Business Analyst resume example
By Bhagirath Sheela, founder of JobCatch ·
Business analyst roles in India split two ways: IT business analysts who turn business needs into requirements for developers, and analytics-leaning BAs who work in SQL and Excel. Say which you are in your first line, then show requirements or analysis that changed a product or process.
What recruiters look for
- Requirements work: BRDs, user stories, process maps, acceptance criteria
- Domain knowledge: banking, insurance, retail, healthcare
- SQL and Excel for analysis, JIRA and Confluence for delivery
- Stakeholder management across business and technology teams
Section order
With experience
- Summary
- Skills
- Experience
- Projects
- Education
- Certifications
As a fresher
- Summary
- Education
- Skills
- Projects
- Internships
- Certifications
Summary examples
Fresher
MBA graduate (Business Analytics) with an internship writing requirements for a bank's loan workflow, and strong SQL and Excel.
Experienced
Business analyst with four years in banking technology. Wrote the requirements for a digital loan journey that cut approval time from five days to six hours.
Skills, spelled the way postings spell them
An applicant tracking system matches the words in the job posting, and it does not reliably treat two spellings as one skill. The left column is the form most postings use; the right, other spellings people type. Use the posting's own spelling for each application, and list only what you can discuss in an interview.
| Skill | Also written as |
|---|---|
| Requirement gathering | Requirements analysis, BRD |
| Stakeholder management | — |
| SQL | Structured Query Language |
| Microsoft Excel | Excel, MS Excel, Advanced Excel |
| JIRA | Atlassian Jira |
| Confluence | — |
| Agile methodology | Agile, Scrum, Kanban |
| Data analysis | Data analytics |
| Power BI | PowerBI, MS Power BI |
| Process improvement | Process optimisation, Process optimization |
| Documentation | Technical writing, Record keeping |
| Microsoft PowerPoint | PowerPoint, MS PowerPoint |
Also worth listing if you have them: User stories and acceptance criteria, Process mapping (BPMN).
Bullet examples
Each bullet says what you did and what changed because of it. Change the numbers to your own; a recruiter will ask about every one.
- Wrote the BRD and 140 user stories for a digital personal-loan journey; approval time fell from five days to six hours.
- Mapped the current and target processes for account opening across 12 branches and found 9 duplicated checks.
- Ran weekly backlog grooming with business owners and two development teams in JIRA.
- Analysed 18 months of drop-off data in SQL, which moved the KYC step later in the journey and lifted completions 15%.
- Wrote acceptance criteria and led user acceptance testing for six releases.
For freshers: projects and internships
- Internship at a private bank: documented the loan-approval process and wrote 30 user stories for its automation.
- Capstone project: analysed customer churn for a telecom dataset in SQL and presented recommendations.
- Completed the IIBA ECBA preparation course.
Mistakes to avoid
- Not saying which kind of BA you are. An IT BA and an analytics BA are screened on different skills.
- Bullets about meetings, not outcomes. "Conducted stakeholder meetings" is the process; what did it lead to?
- Leaving out the domain. Banks and insurers hire BAs who already speak their language.
What an ATS reads from this sample
An applicant tracking system turns the PDF into plain text before anyone reads it. This is that text for the sample above, extracted by the same code as "What the ATS reads" in the app. Everything is in reading order, under the right heading, with the name and email intact — which is what a single-column template is for.
Aman Khanna Business Analyst [email protected] +91 98765 43210 Mumbai, Maharashtra linkedin.com/in/amankhanna Profile Business analyst with four years in banking technology. Wrote the requirements for a digital loan journey that cut approval time from five days to six hours. Experience Business Analyst, Fintrust Bank Technology Apr 2022 – Present Mumbai Wrote the BRD and 140 user stories for a digital personal-loan journey; approval time fell from five days to six hours. Mapped the current and target processes for account opening across 12 branches and found 9 duplicated checks. Ran weekly backlog grooming with business owners and two development teams in JIRA. Associate Business Analyst, Coreline IT Services Jul 2020 – Mar 2022 Mumbai Analysed 18 months of drop-off data in SQL, which moved the KYC step later in the journey and lifted completions 15%. Wrote acceptance criteria and led user acceptance testing for six releases. Skills Requirement gathering · Stakeholder management · SQL · Microsoft Excel · JIRA · Confluence · Agile methodology · Data analysis · Power BI · Process improvement · Documentation · Microsoft PowerPoint · User stories and acceptance criteria · Process mapping (BPMN) Projects Account opening map Process map of branch account opening that removed nine duplicated checks. Education MBA, Business Analytics 2018 – 2020 Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies · 3.4 GPA Certifications IIBA Certification of Capability in Business Analysis (CCBA), 2024 Languages English · Hindi
Interview questions to prepare
The app's interview prep for this sample and a plain Business Analyst posting. It works from the resume and the posting only, and tells you how to prepare, never what to say.
Questions every interview has
- Tell me about yourself. Two minutes: what you do now (Business Analyst at Fintrust Bank Technology), one result you are proud of, and why this role is next.
- Why do you want this job? Read their website and one recent piece of news before the call. Name something specific.
- Why are you leaving your current job? Say what you are moving towards. Do not criticise your employer.
- What is your notice period, and what salary are you expecting? Decide your number before the interview, so you are not deciding it on the call.
About the skills the job asks for
- Tell me about a time you used SQL. Pick one real example: what the problem was, what you did, and what changed.
- Tell me about a time you used Microsoft Excel. Pick one real example: what the problem was, what you did, and what changed.
- Tell me about a time you used JIRA. Pick one real example: what the problem was, what you did, and what changed.
- Tell me about a time you used Confluence. Pick one real example: what the problem was, what you did, and what changed.
- Tell me about a time you used Stakeholder management. Pick one real example: what the problem was, what you did, and what changed.
- Tell me about a time you used Requirement gathering. Pick one real example: what the problem was, what you did, and what changed.
About what the resume claims
- You wrote: "Wrote the BRD and 140 user stories for a digital personal-loan journey; approval time fell from five days to six hours." Expect three follow-ups: how exactly, what was your own part, and how you know it worked.
- You wrote: "Mapped the current and target processes for account opening across 12 branches and found 9 duplicated checks." Expect three follow-ups: how exactly, what was your own part, and how you know it worked.
- You wrote: "Ran weekly backlog grooming with business owners and two development teams in JIRA." Expect three follow-ups: how exactly, what was your own part, and how you know it worked.
Questions to ask them
- What would a good first three months in this role look like?
- Who would I work with most closely?
- What are the next steps, and when should I expect to hear back?
Templates that suit this role
All of these are single-column and read cleanly by an applicant tracking system. Classic is free, with no watermark.
Questions
Does a business analyst need to know SQL?
Increasingly, yes. Even requirements-focused BAs are expected to check data themselves, and many postings list SQL. Show at least one bullet where you used it.
Which certification helps a business analyst in India?
IIBA's ECBA for beginners and CCBA or CBAP with experience are the recognised ones. Agile certifications such as CSPO also appear often in postings.
Next: the Business Analyst cover letter the app drafts from this resume, and how to show SQL, Microsoft Excel, Power BI on a resume.
More data & ai resume examples: Data Analyst · Data Scientist · Data Engineer · Machine Learning Engineer · AI Engineer · Power BI Developer · SQL Developer