Before we started BeamJobs, one of our co-founders worked as a business analyst for five years, so we know from experience that there is an incredible amount of variability in what a business analyst does on a day-to-day basis.
Due to this wide range of responsibilities, it can be quite challenging to build a CV or write a business analyst cover letter. Here, we’re going to outline everything you need to know about your business analyst CV.
These CV samples have helped fellow BAs secure positions at top companies like Stripe and Microsoft. We’ll also share some tips that we’ve learned from other excellent business analyst hiring managers to help you get that first-round interview.
Why this CV works
- Your business analyst CV is most effective when it demonstrates a clear career progression combined with a data-driven CV outline.
- You’re on track to success if you’ve started your business analyst career by pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business. According to current job-seeking best practices, having a bachelor’s degree is a fundamental starting point that is guaranteed to secure an applicant at least a work placement.
- Displaying internships becomes less critical if you’ve already secured roles in business analysis after graduation.
- As time goes on, a proven track record of dedication and experience is built up over years of work as an analyst. From this point onwards, experience and specialised skills are the only deciding factors needed to climb the ladder of seniority.
Why this CV works
- As a business intelligence analyst, you’re responsible for gathering, cleaning, and analysing data such as revenue, sales, market information, or customer engagement metrics within a business. BI analysts are also required to programme tools and data models to assist in visualising or monitoring data.
- While a business analyst’s overall job field description can be quite broad, your business intelligence analyst resume should do an excellent job of honing in on a specific career trajectory, complemented by quantifiable data.
- Whenever possible, it’s preferable to include key metrics and quantifiable high-performance indicators. However, in the field of business intelligence analysis, numbers and data are your “raison d’être” or your “reason for being.”
- Having a well-established career trajectory of University Graduate → BIA Intern → BIA Junior → BIA provides a proven and well-documented history of growth and improvement over time.
See more business intelligence analyst CVs >
Why this CV works
- Business systems analysts may be referred to as BSAs, computer systems analysts, or even systems architects. However, regardless of the title, your role is to assist an organisation in operating more efficiently and effectively through the design and implementation of information technology systems.
- There are hundreds of different technologies that can be utilized to achieve the mission of a business systems analyst. It’s paramount to research the job market to see which skill specifics apply to you.
- Skills such as Looker, Tableau, and SQL are highly valued in this specialised job market.
- In the business world, companies look for individuals who consistently deliver results. While you should directly state your impact in your job description bullet points on your system analyst CV, you can indirectly demonstrate your consistency and reliability through your template and format.
- Ensure consistency in formatting. Headings, fonts, and even sentence punctuation (or the absence of it) should be uniform.
View more system analyst CVs >
Why this CV works
- As a senior business analyst, you’re at the top of your field: a field heavily steeped in well-documented data and reporting. When updating your CV skills list on your senior business analyst CV, you must collect two primary data sources.
- The first is the position’s list of required skills if you are focusing on a particular company. This list will provide you with the exact skills needed to excel in the role for which you’re applying.
- The second source provides an overview of sought-after job titles in a specific geographical area. After assessing the market’s desired skill requirements, you can tailor your expertise to align with the general “pulse” of what employers in a particular region are looking for.
- Once the general “heartbeat” of the desired market has been identified, emphasise specific bullet points with KPIs to complement and enhance your credibility.
See more senior business analyst CVs >
Why this CV works
- The way you present your achievements has a significant impact on how your Salesforce business analyst CV is received. Highlighting your skills is not enough—you need to demonstrate how those skills are applied in practice and how they can drive meaningful business results.
- Include specific projects where you utilised Salesforce Agile Accelerator or Informatica Cloud to streamline business processes, demonstrating your practical experience.
- Detail how your analysis, perhaps through Tableau or Salesforce Reports and Dashboards, influenced key business decisions.
See more Salesforce business analyst CVs >
Why this CV works
- Utilise your ServiceNow business analyst CV’s career objective to portray a passionate hard worker who will motivate the team to perform and achieve goals.
- Combine that passion with the willingness to apply your expertise and experience to help the prospective employer stay ahead of the competition.
