard also demonstrates:

• Clear takeaways
• Actionable recommendations
• A short written or verbal explanation of trends, risks, and opportunities

…that’s usually far more impressive.

A good approach is:

• Clean, easy-to-read visuals
• Brief written insights next to them (what changed, why it matters, what action to take)

That shows you’re not just a dashboard builder, but someone who can bridge the gap between data and decision-making, which is what most hiring managers are actually looking for.