Business Analyst CV Format

choyaa

Hi All,

I've been a Business Analyst for over five years and a professional for around ten years and I'm looking for help on the format of my CV, several people have given me several examples but nobody agrees so I wanted to know if my own format suffices and it's as follows:

1. Name, address, mobile number and email address.

2. Summary, what I do and what I'm seeking.

3. Technical skillset.

4. Projects worked on.

5. Education (only degree and not A Levels stated), I have also stated the modules studied and year's placement details.

6. Employment History.

7. Additional information - hobbies.

Any advice would be great.

paddyrg

Make sure the technical skillset is very clear, bulleted, including common search terms (for instance as opposed to 'worked with various C languages' put GNUCC, C++, C#. Recruitment agencies don't understand the jobs you're applying for, so will go on keywords.

I'd personally promote the employment history to go under technical skills - think from the employers perspective, they've seen you have the skills now want to know who you've used them for. Seeing Microsoft or IBM or NatWest etc on your CV makes you seem less of a risk.

paddyrg

Basically, the key to a CV is to think like an employer. Employers only employ people because they have a problem. You need to tell them that you can solve their problem, and that you've solved similar problems for other people.

People love to see blue chips on CV's as it reassures then that someone with a far greater hiring budget than them already tested you out. Think like an employer - two similar applicants, but one had worked for (big name in your sector) and the other for a small local company, maybe in the middle of the spread on their sector. The blue chip chap might bring industry knowledge, methodologies, access, contacts, and just general stardust from the big corp. Bit of a halo effect, but seems a safer bet to an employer.

S0litaire

Depending on how much info your C.V. has, make sure it's around 2 pages at most.

Also make sure you edit/amend/change the information to highlight skills that are specific to the job your applying for.

Cotta

I'll be corrected on this if I'm wrong but employment history should be before education since you have been working for quite some time. Not sure of the merit of including University work experience though.

choyaa

So my format is good?

Strider590

paddyrg wrote: »

Basically, the key to a CV is to think like an employer.

Or like a young narcissistic socialite, if your applying via an agency.

What the employer wants and what gets you past an agency are two entirely different things.

wongataa

choyaa wrote: »

2. Summary, what I do and what I'm seeking.

Don't have this section. Your current job info goes in your employment history. You don't put what you are looking for on a CV. A CV is just about what you have done.

I would probably leave off the hobbies bit too. I would put your employment history before your education as well.

Moneymaker

choyaa wrote: »

So my format is good?

Your punctuation isn't. You need to understand the difference between a comma and a full stop. If you sent me a CV, with mistakes such as those in your post, I'm afraid it would go in the bin.

Malmo

See in-line replies in red...

choyaa wrote: »

Hi All,

I've been a Business Analyst for over five years and a professional for around ten years and I'm looking for help on the format of my CV, several people have given me several examples but nobody agrees so I wanted to know if my own format suffices and it's as follows:

1. Name, address, mobile number and email address.

2. Summary, what I do and what I'm seeking.
This should be a short, punchy paragraph summarising your professional experience, strengths and qualities and what you can bring to your new employer. It's not about what you are seeking. You need to sell yourself here in the opening professional summary and make your profile stand out from the crowd

3. Technical skillset.

4. Projects worked on.
Avoid bland statements about what you've worked on. Projects descriptions will be largely meaningless to outsiders, so this section should be about outcomes and achievements, which can be backed up by facts and numbers that you helped to deliver. So, for a given outcome, did you deliver to or go beyond business expectations and what KPIs or other metrics did you move, improve or change in terms of important business factors like revenue, profit, cost, time, people etc

5. Education (only degree and not A Levels stated), I have also stated the modules studied and year's placement details.

6. Employment History.
This should be before Education. At this stage in your career, it is more about your experience and skills than your educational qualifications

7. Additional information - hobbies.
Keep the hobby information light. Might be worth stating your mobility if you are expected to travel to supplier and client sites

Any advice would be great.

InsideInsurance

S0litaire wrote: »

Depending on how much info your C.V. has, make sure it's around 2 pages at most.

Also make sure you edit/amend/change the information to highlight skills that are specific to the job your applying for.

2 pages is fine if you are just starting your career, I'd expect a BA with 10+ years experience to have more than 2 sides of A4 to say about themselves but you do need to ensure it doesnt become War and Peace

Education is broadly irrelevant on an experienced person's CV unless its to call out some experience you have from it that you are for some reason lacking from your work life. Professional qualifications are possibly slightly more interesting but then if you have any of the normal like ISEB or Prince2 you tend to note it in the personal statement anyway. As such I'd move the education/qualifications section to the end of the document.

The other key thing to do is make it crystal clear what YOU did in projects. Its far too easy to talk about "we" or the project as a whole whereas looking to recruit you I am only interested in you other than a slight bigger picture view to understand the context of the work you were doing.