← All resourcesWhat recruiters look for first
A business analyst resume gets ranked in seconds. These are the five signals a recruiter (and an LLM-ranked ATS) checks before deciding whether to keep reading.
- Variant declared (finance BA, ops BA, product BA, IT BA)
- SQL or Excel modeling depth named
- BI / reporting tool named
- At least one project tied to a business decision or cost outcome
- Stakeholder scope visible (which teams you partnered with)
Bullet patterns that work
Every strong business analyst bullet follows the same shape: action verb → what you built → who it was for → a number that proves the impact. Use these patterns as a scaffold, not a script.
Pattern
Modeled [scenario] for [stakeholder], driving [decision] worth [outcome]Example
Modeled the unit economics of 4 channel-pricing scenarios for the GTM team, driving the decision to consolidate two regions and saving an estimated $1.4M in annual contracts
Pattern
Built [dashboard / process] reducing [pain] for [team]Example
Built a vendor-spend tracker in Looker reducing month-end close time from 4 days to 1 for the Finance team
Pattern
Led [process improvement] saving [time / cost]Example
Led a refactor of the quote-to-cash workflow with RevOps, saving an estimated 6 hours/week in manual ops handoffs
Skills section — what to keep
Recruiters skim skills sections for the keywords the JD mentioned by name. Lead with the hard skills, group your tools, and keep soft skills short.
Hard skills
- SQL
- Excel modeling
- Process design
- Reporting
- Cost analysis
- Forecasting
Tools
- Excel
- Looker
- Tableau
- Snowflake
- Salesforce
- Notion
Soft skills
- Stakeholder partnership
- Workshop facilitation
Pitfalls that get business analysts filtered
- Listing every BA framework you've touched (Six Sigma, Agile, etc.) instead of decisions
- Skipping the variant — "BA" alone isn't a filter recruiters can use
- Padding with vague "liaised with" or "partnered with" verbs
- Hiding modeling depth behind "used Excel"
Frequently asked
Is business analyst the same as data analyst?
Overlapping but distinct. BA tends to be process / decision / finance-oriented; DA tends to be metric / experimentation / SQL-heavy. Match the JD's framing.
Do I need SQL for BA roles?
Increasingly yes for any tech-adjacent BA role. Cover the basics (joins, window functions, CTEs).
Are PMP / Six Sigma certs valuable?
Mainly in non-tech industries (manufacturing, consulting, healthcare). At tech companies they read as neutral.
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