Why this CV works
- The best way to prove that you’re truly proficient in the skills you list in your IT business analyst CV is to demonstrate those same skills in action in your work experience section.
- What tools did you use for API testing or creating visual models? What project management tools contributed to your success? As you write your bullet points, look for ways to integrate these skills naturally.
See more IT business analyst CVs >
Why this CV works
- Healthcare is a highly specialised field with its own unique language. If you can demonstrate that you’re already up to speed on the skills and systems required to succeed, recruiters will take notice.
- For example, highlighting your Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS) credential on your healthcare business analyst CV shows you can bypass the industry’s steep learning curve.
Why this CV works
- Your SAP business analyst CV is the epitome of elegance, and that certainly puts a positive spin on things. Intrigued, the recruiter will want to know more, but if your CV doesn’t allow for that, you might as well forget about that lucrative job you’re after.
- How do you tell the recruiter more and make an impression? It’s really easy! Add a direct link to your LinkedIn profile in the CV’s header section. Be careful, though; a run-of-the-mill profile can make the hiring manager think twice about bringing you on board, so optimise yours accordingly.
Why this CV works
- Business analysts are always seeking new methods to enhance operational efficiency, and they expect the same mindset from their interns. By emphasising occasions when you’ve taken the initiative to streamline systems, you can demonstrate your talent for identifying bottlenecks—and resolving them.
- While your CV only has room to highlight projects, a covering letter writer is a fantastic tool to discuss relevant personal projects to bridge your gap in professional experience.
Why this CV works
- When you’re applying for an entry-level role, you might lack relevant work experience. Including a career objective helps an employer link your past achievements with the position you’re aiming for.
- Identify themes in your employment history that relate to the role you’re applying for and emphasise them at the top of your junior business analyst CV.
Why this CV works
- As a technical business analyst, you go a step beyond identifying areas for improvement—you design the solutions. Highlight your ability to build new systems with a prominent skills section.
- For example, highlighting SQL on your technical business analyst CV proves that you can create databases for the company.
Why this CV works
- Agile business analysts examine how a company operates by conducting research and analysing data. By analysing and understanding the data, Agile workflow implementations can then be made to improve company KPIs right down to individual team members.
- Establish credibility by starting with a solid foundation through a bachelor’s degree in business and then completing that foundation with a long internship.
- Once you have gained one to two years of experience, including multiple KPIs, it will demonstrate a track record of delivering value.
- It’s inevitable and essential to continue building your skills when developing your career. However, including too many, too few, or unrelated skills can easily confuse the reader by making you appear to be a “jack of all trades, master of none.”
- Continue tailoring your Agile business analyst CV with a specific target role in mind. For example, if you offer the target company *exactly* what you know they’re looking for, it’s an easy win, even if your total years of experience are below the “ideal candidate” minimum.
See more Agile business analyst CVs >
Why this CV works
- Your operations analyst CV should focus on one obvious thing: operational analysis, primarily. Reinforce as much operational, analytical data as you can by including improvement/enhancement KPIs to showcase the overall impact on the company’s bottom line.
- Business operations analysts are efficiency experts; you’re a professional with a proven history of enhancing an organisation’s performance and reducing unnecessary waste. Nothing highlights this more on your CV than beginning each job description bullet point with an active verb.
- Avoid personal pronouns, adjectives, or non-active verbs. Start with strong verbs, such as “analysed” and “enhanced.”
- Use our free CV checker for additional information on using active verbs.
See more operations analyst CVs >
Why this CV works
- For a strong banking business analyst CV, let the experience section serve as a record of your business acumen and keen problem-solving skills. This approach could make it easier to propel your application to the top of the pile, attracting significant interest from the hiring manager looking for a candidate with your expertise.
- Within the work history section, emphasise quantifiable achievements, not just duties, to showcase your talent for successful execution—something like analysing and revising risk management strategies, reducing financial discrepancies by 26% year-on-year. A little caveat, though—keep your descriptions concise.
