Pre-interview tips for Junior Business Analysts
Recently I was looking for a Junior Business Analyst to join my team. I considered candidates with little or no experience in IT. And that was an excellent experience for me. For the first time in my career I:
- wholly owned job requirements for the position
- made a final decision to hire someone or not
- was not doing the tech part of an interview
- interviewed Junior-level specialists.
It is different from interviewing a Middle or Senior BA. You can discuss various topics with more experienced professionals: practical cases, challenges, techniques, recent articles, etc. But that is hardly applicable for the Juniors as they can share only their background and knowledge of theory with the ability to apply that in practice, at the very least.
The main proof of their ability is a diploma project if they have previously finished some business analysis courses. Another option is a test task or even a pet project. And be well prepared for an interview, of course.
I was not hosting a part with Business Analysis questions, so I focused on the written evidence and carefully listened to the interviewee. After I finalized my feedback for each candidate, I realized some missteps which occurred in a number of the interviews. Even though they seem to be obvious, it is important to highlight them and provide my suggestions.
Invest your efforts in formatting and language of your test/diploma project
Whether it is a diploma project from BA courses or a practical task given to you before an interview: you must do your best.
The first impression is essential. You can provide a better experience for the readers, which is your advantage over other candidates.
Many years ago, I was helping my mentor with reviewing the practical tasks of candidates who applied for a Junior BA position. I was shocked when he refused to read a document further without a table of contents, so a candidate missed the chance. The mentor did not care how good the work might be. That was a crucial criterion for him to stop wasting time and proceed to the next candidate.
From my perspective, it is unfair not to give a chance to a specification with some formatting issues. But that situation states that you never know who will look at your specification document and what their expectations are.
Be able to explain the requirements documentation approaches you use
"We did that because our mentor told us" - is a wrong answer about the decision to proceed with user stories instead of use cases in your test/diploma project. You should be ready to justify a used approach considering its advantages and disadvantages.
An interviewer can ask you to compare two approaches and express your opinion on which is better. The fun part is that there is no correct answer; in Business Analysis, some things may work depending on a project context. Just share your opinion, even if you have little experience using both. That is a tricky way to test your current understanding of those techniques.
If your diploma project is group work, make your contribution clear
Business Analysis course students tend to write their diploma projects in a group of 3-5 persons. Nothing wrong with that. But for me, that makes assessing a candidate's skills problematic.
"We did all the stuff together" - a lousy answer to a question on how you organized work on the diploma project. That gives me no clue why I should hire you instead of your group mates.
Working in a group of BAs is a valuable skill, but that must be a well-organized process with a clear contribution from each peer. You'd better sign the parts you made with your name and be prepared to explain others' parts as your own.
Write your diploma project in English (for non-native speakers)
If you plan to start your BA career in an international company or company with international customers, write your diploma project in English. As a Junior BA, you are unlikely to be involved much in communication with stakeholders from the beginning. Your time to shine will come a bit later.
More time you will spend on specifying and documenting requirements. You'd better provide additional proof of your written English.
Study different sources of knowledge
It is painful to hear how a prospective candidate fails to explain the meaning of stakeholder requirements and their place in the requirements hierarchy. I think that happens because most BA students read only the Wiegers*, in which stakeholder requirements are not considered a subject of the requirements structure and are implied to be a part of the business requirements. Wieger's definition is fine, but you'd better study BACCM** by IIBA (free) and learn the modern industry-agreed standard.
When you send files, don't use proprietary file formats
One candidate sent an "eap" file as a documented example to prove their BA skills. Once I got that file from recruiters, I realized I lacked the software to open it on my laptop. I quickly googled that "eap" is an extension for Enterprise Architect files. It is a well-known industry tool, but neither I have worked with it nor my organization. So what will my next steps be? To install Enterprise Architect, register, start a 30 days trial, learn how to use it, and finally open that file for a review, I guess.
But that never happened. I switched to an assessment of other candidates, and that file's content remains a mystery.
You can blame me, but I value my time and want other parties to respect it. Please use standard file formats (like PDF, docx, etc.) or something that can be opened in a web browser (without mandatory sign-up and providing my credit card information). Remember, as a Junior specialist, you compete for a job with many other talented people. And you are not in a position to demand more time than the others. Deal with that.
Do your homework
Not having questions for an interview is a bad sign for a hiring manager. Please prepare some questions about the company, the project/product, the team structure, your future responsibilities, organization processes, etc. Be bold and ask any relevant question which comes to your mind.
If it is a product-oriented company, then study any available marketing materials about its products and value proposition you find on the Internet. Nowadays, organizations are largely investing in content marketing, so it is easy to find some hooks to help you formulate your questions.
As conclusion
If you have not got a job offer after an interview or your application hasn't even been considered, that does not mean you are a terrible business analyst. In 80% of cases, your skills do not fit a particular position. In the other 20%, you might not have done your homework, the interview went surprisingly bad, or it was a combination of these factors.
Consider rejection as a blessing and keep going. Seek, and you shall find.
References
*Karl Wiegers and Joy Beatty “Software Requirements”, 3rd edition
**Business Analysis Core Concept Model
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Change history
- 2022-02-06: Initial version published
- 2023-05-10: Second revision published