Top Tips on Revamping Your Business Analyst Resume to Get Shortlisted 

Aspiring to start your career as a business analyst

You may have ticked all the boxes in pursuit of a business analyst job profile but all of that will only come into consideration when you can showcase it in your resume. 

How else would you get shortlisted by the company you are targeting if not for a spectacular business analyst resume?

And yes, creating one is not that simple if you are not aware of the very basics of writing a resume. 

So, here are 5 tips on revamping your business analyst resume that will kick start your career and get you shortlisted. 

1. Choosing the Right Format for Your Business Analyst Resume 

If you aren’t aware of it, there are basically 3 types of resume formats that you can choose from while writing a resume. 

Your choice has to be based on factors like the amount of experience you have and whether or not you have gaps in your career. 

Reverse Chronological Resume Format

The most preferred and widely accepted resume format is the reverse chronological format which presents your past experiences starting from the most recent one and continued by your older roles.

This resume format is ATS-friendly and will help your resume stand out from the rest. You can have a look at a business analyst resume sample that follows this format. 

Functional Resume Format

This resume format is for people who have gaps in their career trajectory and for those who have had multiple career changes.

Nevertheless, the downside of this format is that it is not ATS-friendly and therefore may not help you get noticed by the recruiters. 

Combination Resume Format 

For those candidates who have plenty of years of experience to boast, the combination resume format may be suitable for them. 

However, if you are a fresher this is not the best option for your business analyst resume. 

It is a fusion of the two other resume formats and puts equal attention on your skills and past experiences.  

2. Writing a correct header in your business analyst resume

Now, most people who haven’t had a chance to read this blog may write the header of their resume as “CV” or “Resume” which is so obvious and cliche.

The recruiters already know that it is a resume. What they don’t know is, whose resume they are reading and who’s the person with all those skills and experiences. 

Therefore, the moral of the story is, you must write your name as the header of your resume. 

The font size should ideally be 16-20 points (the biggest font size that is to be used in your resume) so that it is evident to the recruiters that it is YOUR skills and experience that’s impressing them. 

3. Framing impactful one-liners to present your professional experience 

When there is a vacancy in a reputed company, say for the position of a business analyst, there are at least hundreds of resumes that are being sent in for a single position. 

Even after the ATS (Application Tracking Software) filters out the most relevant resumes, HR has to manually go through at least 10 or 20 resumes. 

And with the time constraint, HR will rarely spend extra time reading bulky paragraphs on a single resume. 

That’s why you need impactful one-liners that talk about your previous roles. And yes, the one-liners have to be presented in bullet points.

This allows for an easy-to-read experience and also makes for a more impressive resume. 

4. Using power verbs to begin sentences in your business analyst resume 

If the previous point about one-liners has you wondering how in the world can you make your bullet points impactful, the first step towards achieving that is using a power verb to start your sentence. 

Make use of power verbs like handled, managed, assisted, led, executed, supervised, organized, operated, and so on to make your resume more compelling.

These action words will emphasize your strengths and capabilities, ensuring your resume leaves a good impression on the recruiters

5. Forming a Cause and Effect Relation in Your One-liners  

Once you begin your bullet points with a power verb, frame it with a cause and effect relation. 

While talking about your past experience, you want to make sure that you are telling the recruiters everything that they really need to know about your role and responsibilities. 

Take a look at the following examples:

  • “Collaborated with a team of 10 people to develop a data analysis software and achieved 100% accuracy.”
  • “Analyzed business needs and provided comprehensive solutions that resulted in 80% increase in customer satisfaction.”

The idea here is to give a slight background of your role or task and then present the results and outcome of your actions. Don’t forget to use numbers whenever possible.