Why this CV works
- In the world of business analysis, utilising stacks of data to find solutions is the name of the game. What can give you a head start and get recruiters to choose you over someone with more experience is demonstrating your ability to cut the Gordian knot and grow the business.
- You’ll realise Elira’s McKinsey business analyst CV shines with those “eureka” moments, like when she automated financial reporting using Tableau, reducing manual work by over 10 hours per week and enhancing data visualisation in the process. Or when she utilised Gartner insights to uncover a potential £4.7 million in revenue growth for a client. Stories like this make your CV memorable.
Why this CV works
- Since a significant part of your work will involve automation, you mustn’t overlook adding the necessary skills for it!
- Having tools like IBM Watson Natural Language Understanding and Microsoft Azure ML will create a strong impression on the employer and suggest that your RPA business analyst CV is well above the average candidate.
Why this CV works
- There are plenty of lucrative SQL business analyst positions you can pursue. The downside? You’re not the only one on the hunt. Thankfully, a polished CV showcasing role-relevant achievements can help you stand out from the competition.
- Consider the brilliance of including a phrase like “analysed SQL queries for performance optimisation, reducing query execution times by 49% and enhancing database performance for over 1,084 users” in your SQL business analyst CV. It’s the kind of evidence that not only proves your expertise but translates your technical achievements into clear business value.
Why this CV works
- For a business continuity analyst CV that can steal the show, consider highlighting your risk management skills (such as identifying and prioritising risks, assessing impact, and developing effective strategies). Trust us, nothing demonstrates that you’re the perfect candidate better than that!
- Did you notice how Nadia talks about capitalising on her proficiency in Sungard Availability Services to run disaster recovery tests and eventually reduce system downtime risk? The mention of her role in convincing the leadership at Lockheed Martin to invest in redundant backup infrastructure that slashed data loss risk by 98% could earn her a lot of brownie points with hiring managers.
Why this CV works
- A flawless supply chain business analyst CV that highlights your outstanding skills and impressive ability to drive business decisions into the spotlight will definitely have recruiters thinking you’re the right fit for their company.
- Of course, you could list those 8 or more skills and leave it at that, but your chances of securing an interview are quite slim. Why not go the extra mile and provide examples of how you’ve utilised them to improve the supply chain process? For example, mention that you used SAP ERP for supply chain management and reduced procurement costs by 16%—now that’s impressive!
Why this CV works
- If you’re looking to create an outstanding Jira business analyst CV, focus on using numbers to set a high standard for other applicants and demonstrate a highly sought-after data-driven mindset.
- For example, Maeva mentions tracking more than 153 user stories and tasks in Jira to align project timelines with business requirements and collaborating with cross-functional teams to create and maintain project documentation for 12 projects. What a way to add credibility to her competence.
Why this CV works
- Much like the mission statements of various companies and industries, your entry-level business analyst CV can take many shapes and forms. However, several key components can make yours stand out and rise above the rest.
- A bachelor’s degree in business is an extremely versatile qualification that can be utilised in many ways. If your CV includes an excellent grade point average, it will ensure the reader notices that a degree has been completed.
- Your degree is essential to outshine the masses of competition in this field.
- Including a carefully customised CV objective can also give entry-level candidates an edge, providing employers with a quick insight into who you are and why you specifically want to work with their company.
- Complementary to the bachelor’s degree, internships provide recent graduates and sometimes students nearing graduation with real work experience. While some internships and apprenticeships can be found outside the realm of traditional academia, a clear majority require an intern/apprentice to be a current or prospective degree holder.
See more entry-level business analyst CVs >
Why this CV works
- If you’ve reached the limit of your career progression, specialising can be a smart move. To build a strong AEM business analyst CV, you need to position yourself as an expert in the content management system.
- Emphasise how you’ve applied your knowledge of AEM to manage impactful projects in a company. Clear examples will build your credibility and improve your chances of securing an interview.
Why this CV works
- Two things should stand out above everything else in your finance business analyst CV. One is accurate data reporting. This means there should be no room for errors. The other is reliable financial trend and pattern forecasting.
