The business analyst resume is often a particularly complex document. The business analyst resume requires strong definitions of achievements, the nature of your work, and defining your areas of expertise. These are professional credentials, very important resume content.
Complexity can work against you, when you're trying to convey information to a reader who's looking for specific information. The process of screening applicants is based on a largely inflexible set of criteria. Computer screening is even less flexible, based on keyword matches.
Resume issues
Business analysts can operate in a very diverse environment. That's the main source of complexity in their resumes. They have multiple forms of experience in different areas, and have to make that experience relevant to a single-issue job application. Even if the new job is as a business analyst, valuable information can get lost in translation.
Fortunately, the need is to rework the resume using a technique all business analysts know well: issue targeting. The essential criteria of the job, in this case, are the issues to be targeted. This is primarily a matter of translating experience into clearly defined relevance to a job application.
Targeting the resume
We recommend targeting resumes to specific job applications as the most effective way of addressing the essential criteria and the needs of a specific job, in preference to the usually unsuccessful One Size Fits All resume, which is non-specific by definition. It usually misses many job-specific essential criteria, too, which means its ability to pass screening is considerably reduced. There are some simple steps for targeting the resume effectively:
- Research the employer's business: This is the best possible source of information regarding their real needs.
- Find appropriate matches in your portfolio of cases for the new job: The closer, the better, and you can be very clear about your achievements in an obviously relevant context.
- Show dollar and performance values: This is hard sell, direct evidence of values to the employer. Like an executive resume, you can use your actual performance and achievements as a competitive measure against other applicants. This information is hard to overlook, particularly when it's clearly focused on core job skills.
- Systematically address each of the essential criteria: Make sure all essential criteria are mentioned in your resume. Don't leave anything out. Use the same terminology, which will take care of the computer screening obstacle course. (If necessary, use the Skills heading to include them, if they don't provide useful direct content in other text.)
- Quality control: Check the rewritten resume for appropriate matches to the needs of the position. You need to see a credible, highly focused resume which could have been written specifically for the position. It reads like a job description, as much as a resume.
As a business analyst, you can prove your skills very effectively, and make yourself a standout candidate, based on facts alone. Consider your resume as your prime best business asset.
