Hi everybody!
Dr. White here.
The founder of the business analysis doctor.
Today I’m going to be giving you my Top 5 tips for BA interview success!
But before we get started, be sure to subscribe to the page so you don’t miss out on any
of the business analysis mastery tips!
Ok.
Let’s get to it!
Business Analyst Interview Tip #1 Understand the purpose of Resume vs interview
As a candidate looking for a job, something you must understand is that resumes and interviews
serve very different purposes.
This is especially critical for the BA role because it requires practitioners to master
a number of both hard skills and soft skills.
Resumes are generally used as a screening tool to see if you meet the minimum qualifications
to perform the role or position.
Essentially, the resume is an initial assessment of whether or not you have the hard skills
to be effective in the role.
The interview on the other hand is what decision-makers used to gauge your soft skills to determine
whether or not you are any of the following: (1) a good fit for the organization, (2) a
good fit for the department, and (3) someone they would want to work with or (4) someone
that will make their job easier.
Keep these in mind as you practice various BA interview questions.
This is what the hiring manager is trying to discover with the “tell me about yourself
question”.
So be prepared to present yourself I a way that aligns with those 4 parameters.
Business Analyst Interview Tip #2 Pic your recruiter’s brain!
On the initial phone interview: After you answered all of the questions asked by the
recruiter, this is your time to some insight on any information that could be useful to
you during your interview with the hiring manager.
ALWAYS ask the name and title of the person you are interviewing with
In the most organic and conversational way possible, try to get information regarding
the following: Casually ask the recruiter to tell you about
your hiring manager.
Take note this may reveal information regarding their personality and the types of people
they like to work with Organizational Culture
Team Culture in the department you will be working
Specifics on BA role in the organization Number of BAs in the organization
WHY the hiring manager is looking to fill the BA position (replacement, growth)
This is key – This will help you understand how you can make the hiring managers life
easier
Business Analyst Interview Tip #3 Check LinkedIn and Facebook
Use these platforms to see if any of your Facebook friends or LinkedIn connections have
ever worked at the organization you are applying for.
If so, reach out to these contacts to try to get their feedback on the company culture.
If you are lucky, you might be able to get some information about the specific department
you would be working in or the person you are interviewing with.
You would ask your contact if they know any of the BAs in the organization, how many BAs
there are, do they seem happy, questions regarding the business analyst reporting structure and
leadership team, and again, any information you can get on the person you are interviewing
with.
If you don’t have any existing contacts the work for the organization.
Use LinkedIn to search the profiles of Business Analysts in the company.
Here you just want to check out the general qualifications such as experience, education,
certifications, and any skills that they have listed.
These individuals might also have some posts are content that may offer some useful information
about the organization as well.
I don’t recommend going through the hiring manager's profile, because they’ll be able
to see it and they might find it a little creepy.
Also, look at the company’s LinkedIn or Facebook page to try to get some insight on
the organizational culture or anything that may be useful for you to know during the interview.
Browse through the posts and comments to see if you can find any useful information from
the BA team.
Business Analyst Interview Tip #4 Be prepared for the 3 Main Types of Interview
questions
Knowledge-Based – These are questions that assess how well you know general information
regarding the business analysis.
Hiring managers are more likely to ask more of these types of questions to candidates
with less experience in order to gauge how well they understand business analysis fundamentals.
These questions may also be regarding the information you have listed on your resume.
Examples of business analyst related knowledge-based questions are:
How would explain the SDCL process?
Describe the most common business analyst deliverables
What is the difference between waterfall and agile frameworks
Answers to these question should demonstrate your knowledge of:
BA terminology The SDLC process
Understanding of various BA techniques and deliverables
Understanding Project frameworks such as Waterfall and Agile
Behavioral Based – These are questions are used that highlight your personality traits
as well as how you might respond to external factors such as pressure, time constraints,
ambiguity, and ability to manage conflict.
Hiring managers will ask these questions to gauge the level of soft skills you have related
to the BA role.
Examples of behavior-based question include: How do you make sure all stakeholders have
a shared understanding of the requirements?
Tell me about how you would handle not having enough time to complete the requirements
How do you handle frequent project changes or new requirements?
Your answers to these types of questions should demonstrate that you possess the soft skills
that are essential to the BA role such as: Being a good communicator
Managing your time well Being adaptable
Competency-Based – These questions assess the application of the skills you’ve presented
in your resume.
Hiring managers want BAs that get results, so they will use these competency-based questions
to detect instances of successful execution of specific skills they believe are relevant
to the BA role.
Studies show that the best predictor of future performance is previous performance, so be
prepared to demonstrate how you been successful in scenarios given to you by the interviewer.
Examples of these types of questions may be:
Tell me about a time you’ve overcome a major project obstacle
Or the “famous” tell me about a time you’ve had to deal with a difficult stakeholder
Tell me about your most successful project and the role you played
How do you begin a new project?
Business Analyst Interview Tip # 5 - STAR Technique The STAR method is a well-established technique
of answering behavioral and competency-based interview questions in a structured way.
It involves describing a specific situation, task, action, and result of the situation
you are discussing.
The STAR format includes Situation, Task, Action, and Result:
Situation: A specific problem or event that needed to be addressed
Task: Your role and responsibilities in the situation
Action: The approach and steps taken to solve or address the situation
Result: The outcome of your actions.
This is where you want to look like a SUPERHERO.
Demonstrate how your actions led to the situation being successfully resolved.
• So, let’s apply this to a competency-based question of “Tell me about a time you’ve
overcome a major project obstacle”
Situation: I was assigned a project to resolve data integrity issues and two key stakeholders
could not agree on the source of the problem
Task: As the BA assigned to the project, I was responsible for helping the stakeholders
define the problem and recommend a solution.
Action: I facilitated a root cause analysis using the Fishbone method, and we found that
both of the key stakeholders were incorrect about the source of the problem because they
were only considering the symptoms of their own department and not considering the external
contributors.
Result: By considering the external contributors, not only did we resolve the initial problem
but we were also able to implement some process improvements, which led to a 15% in daily
production.
Notice how the example gave specific examples ABOUT your contribution to the situation.
While we want to communicate being a team player, REMEMBER you are the only person being
interviewed, so you need to highlight your own contributions.
Well, those are my top 5 tips for BA interview success!
I hope this information was helpful to you and I wish you the very best of luck on your
next job interview.
Also, if you need additional help on preparing for a business analyst interview, sign up
for a one-on-one coaching session and we’ll get you ready for your next BA interview.
Have a productive and prosperous week!
Until net time!
Bye now