- In that regard, achievements such as reducing errors by 21% and a 14% improvement in forecasting accuracy deserve to be highlighted.
Why this CV works
- Of course, your role is to make business processes more efficient. But let’s be honest, any company will only employ you if you can help improve their profits and reduce costs.
- This is a great time to add bullet points like “achieving cost savings of over $1.5 million through optimised supplier negotiations” to your business analyst retail sector CV. Don’t forget to include metrics for other financial aspects such as cash flow and profit margins, too!
Why this CV works
- Don’t even think about using jargon in your e-commerce business analyst CV. In an attempt to demonstrate that you’re at the top of your game, you might alienate the hiring manager and ruin your interview chances.
- We understand; you tend to use big terms like omnichannel, conversion rate optimisation (CRO), and churn rate when chatting with your colleagues at work. However, there’s a chance the hiring manager might not be familiar with them, which means it’s important to use straightforward language such as “…adjusting strategies for key product launches” in your pitch.
Why this CV works
- A compelling business process analyst CV offers more than just a straightforward list of software skills. It should clearly highlight how you’ve utilised (and will utilise) these tools to improve business operations.
- For example, detail a project where you used Appian or Celonis to streamline a critical business process that improved efficiency or reduced costs.
- Demonstrate how your use of Tableau contributed to more informed decision-making through data visualisation.
- This approach gives your CV a practical edge, highlighting your tech proficiency and your ability to utilise it in real-world situations.
How to Write a Business Analyst CV
Summary
Discover practical tips and examples to help you create a job-winning business analyst CV that showcases your data-driven impact and problem-solving skills.
My favourite part of being a business analyst was that no two days were the same. One day I might be deeply immersed in complex SQL queries, and the next I’d be talking to customers to understand how they used our products.
This wide range of responsibilities made the job exciting and challenging. No two business analysts have the same role, so it can be really difficult to know what to include on your CV to satisfy hiring managers at different companies.
I’ve hired business analysts, I’ve applied for roles as a business analyst, and I’ve reviewed thousands of business analyst CVs at this point in my career. Fundamentally, you have to demonstrate that you’re capable of having a meaningful impact on the business you’re applying to.
This holds true whether you’re a junior business analyst looking for your first full-time position or you’re a senior business analyst seeking a promotion to management. Present your case that you’ll have a significant, positive impact in the role you’re applying for.
In summary, here are the ways to ensure you achieve that:
- Start your CV with a personal statement if you’re aiming for a senior role or a career objective if you’re a beginner.
- Demonstrate a strong and relevant work experience
- Use the skills section to demonstrate your technical and interpersonal skills
- Use CV examples that have worked for other business analysts to secure their dream jobs
How to highlight your business analyst skills
Compared to other tech roles, the range of hard skills that business analysts need to have is relatively consistent across companies.
While the type of analysis that a business analyst conducts can vary significantly from one role to another, the fundamental principles of the role remain unchanged. A business data analyst collects data and uses their insights to enhance business processes or operations.
Whether that happens through forecasting, pricing, reporting, or statistical analysis, the toolkit that a successful BA needs to have is well defined.
First, you need to be able to prepare data for analysis. More often than not, companies store their data in relational databases. So this means you need to know SQL to extract and clean that data.
If the quantity of data that a company has is significantly smaller, you might get all the data you need to analyse right in (usually very sloppy) Excel workbooks.
After the data is prepared, you need to carry out your analysis. This could involve using interactive models (in which case you’ll likely be using Excel), or you might need to conduct a more sophisticated analysis in Python or R.
Finally, you need a way to present your findings. Sometimes this can simply be visualisations in Excel (Excel is the true business analyst MVP), sometimes it can be through data visualisation in a BI tool like Tableau or Looker, and sometimes it might be through a presentation in PowerPoint.
Skills to include on your business analyst CV
- SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, SQL Server)
- Excel, Google Sheets
- PowerPoint, Google Slides
- Tableau, Looker, Chartio
- Python, R
- Salesforce, Netsuite, Hubspot, Pipedrive
- A/B testing, linear regression, logistic regression
Notice a pattern here? Only include hard skills in your skills section. Think of it this way: if you were reviewing a CV and someone listed they were a “team player” in their skills section, would that tell you anything about their qualifications?
