Top 5 Questions Your Boss Wants You To Ask A Business Analyst During The Interview

A business analyst’s central role is understanding your company’s operations and goals so that she or he can make suggestions for improvements. They play a pivotal IT role in the life of any organization, and hiring the right person can be a tricky undertaking. That’s because the role’s definition and the skills needed are hard to pin down — job descriptions and business analysis needs vary from company to company. Even so, finding the ideal candidate can be easier if you ask candidates questions that, when answered, reveal they are the ideal person for the position.

Top 5 Business Analyst Interview Questions

The questions below combine both behavioral interview questions and those that try to get to the heart of the candidate’s skills as a business analyst.

1. What key strengths do you think a business analyst should have? Look for a candidate who highlights both technical and non-technical attributes they would bring to the position. Pay close attention to whether the person being interviewed makes reference to what skills would be required specifically for your business.
2. How do you prioritize tasks? Self-management skills are essential to the position, as a business analyst often works on several different projects at the same time, or with disparate departments within your company.
3. What is the difference between a functional and non-functional requirement? Understanding the importance of both requirements that are the foundation of a project is one of the key factors in a business analyst’s job. The candidate should not only know the difference between the two, but also show an understanding that his or her main responsibility is the discovery, analysis, documentation and communication of requirements.
4. Name a time they applied knowledge from a job in one field and used it in another field. A great business analyst knows they must adapt to specific environments and situations. If they are multi-disciplined, they will often find innovative ways to tackle projects. While many business analysts have expertise in IT and their domain, you want to hire someone who has experience in performing tasks in completely unrelated fields.
5. Have they ever been on a project that they didn’t think was valuable to the company? What you’re really looking for here is if the candidate let others within the company know that they thought the project wasn’t valuable. This is an excellent indicator of whether the candidate is able to develop compelling arguments for superiors to take action.

Finding a Great Business Analyst

Finding a great business analysts can take time and effort. IT business analysts who are willing to roll up their sleeves and dive into tough IT projects are worth their weight in gold. Look for the candidate who is a great communicator, problem-solver and natural collaborator, is technically aware, and has a breadth of experience. Hopefully these interview questions will help identify those candidates with the potential to be a great member of your company.