Ten Things To Remember While Hiring A Business Analyst

The role of business analysts is very critical in IT organizations as they bridge the gap between client and the resources working on client’s project in the development department. They play a very active and fully involved part in the development of solutions while performing little or no actual hands-on role in the development of solutions. A business analyst is the one who gets pointed out by both user and the IT department in case of any contrary situation. The IT department usually blames them for not having the exact knowledge of what they do and the client confronts the business analyst in case the solution delivered by IT department is executing properly but is not doing what they exactly required from it.

The role of a business analyst may sound very challenging but it is also challenging to hire a business analyst who can fit in the role perfectly. Organizations find it very tricky when they go out to hire business analyst as the required skills, knowledge and experience for the position are often hard to define.

Here are 10 things to look for while going out to hire a business analyst:

1. Experience of being in the role of an analyst: While hiring a highly experienced person is always beneficial but there is nothing wrong in choosing someone at the entry level for such a position. However, if you go for a candidate at entry level then make sure that the person has a knack for analyzing things and could communicate them effectively.
2. The candidate should have experience in the right IT department: There are many departments in an IT company and it is your responsibility to find out the kind of IT knowledge that will be relevant to the role of BA in your organization. You can talk to your developers and programmers in order to find out the technologies for which the business analyst should show some experience.
3. Internal Hiring: You can always look for the candidates in your own organization. The best part of this method is that the person would be having good knowledge of your organization and thus could prove very effective.
4. The external candidates: The problem with internal resources is that they might have so much experience in their current techniques that they are not able to see the room for improvement in them. Thus external candidates might prove much better in this context.
5. Good documentation capability: If you hire a business analyst then make sure that he/she has the ability to express the requirements properly on a sheet of paper. In short, they should be good at making documentations.
6. The candidate should have good problem solving skills: A business analyst will frequently find himself in situations where good problem solving skills will be required. You should take proper tests to ensure that the candidate has these skills.
7. How much industry knowledge is required in the candidate: While it is always tempting to hire business analyst who has huge industry experience in your segment. However, it is not always necessary to have a candidate who has deep knowledge of your industry. You need to decide whether it is required or not.
8. The basic job skills: You need to test candidates for basic skills required for the job such as the ability to create and give presentations, use scheduling softwares to setup meetings and the knowledge of Web conferencing software.
9. A business analyst must be self motivated: The most suitable choice for the job will be a person who can do things on his own without being micromanaged at every stage. You need to evaluate the candidates on the basis of how well they can work on their own.
10. Communication skills: The business analyst will have to communicate on a daily basis with both clients and IT department. Therefore it is necessary that he has the proper communication skills. Further, it is also important that he is a people’s person as he will have to deal with people on a regular basis and it is important that he can work with others without creating any friction.

We hope that this post will help you while you set out to hire a business analyst for your business. We will soon be coming up with more informative content for you.