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Employment Job Search
A good way to find out what employers are saying they are looking for in a business analyst is to browse job descriptions. Unfortunately, you will quickly find out that many online job descriptions are very vague. Reading some of them, it would be hard for a business analyst to gauge his or her skill level against the requirements of the job description.
Creating a Business Requirements Document is Not the Mark of a Business Analyst
Here is an excerpt from one particularly bad business analyst job description I found:
We are seeking a senior level Business Analyst (5+ years) with strong systems knowledge for a six month + contract. They will need to have a strong background working with tech leads, working with end-users, gathering requirements, and creating BRDs. This person will not have to create technical specifications, but will need to have the technical knowledge to help guide the decisions.
The right candidate will need to be the type of person to take control of a project and create direction where there isn’t any. In order to be considered, the candidates must produce examples of past BRDs he/she has created. This position has potential to run for the entire year.
Does this mean that everyone who has worked in any business analysis capacity in a related industry for five years and can put together a good-looking Business Requirements Document would be a fit for this position? From reading, it would seem so. A poor job description makes anyone looking for a career change think that they can just hop on the BA bandwagon and be successful.
A Better Business Analyst Job Description
Most business analyst job descriptions aren’t quite as bad as the previous example. Here is a much better business analyst job description:
IT Business Analyst
Description:
The Business Analyst is a crucial role in creating and maintaining the strategic partnership between Business needs and Technology delivery in an Agile development environment.
The Business Analyst will be responsible for developing business requirements and related business rules based on Business Group needs.
The Analyst will work closely with the Business Partner and Business Subject Matter Expert(s) in the definition, testing, training, implementation, and support of functional requirements.
The Analyst will identify requirements via industry standard analysis techniques such as data flow modeling, workflow analysis, and functional decomposition analysis. The Analyst will solicit requirements through interviews, workshops, and/or existing systems documentation or procedures.
In general, the role will include the creation/revision of the following analysis artifacts and deliverables:
- Process Maps
- Business Requirements
- Business Rules
- User Stories
- User Flows
- Acceptance Tests
The Analyst will participate in daily stand-up meetings with both Technology and Business Partners to facilitate the understanding, clarification, and implementation of requirements in an Agile development environment.
Requirements:BA/BS Degree, in a technology related field or other degree preferred
4-6 years experience in building and specifying mission critical business applications, at least 1 of which is in a client/server environment.
Strong verbal and written communication skills. Must be able to communicate effectively and confidently with users, team members and management.
Must be flexible and willing to undertake a wide variety of challenging tasks.Strong facilitation skills. Must be able to elicit requirements from various personalities across organizational and geographical boundaries
Proven experience at driving consensus across multiple stakeholders
Process driven analysis skills and a background in various requirements elicitation methods
Proficiency with Agile SDLC processes
This example is much better than the first one. For an employer to get the best business analyst applying to their position, they need to create positions that let business analysts use their full range of unique skills, tools and techniques to bridge the gap between business and information technology. What makes business analysts so important to the software development process is the WAY they bridge that gap.
A good business analyst doesn’t want to run around just putting out fires wherever they flare up. The effective business analyst wants to get to the root cause of the fires and create solutions to the root problem. A good business analyst doesn’t want to just “gather and document requirements”, he would rather “have expertise in a variety of requirements elicitation techniques such as interviews, focus groups, surveys, workshops etc, and choose the right technique for different elicitation situations.”
Your Business Analyst Career Development Plan
Learning and improving your business analysis skills is a must. Sometimes you can get so caught up in your current business analyst job that you miss the boat on new skills in the industry. Browsing and reading job descriptions can help you create a career development plan that keeps you on the leading edge of the business analysis industry.
Once you know what the employer is asking for in the business analyst job description, you need to evaluate your skill set to see how good you are in the skill areas that employers are looking for. The areas in which you come up short are the areas you need to start seeking training and coaching on.
Have you ever read a business analyst job description that was not very clear? Do you have questions on the skills required by the tasks described? I welcome comments and questions from you on other job descriptions you may have read.
References
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Ivin says: Thank you for sharing such articles. I have been assuming BA roles and responsibilities for more than 5 years now but I seem to have trouble “marketing” myself to be spotted by head hunters.
reply Ivin: I appreciate your feedback and I’m glad to know that you find this article helpful.
