The Typical Situations
You’ve applied for dozens (or maybe even hundreds) of BA jobs but have only been called for a handful of interviews (or none at all).
You might have been a developer or QA engineer or worked in the business in the past, but now you are ready for a BA job. However, every interview you land is for the type of job profile you want to keep in your career history, not your career future.
After a fairly long tenure in one company, you find yourself unemployed. You realize you’ve been doing business analysis for a long time, but without the title. Now you are trying to apply for BA jobs, but feel stuck.
The Mistakes Behind the Typical Job Search
If any of these situations apply to you, it’s likely that one or more of the following is happening:
- Your resume focuses on the type of professional you were and does not properly position yourself as the BA you are ready to be.
- You are applying to all kinds of positions, hoping that one or more of them sticks. In the process, you are burning out and making yourself feel like a failure (which you are not).
- Because you are including your complete career history in your resume (which might be all over the map in terms of experiences) your resume lacks focus. A potential employer reads it and isn’t quite sure where you’d fit into their organization.
- Because you are focusing on quantity over quality, you are failing to present your best self for the best opportunities, and therefore, are getting lost in the clutter with the hundreds of other candidates for that same job.
The Uncertainty of the BA Job Market
The solution to these problems is focus — a focused resume, a focused job search, and focused interview preparation. With focus, you are more likely to make it through the employer’s job search funnel and find a job that truly matches your qualifications. Yet a focused job search where you apply to only the jobs you are truly qualified for and for which you take the time to present yourself as a fully qualified BA job candidate feels uncomfortable.
You probably have these legitimate questions:
- Should I apply to all the jobs or cherry pick a few?
- How can I be sure that I am applying to the right jobs?
- What skills and qualifications from my career history really matter?
- How should I organize my resume to highlight my relevant business analysis experience, which is now buried?
- Why does almost every BA job have some sort of special skill attached? And what should I do if I don’t qualify?
In this workshop, we’ll answer these questions and more, help you wade through the uncertainty in the BA job market, and invest your valuable time in the best opportunities.
Benefit From an Insider’s Perspective
Most professionals seeking a BA opportunity have a wealth of relevant career experiences. But many do not position these strongly enough in their resume or interviews.
- You will stand out to recruiters and hiring managers by strongly positioning your business analyst qualifications.
- You’ll receive an interviews for the right BA jobs with a top notch resume that gets noticed by recruiters and hiring managers.
- You’ll learn how to read into the job posting to discover how the hiring decision will be made and what a successful candidate looks like.
- You’ll be prepared to engage in a conversation about your relevant career experiences, leading to a stronger interview and likelihood of receiving a good offer.
Now, there is a lot of great content out there about how to conduct an effective job search and this workshop does not try to duplicate that. Instead, I share an insider’s perspective of business analysis — from my days in 3 different BA roles, as a BA hiring manager, a contractor and a mentor — so you can more effectively position yourself for BA opportunities. I show you how to apply some of those general best practices to the business analysis profession.
How the Virtual Workshop Works
- You’ll receive 9 MP3 Audio lessons, ranging from 10-25 minutes, each tackling a specific aspect of your BA job search and leading you through a sequence of steps to optimize your job search process.
- There will also be a complete PDF transcript of each lesson, if audio is not your favorite way to learn. These are also great for review, since you can skim them quickly to find the point you want.
- Each lesson contains a Next Action Worksheet so you can take what you learned and apply it to your BA job search plan.
- Most lessons are filled with bonus resources, such as checklists and templates, to ensure you have everything you need to build and implement your plan.
This workshop is virtual and on-demand, meaning you can register and get started right away. We know that job searches happen on your schedule not ours, so there is no need to wait until the next course opens.
What Topics Are Covered?
Lesson 1: Career Changes vs. Job Changes
After completing this topic, you’ll be able to describe the difference between a job change and a career change and articulate your job search goals more clearly.
- Worksheet: Framing My Job Search
Lesson 2: The BA Job Market is Messy
After completing this topic, you’ll be able to identify the complexities of the BA job market and appreciate why you may not be qualified for the vast majority of business analysis job opportunities. You’ll be motivated to focus your job search.
- Worksheet: Focusing My Job Search
Lesson 3: Cutting Through the Clutter: Researching a Job Market
After completing this topic you’ll be able to independently research a job market, sort through the options available and find the attributes of successful business analysts in your local area.
- Checklist: Eliciting Information from Job Descriptions
- Extra Resource: Job Titles in Business Analysis
- Extra Resource: Job Search Resources
- Template: Qualifications List
Lesson 4: How to Discover Your Marketable BA Qualifications
After completing this topic, you’ll be able to identify your most valuable capabilities as a business analyst. As you discover new elements of the BA job market, you’ll revisit this lesson and the worksheets again and again to dig deeper and find new transferable career experiences.
- Worksheet: Diagnosing a Project Experience
- Worksheet: Discovering a Marketable BA Qualification
- Template: Recording Feedback
Lesson 5: How to Focus Your Job Search with a Target Position
After completing this topic, you’ll be able to build a target position description which will focus your job search on the positions where you have the best possible chance of success. You’ll be able to confidently position yourself in the BA marketplace.
- Worksheet: Target Position
Lesson 6: The Hiring Process and You
After completing this topic, you’ll be able to describe the hiring process from a recruiter’s perspective, believe that your resume is a piece of marketing collateral, and determine if your current resume is positioned to make it through the funnel of job applicants.
- Worksheet: Are You Positioned to Make it Through the Funnel?
Lesson 7: Position Your BA Qualifications in a Well-Crafted Resume
After completing this topic, you’ll be able to craft a resume that showcases your business analysis career experiences, training, and achievements and is more likely to be read and understood by hiring managers and recruiters, resulting in increased call backs from job applications.
- Extra Resource: Documenting Contributions (real patterns you can use to turn responsibilities from your career history into valuable achievements)
- Worksheet: Creating a Project Summary
Lesson 8: Starting Your BA Job Search
After completing this topic, you’ll be prepared to apply everything you’ve learned in the previous topics to build a job search plan customized to your career goals. You’ll be positioned to turn previously ego-busting rejections into learning opportunities.
- Template: Record of Job Applications
- Checklist: Learning from “No”
Lesson 9: Mastering the BA Job Interview
After completing this topic, you’ll be able to use time-tested techniques to prepare for a business analyst job interview so that you can enter each interview with confidence.
- Worksheet: Preparing for a BA Job Interview
- Worksheet: Job Interview Retrospective
Pricing
Your $197 course fee provides lifetime access to the course materials. Upon payment, you’ll receive instant access to everything that’s included in the virtual workshop and be able to work through it at your own pace.
Click the “Buy Now” button below, choose your payment option, and register for the course.
And if for some reason you purchase the course and it’s not what you expected, we offer a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee for 30 days.