No, it wouldn’t. Soft skills are best demonstrated in an interview. Listing them on a CV just doesn’t add any value.
The other thing you have to consider is that there are two stages of CV review:
- Companies use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to automatically filter out CVs based on certain keyword filters.
- The hiring manager or HR person responsible for screening for the role will look at your CV.
When companies use keyword filters, they only ever screen for hard skills. So soft skills won’t help you get past phase 1. And as I mentioned earlier, simply listing soft skills on your CV won’t convince the hiring manager you actually possess those skills.
How can you balance your skills section to satisfy both the ATS and the hiring manager? First, don’t include a long list of skills. This is a major red flag to the hiring manager even if it will help you get past the ATS.
For example, there is no reason you would include Python, R, Matlab, and SAS on your CV. When it comes to your skills section, you want to avoid coming across as a jack of all trades and a master of none.
It’s much better to demonstrate expertise in a few skills than a superficial understanding of 15-20 skills.
When you’re deciding whether or not to include a particular skill on your CV, just ask yourself if you’d be comfortable answering questions about that skill in an interview.
Lying on your CV is one of the few guaranteed ways to ensure you’ll never be able to get a job at a company in the future. Personally, I also couldn’t cope with the anxiety of potentially being exposed for a CV lie during an interview. It’s not worth it!
Get your business analyst CV format right
Formatting your CV properly may matter more than you think. For any given BA role, a hiring manager reviews over 100 CVs. To that end, they’re looking for a reason to say “no” to any given application they review.
Formatting your CV incorrectly is a quick way to end up in the “no” pile. Your goal with formatting your business analyst CV is to make the job of the hiring manager as easy as possible.
Put yourself in their shoes. Given the exact same experience for two candidates, would you be more likely to approve the CV that extends to 5 pages or the CV that concisely makes the case for their qualifications?
Here are the key formatting tips you should keep in mind for your business analyst CV:
- Keep it to one page. If it’s longer than a page, the hiring manager will likely only skim through it.
- Unless you’re customising your business analyst CV summary, don’t include it on your CV. It’ll just take up space.
- If you’re a senior business analyst, keep your education section very brief. If you’re an entry-level business analyst, include relevant courses you took at university that make you suitable for the role.
- Don’t get too creative with your formatting. Your CV needs to be machine-readable, so don’t include any images or charts.
- Include links to any relevant work, projects, or write-ups you have.
- This could be your LinkedIn, Github, personal blog, publications, etc. Anything that demonstrates your skills as a business analyst.
Since your goal is to keep your CV to one page, every inch of space is valuable. If you’re a senior business analyst, this means you need to keep your education section concise to allow more room to discuss your work experience.
Conversely, as a graduate business analyst, you need to demonstrate that you’re qualified to be a BA without much (or any) work experience. To do that, you should include relevant maths/statistics/economics/programming modules you took at university.
Education section for business analysts: senior vs entry-level
- Senior business analyst
- Only include the essentials. Your university, the degree you earned, and your subject.
- You don’t need to include your grade point average.
- Junior business analyst
- You need the essentials (school, degree, subject)
- Include relevant courses you took that make you qualified to be a BA
- This can be classes in mathematics, statistics, economics, programming, business studies, etc.
- Include your degree classification if it’s a 2:1 or above.
Business analyst CV summary or objective
Spoiler alert, most (90%+) of business analyst job applicants don’t need a CV objective or CV summary.
Why? The vast majority of them are too long, too generic, or don’t offer any new information about a candidate’s qualifications for the BA role they’re applying for. Because of this, many hiring managers have become accustomed to overlooking this section (particularly when it’s too lengthy).
If you’re going to include a CV objective, make sure it actually adds value to your CV. Here are some ways you can do that:
- Discuss why you are particularly interested in working as a business analyst at the company you are applying to.
