Your resume is a key tool in your job search.
If it is not good enough, it will badly hurt your chances at landing a job you are looking for.
Today, we will talk about business analyst resumes and typical mistakes you should avoid.
Let’s get right to it.
Number 1: your resume is very generic – there is nothing in it related to business analysis
Now, your resume should demonstrate that you understand what the job is about.
Even for entry level positions, you should research the job, take courses, read a couple
of books, and use Internet to expand your knowledge.
Show your experiences related to business analysis, even if you’ve never had the job.
Have you analyzed, validated, documented, modeled or explained anything?
Have you worked with customers to help them solve their problems?
Have you documented or improved business processes?
Analyzed data or talked to experts to determine what causes a problem?
When you apply for a job – any job – you have to research what the job means, and demonstrate
in your resume why you should be considered for the position.
Number 2: Business analysis skills do not stand out.
If you already have a business analysis experience and apply for a senior position, your resume should
show a variety of business analysis activities and deliverables.
Don’t just say “documented requirements” or “captured user stories” over and over.
Have you worked with stakeholders to analyze a problem root cause?
Proposed improvements to a business process?
Reviewed test scenarios?
Analyzed business rules?
Have you done any business modelling?
What diagrams have you created?
What verbs do you use with the word requirements?
Gathered, analyzed, elicited, captured, documented, clarified, shared?
Have you ever reviewed solution design to ensure it satisfies the requirements?
If you want to come across as experienced in business analysis, make sure your resume shows it.
Number 3: Overload of meaningless phrases. Business analysts should be experts in communicating clearly.
Your resume should convey this.
Do I want to hear about you “streamlining focused collaboration”?
“Proactively engaging in out-of-the-box thinking”?
“Creating synergies in the team”?
Or “embracing strategic thinking”?
These are all pompous phrases that mean nothing.
It’s all fluff, a filler.
Use the keywords relevant to the job, focus on specific experiences, and demonstrate that
you are ready to work, not talk.
Number 4: Spelling and grammar. Now, with all the tools available today,
we should not even be talk about it.
Yet, resumes still have typos, grammar issues, or use inconsistent verb tenses.
In a resume, it indicates unprofessionalism, sloppiness, and laziness.
It also shows that you have never read any of the thousands of articles with advice on writing resumes.
Or even worse, you have read some, but you did not learn from them.
Spellcheck, several times.
Re-read, ask someone to review it for you.
Anything less is inexcusable.
Number 5: Muddled, unclear writing. A business analyst is accountable for communication.
For helping people understand each other.
Errors in understanding of requirements can be very costly.
If I read your resume, and don’t understand what you mean more than twice, I just stop reading.
Practice clear writing.
Remove all the words that can be removed.
Get rid of at least half of the adjectives and adverbs.
Shorten those sentences.
Read it to yourself, aloud, and really listen – does it make sense?
When you learn to communicate clearly, you gain a skill for life, not just a means to polish your resume.
Number 6: Your resume is a mirror image of job description you are applying for.
When you apply for different jobs, you may need to adjust your resume.
That’s fine.
What is not fine is copying every bullet from the job description you are applying to
into your resume without bothering to change a word.
That will simply flag that your resume as insincere – or fake.
Number 7: Same bullets repeated over and over. Now, I’ve seen this quite a lot.
The candidate lists the same three or four bullet points under each job experience.
Copy and paste, Copy and paste, word for word.
This signals one of two things: one, that all this experience is fake, and this is what
you believe is expected from a good candidate.
Or two, you are the type of person who wouldn’t make an effort even for their own resume.
Neither of these explanations are in your favour.
Every job you have done must have been unique in some way.
Different projects, goals, teams, different duties.
Being honest is not only good for you but it will give you better keyword coverage.
Number 8: your resume is all about documentation.
Junior analysts sometimes think that their job is just to document requirements.
And that this is done with just text: business requirements documents or endless
“As a user I want” sentences.
As analysts, we need to use a variety of tools to support requirements: models, diagrams,
matrices, mock-ups, business rule tables, decision trees.
Show that you are familiar with different tools and models, mention them in your resume,
and be prepared to demonstrate what you can do in an interview or a hiring test.
Number 9: Too much technology, not enough competencies
Technologies change, companies replace their tools, but key business analysis competencies
are always in demand.
These are your durable skills – managing stakeholders, facilitation, leadership, analysis,
modelling, explaining, validating, and managing complexity.
Sure, mention tools and platforms, but don’t forget what makes a business analyst special.
Number 10: Careless design. We talk about it last, but this is often
the first thing that can turn a reviewer off.
It’s a careless, sloppy or inappropriate design and layout.
You are a professional, and creating clear documents, diagrams and visuals will be part of your job.
So your resume should convey that you are up to the task.
Don’t use five different fonts.
Don’t bold half of the resume.
Create clear indentations, separations, align all the bullets, and use white space
to help reviewer see the sections of your resume.
Don’t include important information as images, as it will get lost if the resume is filtered
by an automated algorithm first.
Place most important information in a prominent place.
Include hyperlinks to make it easy for the reviewer to look things up.
Your resume has to look good. Period.
I’m Yulia Kosarenko, author of the book “Business analyst: a profession and a mindset”.
In the next video, we will talk about the biggest resume mistake ever.
If you are interested, subscribe to my channel, Why Change, and until next time.