Business Analyst Interview

In this article we will explore some actual interview questions that are asked of Senior Business Analyst's in Australia.

In this article we’ll discuss some possible answers to Business Analyst interview questions. we’ll break down what the question is really asking. And finally we’ll talk about how to answer these kinds of questions. All of the questions are for experienced Business Analyst positions, at least 3 years or more.

How to answer Business Analyst interview questions

Interview questions will generally always be quite general and open ended. They won’t be looking for one specific right answer. Because the role is so varied, the interviewer is looking for your experience and character. And looking to see how you deal with situations. The best way to structure all of your answers is by giving 3 clear points and then a real life example. End by reiterating the question. It is often encouraged to use the S.T.A.R. approach;

  • Situation
  • Task
  • Action
  • Result

In the answers below, we have only given rough notes. For each of the dot points we have listed, in an interview you would give a real world example to the recruiter. We haven’t provided a real world example, but rather, you can use the notes to think of your own story you would tell during an interview.

Business Analyst Interview Questions

What would be your approach to getting started in a new role as a Business Analyst?

  • Understanding what your team does, what your projects are, strategic business objectives, strategic IT objectives.
  • Understanding your stakeholders roles, responsibilities and interests.
  • Get an understanding of the timeframe for delivering outcomes.

What is your approach to facilitating workshops?

  • Setting a clear agenda and stating what the desired outcome of the meeting should be.
  • Understand all participants’ roles and responsibilities and what they are trying to get out of the meeting.
  • Ask all participants to put their ideas on a Post-it Note,  bundle similar ideas together.
  • “Every battle is won before it’s fought” ~ Sun Tzu, I like this quote and I think it can be related to running meetings. A strong skill of a Business Analyst is negotiation and influence. When possible before meetings it’s always beneficial to talk to the important meeting attendees and have decisions and discussions made before the meeting starts.

Can you tell us about your experience working with external stakeholders – how has your management of those relationships differed from internal stakeholders?

  • An understanding of external stakeholder roles, responsibilities and interest is critical.
  • It is important to be more formal with external stakeholders.
  • Time with external stakeholders is critical, sometimes you only get one chance to ask your questions. The key here is preparation and research before meeting with the external party.

What would your approach be to completing requirements, where discovery has already been completed and requirements have been started by a previous analyst?

  • If you have access to the person who created the requirements, that is ideal and you should work to get a handover document/list from them. Discuss with them all meetings that took place, who was involved and if there are any assumptions that have been made.
  • What you want to avoid is making drastic changes to requirements, and restarting the discovery process again. And also, having the same conversations with business stakeholders, this will likely waste their time and annoy them.
  • One of the most difficult parts of this kind of situation is having to progress with bad or controversial decisions.
  • Oftentimes, you will find yourself stuck with decisions made by someone else that cannot be undone, usually due to time or money already spent. Defending and justifying these decisions

A new priority jumps in your lap, your existing piece of work has a hard deadline and is complex and time intensive. You need to find a way to manage both pieces of work. Walk us through how you might manage this?

  • The first step is to notify your team and manager, and those stakeholders most likely to be impacted by a risk to delivery.
  • Another approach would be to leverage your team to see if anyone else can help you.
  • Negotiating a reduction in-scope could also be considered in order to retain the existing deadline for both pieces of work.
  • I hope you found this interesting and useful, if you have any questions leave a comment or reach out via the contact page.