- Tailor your CV objective for each job you apply for; this means carefully reading each of those business analyst job descriptions!
- Read what you’ve written. Is it just generic, meaningless jargon? If so, then it’s better not to include it.
- Keep it to two lines or fewer. If it’s longer than that, the hiring manager probably won’t read it.
To clarify this point, here are some examples of good and bad business analyst CV objectives and summaries.
If you’re looking for more inspiration, we’ve compiled over 100 CV objective examples you can use.
WRONG – meaningless jargon bingo
Aiming to utilise my analytical skills to transform disorganised data into practical insights for a purpose-driven company
WRONG – far too long
Business analyst with over 7 years of making significant impacts through my analyses. Comfortable collaborating across various teams, from product to engineering to leadership. Skilled at transforming unclear product requests into business requirements that are implemented efficiently. Throughout my career, I have generated £3.7 million in value through my analyses and recommendations.
RIGHT – showing a specific interest in the company
As a former small business owner, I’m excited about the prospect of utilising my experience in leading data-driven product recommendations to further Stripe’s mission of making payments accessible to businesses of all sizes.
Quantify your impact on your CV
The goal of a business analyst is to utilise data to make recommendations that have a demonstrable impact on a business or product. More than anything, you need to make it clear on your CV that you have this capability.
How can you do that? By demonstrating that you’ve done it before! You need to estimate the impact of the projects you’ve worked on.
One of the toughest challenges of being a business analyst is trying to quantify the seemingly unquantifiable. How can you estimate the potential revenue impact of a feature that hasn’t been launched? How can you estimate the impact of a pricing change on customer attrition?
These are challenges that business analysts have to deal with in their day-to-day work. By estimating the quantitative impact of your past work, you’re clearly demonstrating you have a knack for logical, numerical reasoning that is essential to succeed as a business analyst.
The impact of your projects doesn’t just have to be expressed in terms of revenue impact. Here are some other ways you can approach it.
Ways to measure your work as a business analyst
- Improved customer conversion rate
- Example: Utilising Google Analytics and Excel identified a gap in the product funnel and made a recommendation that improved customer conversion rate by 10%
- Saved manual reporting time
- Example: Streamlined and automated a key business report in Tableau, saving the team 10 hours of reporting each week.
- Reduced costs
- Example: Using SQL and Excel, it was recommended that we terminate our contracts with our worst-performing suppliers, resulting in an annual cost saving of £100,000.
- Created data visualisations to assist executives
- Example: Created data visualisations in Excel to demonstrate the effectiveness of our sales operations and marketing, resulting in the closure of a £1.3M Series A.
- Enhanced customer retention
- Example: Determined through analysis in Python that emailing customers who had been inactive for 7 days resulted in a retention improvement of 7 basis points.
- Enhanced customer satisfaction
- Example: Using SQL and Excel, identified common complaints among new customers leading to changes that improved new customer satisfaction by 14%.
When it comes to demonstrating the impact of your work, it’s important to focus on the most important metrics relevant to a given project. Being able to determine the success versus failure criteria of an experiment is crucial to being a good business analyst.
Just to drive the point home one last time, I want you to compare these two work experiences. Now, this is the same business analyst discussing their experience in a particular role in two different ways.
Which do you think is more effective in convincing the hiring manager they’re a highly qualified business analyst?
WRONG – unclear description of work experience
Insurance Company
August 2014 – August 2016, Washington DC
Business Analyst
- Identified procedural areas for improvement through customer data to help enhance the profitability of a nationwide retention programme
- Using Python, SQL, and Excel, developed and managed the reporting for a nationwide retention programme
RIGHT – specific projects with demonstrable impact
Insurance Company
August 2014 – August 2016, Washington DC
Business Analyst
- Identified procedural areas for improvement through customer data using SQL to help increase the profitability of a nationwide retention programme by 7%
- Using Python, SQL, and Excel, developed and managed the reporting for a nationwide retention programme, saving approximately 100 hours of labour each month
Project ideas for junior business analysts
If you’re a junior business analyst, I know what you’re thinking: “Stephen, this whole section is focused on work experience but what if I don’t have work experience as a business analyst?” (P.S. I don’t actually know what you’re thinking, I just needed a decent way to transition)
The beauty of being a business analyst is that you don’t need work experience to demonstrate the skills needed to succeed in a full-time position!
