How to Start a Business Analyst Career

Learn how to become a business analyst by leveraging the experience of senior BAs and the advice from professionals who recently found their first business analyst job

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Open-mind
• Passion about business analysis
• Willingness to put in the extra effort

1. Evaluate yourself against the fundamentals. Find a good book on the BA fundamentals and determine what you know about business analysis and what your knowledge gaps are.

2. Begin accumulating business analyst experiences. Look for opportunities in your day-to-day work or personal life to apply business analyst practices. Practice listening, analyzing problems, and facilitating discussions.

3. Meet business analyst and other technology professionals. Evaluate your local area for professional networking events. Meet current business analysts. Ask them to participate in informational interviews so you can obtain a first-hand perspective about the profession.

4. Frame your target position. Based on what you've learned, decide if you are ready for an entry-level business analyst position or should look for a transitional role.

5. Update your resume. Focus on outcomes, not responsibilities. Optimize your resume to focus on the BA experiences you've accumulated. Use the catch phrases you are finding in job descriptions to describe your experience.

6. Conduct a job search. Use online job boards to find business analyst jobs, recognizing that not all BA jobs will have "business analyst" in the job title. Evaluate the responsibilities to determine if this is really a BA job or not. Leverage your professional network to find opportunities that are not posted or to help you get an in to opportunities you find online.

7. Prepare for the interview. Practice telling stories about your BA experiences. Focus on what you accomplished. Seek out the perspective of your hiring manager and other interviewers. Make sure you address their concerns. Prepare work samples (even practice ones) to represent specific technical skills.

8. Evaluate the offer. Assess the cultural fit of the organization, your personality fit with the hiring manager, and the opportunity offered by the position. As a new business analyst, you may want to focus on coaching, training, and experience opportunities over a specific level of financial compensation.

Tips & Warnings

• Be creative in how you think about accumulating BA experiences. Look for opportunities to take on responsibilities that capture any part of the BA role when you are just starting out. One BA experience tends to pave the way for another.
• Be creative in your job search and look beyond "business analyst" as a job title. Consider "product coordinator", "requirements analyst", "technical project manager".
• Build your online professional profile by contributing comments to blogs and forums. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date. Use your real name so recruiters will find these contributions if they search for you online.
• Be wary of certifications for entry-level business analysts.
• Evaluate educational programs very carefully. Look for programs that offer a self-directed pace and the opportunity to receive feedback on real or simulated project work.

Resources

• How to Start a Business Analyst Career - eBook

[cygnetbrown]

on 7/15/2009 Great advice! Thanks for a well written article and welcome to eHow!