I would be glad to help you achieve your career goals.
1. I recommend that you start with a SWOT Analysis. I will be releasing the full SWOT Analysis Training in a short time but we can do an impromptu one for you. For the SWOT Analysis, your Objective is “Transitioning into a Full-Time Business Analysis Role’
2. List all your known strengths and weaknesses based on the feedback you’ve been getting from Interviewers.
3. Identify all the BA opportunities that you’re pursuing or hope to pursue as well as the threats to your success
4. Prepare a strategic step-by-step plan that helps you achieve your objective.
Regards
Ivin says Thanks for the advice, Kingsley. I will definitely give this a try.
I have just repackaged my CV last night to emphasize my success as a BA than a developer. I have more than 5 years of solid technical experience in Oracle but I want to progress to business and functional area more than technical.
Will let you know how I go
Thanks again!
Kingsley, I have some questions for you.
As I was doing the SWOT analysis as you suggested, I have no problem adding points to Strengths and Opportunities. But I realized that I don’t really know what my weaknesses and threats are because each time my application is unsuccessful, I am not able to get any answers/feedback as to why I am not suitable other than “my background does not match the client’s requirements”.
This means that when they process the applications, I usually don’t get into the “probably” or “short-listed” category. The only weakness that I could think of is that I have never had any title/designation as a BA but as software engineer, analyst programmer, support analyst. However, in reality at work, I do play the hat of a BA, in fact, this happens most of the time.
I have been spending time researching what a BA’s CV should be and at the moment, I am not sure if I’ve nailed it. I also wonder if this is an Australian thing or it is common everywhere else.
Do you have some pointers for me in regards to this?
Thanks in advanced.
No, I have seen this happen before and it’s certainly not restricted to the Australian Business Analyst job Market.
You are quite right in youe analysis. Yes, you are probably not being short listed into any category and the reason is that your Resume doesn’t match that the profile of a BA for the job in question.
As this has happened more than once, it means that your resume is not stacking up again that of other BA’s (the competition).
Taking the analysis further, you have to ask yourself why:
1. Is a cosmetic problem that just requires a resume re-write
2. Is it a deeper problem that may only be solved my getting more hands-on BA experience?
So, these are possible weaknesses;
1. weak resume
2. insufficient hands-on BA experience
So, was my answer helpful?
Thanks
Yes, I couldn’t agree more, Kingsley.
Those are the 2 points I listed under weaknesses section. I have now tackled point 1 and I am awaiting/observing the outcome before I make further amendments. As for point 2, how best do I get more BA experience?
I read the article entitled “How Important Is Domain Knowledge For A Business Analyst?” and I am sure I fit into the Specialist BA (for SCM, ERP and CRM). However, like the article pointed out, potential employers look at BA who can give them immediate results. How can I then work my way to get my foot in?
It seems like a chicken-and-egg cycle….
It’s the classic “chicken-and-egg” which came first question.
It actually solvable.
Here is an example of one good way to solve it:
http://www.it-career-coach.net/2009/07/21/become-a-leader-and-get-the-job-you-want/
Please read the article and let me know what you think about the approach.
Please review the comments on the page and leave or post yours as well.
Also, I will be releasing a SWOT Training module that addresses the same situation using SWOT Analysis.
Your articles are so interesting and thanks for these informative articles.
I have been a programmer/web developer and now changing to be a business analyst. So in my resume I thought to put “Business Analyst – Developer” as the title. Would this stand out and attract more places for interview? Or its not good to put my “Developer” as part of the title?
Why Software Developers Make Good Business Analysts:
I would like to encourage you in your quest to transition to a business analyst career.
Putting the title “Business Analyst – Developer” would not make you more attractive to hiring managers or make your resume stand out because hiring managers are usually either seeking to hire a business analyst or they are seeking to hire a software developer.
However, if you want to transition to a business analyst career because you feel like that is a better career for you, then you may be in for some good news.
IT Managers do need business analysts with a good understanding of the software development life cycle.
I would say that you should use that as a your selling point over someone who doesn’t have first hand knowledge of the software development process … on the other hand, just changing the title of your resume is not enough to get you a job. You have to do much more than that!