Fundamentally, a business analyst needs to ask a question, gather data to answer that question, and analyse the data to provide a convincing answer to that question.
You can do that on your own! Discussing a project you worked on to address your own needs shows a hiring manager that you have the motivation and skills to succeed as a business analyst.
Get creative! Have you had a question you’ve long pondered? Think of some data you can collect and write up your findings.
To get your creative juices flowing, here are some questions I’ve given a lot of thought to and how I might go about answering them.
Sample business analyst projects for your CV
- Have the New York Mets (my favourite team) had bad injury luck?
- I would collect data on the value of each player in the squad in terms of their performance over the last 10 years and the number of matches they missed each season. I’d then compare this to other teams in the league and write a report.
- Are graduate business analyst jobs really entry-level?
- I’d look at some of the most popular job boards for business analyst job descriptions. I’d manually gather attributes about each of the job descriptions and do a write-up.
- What is the most valuable skill for a business analyst to possess?
- Examine salary data and job descriptions for business analyst roles across the country. I would account for confounding factors such as years of experience and attempt to determine which individual technical skill is most associated with a higher salary.
- Do people actually like BAFTA films?
- I’d look at the box office and public reviews of films nominated for the “best picture” Oscar as far back as I can get reliable data and conduct an analysis to try and answer this question.
- Do ultra-runners from the west coast perform better than those from the east coast? (Ultra-running is a hobby of mine)
- I would gather public data on the top 200 ultramarathons each year, going back as far as data is available. I’d then compare the hometowns of top performers to see if access to trails and favourable weather correlate with performance on race day.
How to Write a Great Business Analyst CV
Whether you’re a senior business analyst or an entry-level business analyst seeking your first position, the guiding principle of your CV should be to show the hiring manager that you’ll make a significant impact on their business!
- Only include hard skills in your “skills” section. If you would not feel comfortable being interviewed about a particular skill, don’t include it.
- Keep your CV to one page and triple-check for spelling and grammar errors. More often than not, you should not include a CV objective or summary.
- Showcase your numerical reasoning skills by quantifying the impact of your previous work as a business analyst. If you’re seeking your first BA position, include projects you’ve worked on in your CV.
It took me 66 applications before I secured my first business analyst role in 2010. I know looking for a new job is generally disheartening, so try to keep your spirits up.
You’ve got this! I’m cheering you on. If there’s anything I can do to help you secure your next business analyst role, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Related CV guides
Business Analyst CV FAQs
A technical business analyst should highlight roles in developing software solutions, bridging collaboration gaps between IT and business teams, and enhancing systems through data-driven insights. Emphasise skills in requirements and compliance, system analysis, technical documentation, and collaboration with cross-functional teams to bring robust, scalable, innovative solutions to life.
Ensure it is results-focused, concise, and tailored to the role. It should include your job title and level of experience, list key business analysis skills, demonstrate measurable achievements, and conclude with your career mission and vision. Keep it between 2 and 3 lines and focus on the value you bring to the employer.
Here’s an example of a powerful CV summary:
“Detail-oriented principal business analyst with over 10 years of experience driving process improvements and delivering data-backed insights for FTSE 100 clients. Led a CRM optimisation project that reduced customer churn by 18%. Skilled in SQL, Tableau, and Agile methodologies. Passionate about leveraging analytics to shape future-ready business strategies.”
A business analyst’s CV should demonstrate how you analyse data, streamline processes, and implement innovative solutions that drive measurable business outcomes. Use verbs like “led,” “analysed,” “optimised,” and “solved” to reflect how you applied business analytics to solve problems with a forward-thinking approach.
Your business analyst CV should be one page if you’re at the entry to mid-level stage to ensure clarity and impact. For senior-level professionals with extensive experience and achievements, going beyond one page is acceptable—just ensure every line adds value.
