Top 10 Business Analyst Interview Questions

A Business Analyst performs the key function of analyzing and evaluating the needs and requirements that businesses need. They perform extensive research into the business processes that are carried out and, in effect, help integrate different branches of the business, mediate between stakeholders, and bridge the gap between technology used and professionals employed.

A job as a Business Analyst offers a very lucrative opportunity with high remuneration even as a beginner and offering consistent and systematic growth. Any professional Business Analyst or aspirant is required to have holistic knowledge regarding different facets of any business regardless of its turnover or size.

Hence, Business Analyst interview questions are probes into these technical and professional qualities as a means of identifying potential gems in a pool of aspirants. 

Therefore, any aspirant must be well prepared and well-read for the arduous impending interview process, especially for the business analyst interview questions. With the competition for vacancies only going up as more people realize the long term benefits of the opportunity, it is crucial that your interview should highlight your technical ability and task management capabilities in any challenging scenario.

The interview should be a platform for you to showcase your particular set of skills. And preparing for the interview questions is necessary.

Business Analyst interview questions are divided into several rounds, with each round designed to gauge different aspects of your professionalism, technical ability and adaptability.

Why only top 10 Business Analyst interview questions?

Adding all interview questions are not possible because every interviewer have own set of mind and style to ask question. And it  also depends on the position for which you apply like junior level or senior level. But here we will try to cover top most interview questions for business analyst. Let us now take a look at the top 10 business analyst interview questions that explore each o e of these facets and which you can expect in any significant interview, progressing from basic to an advanced level of interview. 

Interview Question 1

What is your role as a Business Analyst in an organization? 

This is one of the interview questions that offers a preliminary examination of the job description and your expectations.

Answer: A Business Analyst is a crucial part of any business. The roles they are a part of in an organization include:

• Analyzing needs and specific requirements in an organization and identifying problem areas, even predicting potential issues in the future, and providing sustainable and cost-effective solutions. 
• Roles also vary significantly based on the nature of the organization and even from project to project and domain to domain. 
• An analyst is a de facto planner, data analyst subject expert and application designer in any organization.
• Some knowledge of soft skills and other core skills such as leadership, writing, comprehension, and engineering concepts is also part of the job. 
• In addition to these responsibilities, some employers may extend the functions of a Business Analyst to various other departments in the organization, including marketing and finance.

Interview Question 2

What are some tools used by a Business Analyst?

Answer: Since the major responsibility of an analyst is to examine and analyze different functions in a business, technical tools like rational tools, Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word and ERP systems are the basic tools. 

Non-technical tools and skills such as documentation skills and business process management skills are also essential tools.  

Interview Question 3

What is Benchmarking?

This falls in those interview questions that are designed to test your in-depth knowledge in the field.

Answer: Benchmarking involves the process of measuring the quality of programs, policies, rules and products against the same parameters of other companies. The major purpose of benchmarking is to measure a company’s performance compared to others. This process is also used to identify areas to improve upon.

Interview Question 4

What makes you unique in this role?

This question will effectively gauge your experience, soft skills and personality.

Answer: I am a technically sound and driven individual who prioritizes team management and keeping team morale high. I am a team player willing to do all that is necessary for the holistic development of the company.  

Interview Question 5

How will you handle a change in any requirement?

Such interview questions are designed to understand your ability to make decisions under pressure and chose the best option in a trying situation.

Answer:

• I will carefully note down the required changes and prioritize them.
• Calculate the extra time, cost and resources required to cover the impact of the change. 
• I will test if the new changes will adversely affect the development of the project or other functions. 

Interview Question 6

What is INVEST?

This is one of the important interview questions. It deals with another technical term.

Answer: INVEST is the acronym for Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Sized appropriately and Testable. This term is used to guarantee certain quality checks and assurances in business analytics.

Interview Question 7

What are project deliverables?

Answer: These can be classified as tangible and measurable services and products delivered to the customer after the completion of the project. 

Interview Question 8

What is a requirement, and how do you differentiate between requirement and need?

Answer: A requirement can be considered a solution that should be in place to achieve a specific objective related to the business. Analysts look at requirements for any policy or product to be implemented, and these are based on set parameters. On the other hand, needs are a high-level representation of the result and the terms involved.

Interview Question 9

What is the use of a Kanban tool?

Answer: A Kanban tool is a type of tool used in business analytics as a visual representation tool that helps obtain a visual representation and an overview of work processes and the status of the work. It also facilitates sharing information with colleagues, communication with clients, and helps collaborate with other projects remotely. 

Interview Question 10

What is a Kano analysis?

Answer: Kano analysis is a technique used to classify the various types of customer requirements and their expectations for new products. This Kano Analysis deals with the needs of the users of the end product.

Some of the features of this Kano Analysis are –

• Threshold Attributes: Properties that a customer wants to be available in the product, i.e. customer requirements.
• Performance Attributes: Extra properties that are not necessary for a product but can be added for the user’s overall satisfaction and enjoyment.
• Excitement Attributes: These are the properties that the customers are unaware of but are added to improve product performance. 

Any organization that aims for sustainable and consistent scaling and output wants a Business Analyst who facilitates this growth and is brimming with fresh ideas. The intense process including the tough Business Analysts interview questions ensures that build the necessary skills required to succeed in this career. Hence, knowing some of the important interview questions for Business Analysts is a plus point.