What skills should a Business Analyst put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Complex Problem Solving, and Judgment and Decision Making among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Business Analyst list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes 3M Post-it App, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe ActionScript, Adobe Dreamweaver, and Adobe InDesign. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Business Analyst work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Business Analyst, Business Consultant, Management Consultant, and Administrative Analyst. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Business Analyst need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 57% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Business Analyst role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Business Analyst resume example

Built from the O*NET occupation Management Analyst, which is how this job is recorded officially.

A resume for a Business Analyst needs to show the work itself: conduct organizational studies and evaluations, design systems and procedures, conduct work simplification and measurement studies, and prepare operations and procedures manuals to assist management in operating more efficiently and effectively. Day to day that means work like this: gather and organize information on problems or procedures; confer with personnel concerned to ensure successful functioning of newly implemented systems or procedures. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Business Analyst
Business Consultant
Management Consultant
Administrative Analyst
Employment Programs Analyst
Organizational Development Consultant
Performance Management Analyst
Program Management Analyst
HIM Business Analyst
HIM Data Analyst
HR Analyst
Business Development Analyst
Business Management Analyst
Business Management Consultant
Business Operations Analyst
Business Process Analyst
Business Process Consultant
Clerical Methods Analyst

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Gather and organize information on problems or procedures.
Confer with personnel concerned to ensure successful functioning of newly implemented systems or procedures.
Analyze data gathered and develop solutions or alternative methods of proceeding.
Document findings of study and prepare recommendations for implementation of new systems, procedures, or organizational changes.
Plan study of work problems and procedures, such as organizational change, communications, information flow, integrated production methods, inventory control, or cost analysis.
Interview personnel and conduct on-site observation to ascertain unit functions, work performed, and methods, equipment, and personnel used.
Prepare manuals and train workers in use of new forms, reports, procedures or equipment, according to organizational policy.
Review forms and reports and confer with management and users about format, distribution, and purpose, identifying problems and improvements.
Develop and implement records management program for filing, protection, and retrieval of records, and assure compliance with program.
Design, evaluate, recommend, and approve changes of forms and reports.
Recommend purchase of storage equipment and design area layout to locate equipment in space available.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Gather and organize information on problems or procedures, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Confer with personnel concerned to ensure successful functioning of newly implemented systems or procedures, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Analyze data gathered and develop solutions or alternative methods of proceeding, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Document findings of study and prepare recommendations for implementation of new systems, procedures, or organizational changes, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

3M Post-it App
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe ActionScript
Adobe Dreamweaver
Adobe InDesign
ADP Workforce Now
Advanced business application programming ABAP
Airtable
AJAX
Alteryx software
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2
Amazon Redshift
Amazon Web Services AWS software
Ansible software

216 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Desktop computers
Laptop computers
Liquid crystal display LCD video projectors
Personal computers
Universal serial bus USB flash drives

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

process improvement
data analysis
stakeholder management
project management
change management
Jira
Power BI
Python
SQL
Tableau

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Critical Thinking
03Reading Comprehension
04Complex Problem Solving
05Judgment and Decision Making
06Speaking
07Writing
08Coordination
09Monitoring
10Social Perceptiveness

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

English Language
Administration and Management
Customer and Personal Service
Mathematics
Education and Training
Computers and Electronics
Economics and Accounting
Law and Government

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

57%Bachelor's Degree
24%Master's Degree
10%Some College Courses

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Common questions

What does a Business Analyst do?: Conduct organizational studies and evaluations, design systems and procedures, conduct work simplification and measurement studies, and prepare operations and procedures manuals to assist management in operating more efficiently and effectively. Day to day that includes work like gather and organize information on problems or procedures and Confer with personnel concerned to ensure successful functioning of newly implemented systems or procedures.
What skills should a Business Analyst put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Complex Problem Solving, and Judgment and Decision Making among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Business Analyst list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes 3M Post-it App, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe ActionScript, Adobe Dreamweaver, and Adobe InDesign. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Business Analyst work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Business Analyst, Business Consultant, Management Consultant, and Administrative Analyst. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Business Analyst need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 57% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Business Analyst role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.