Nora Hayes is applying for a career in data analysis after 8 years of experience as a mathematics teacher. She believes her experience using data to help make decisions for her teaching team and analyze student performance qualifies her for the role, despite her non-traditional background. Hayes is passionate about learning and tackling new challenges, and is eager to further her education in data analysis to gain the necessary skills and knowledge for the position.

1. Nora Hayes
Oak Lawn, IL 60453 * nghayes2@gmail.com
To whom it may concern:
I am looking for a career in Data Analysis; I have been a Mathematics teacher for
the past 8 years and I would love to be able to use my knowledge of Mathematics and
Statistics in a new and interesting way.
I know my previous job experience may seem odd for Data Analysis so I wanted
to point out how I plan to adapt to a new career. As a teacher, I balance the ability to
make in-the-momentindependent decisions while keeping long term goals in mind and
communicate the importance of both of these on a daily basis. Although a majority of
my day is spent with my students, I often work with teams of adults; I am very logic and
analytical-minded and have been a good balance to team members who are more
"dream big, plan later" since I am able to think about smaller details and assess our plan.
As you may know, children and adults are not all that different; I've been able to use my
teaching skills in my interactions with other adults without being perceived as "bossy"
or "in charge" and am able to maintain great professional relationships with colleagues
based on my personality, work ethic, and organizational skills. As a teacher leader, I
always valued collaboration and encouraged our time together to be equally-led.
Teaching and Mathematics are both passions of mine so I would relish in the
opportunity to continue to work with teams and clients when needed in order to
collaborate and assess plans and decisions that have been made as well as report my
individual or our collaborative data findings.
As a teacher in School Districts 206 and 365, I often used data to help my team
make decisions; data ranged from small-team unit tests to school-wide ACT scores to see
how we could better instruct our students. I also used statistics in my own classroom to
show my students various correlations (attendance vs. grades, age vs. GPA, homework
grade vs. assessment grade, etc.) in order to help them learn to analyze data more
logically and question the validity of their results. I realized that I enjoyed and valued
any chance I had to use statistics in my work because I find strength in analyzing data.
While studying Mathematics at both Illinois State University and Chicago State
University, I thoroughly enjoyed my statistics courses and often found myself wanting
to learn more about how to accurately analyze a given set of data. I learned various
tools through Microsoft Excel and different TI calculators and am eager to learn more.
Because of my focus on education, I often did statistical tests on educational prompts
and enjoyed sharing my findings with my co-workers and administrators. During my
studies of Educational Leadership, as the only Math teacher in class I was often asked to
explain the “statistical significance” of studies we read about in our courses. In almost
every course, we analyzed one aspect of our schools and used appropriate data in order
to evaluate a program or consider a change we could suggest; learning these skills
encouraged me to start a project with my department that resulted in teachers having a

2. better understanding of new state standards which then resulted in more rigorous
instructional decisions. Being able to connect an abstract concept to a relatable-concrete
example for a group of adults is something I am very proud of and would like to
continue. While teaching my high school students has been very rewarding, helping
adults make decisions based on the information I was able to provide is something I
would like to further pursue.
I know I may not have the same professional background as others in the Data
Analysis field. I am always eager to learn and am up for new challenges; I would be
happy to take courses and further my education in order to have the necessary
knowledge for this specific role. I have been given challenges in teaching such as
piloting a single-gender Algebra class or a bi-lingual class where more than 1/2 of my
students did not speak English; I read books and attended seminars (mostly in the
evening) to help me do the best I could with the new task given to me and this work
ethic will certainly follow me wherever I go.
Given my educational and professional experiences and my passion to continue
learning and take on new challenges, I believe I would be a valuable addition to your
team. I am very passionate about my work, which I hope comes out in my letter to you.
I ask that you would please take the time to look at my résumé. Please feel free to
contact me if you need any further information. Thank you in advance for your
consideration.
Sincerely,
Nora Hayes