Crack Business Analyst Interview: 5 Situational Interview Questions & Expert Answers

CareerRide
81.8K views • July 25, 2023

Crack your Business Analyst interview with these 5 most frequently asked situational interview questions. The video covers questions on stakeholder management, requirement analysis, change management and other things that are absolutely essential to a BA.

Whether you are a fresh graduate or an experienced candidate, the video will be useful to all of you.

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iii.) Situational Questions,
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0:00 hello everybody are you ready to Ace
0:02 your business analyst interview
0:03 fantastic no need to look any further
0:06 you are absolutely at the right place
0:09 in this video let us explore five very
0:11 common situational interview questions
0:13 after the business analyst
0:16 get ready to understand what the
0:17 interviewer is actually trying to assess
0:19 with each of these questions and how to
0:22 handle them like a real Pro
0:24 we have got questions on stakeholder
0:26 management requirement analysis change
0:28 management justifying the investment to
0:31 the client and a lot of other things
0:33 that are crucial to this role
0:35 so what we'll do in this video is I'll
0:38 walk you through each of these questions
0:39 give an insight into interviewers
0:41 expectations with each one of them some
0:44 practical tips and a sample answer that
0:47 will highly increase your chances of
0:48 acing your interview
0:50 the videos will be useful whether you
0:52 are a fresh graduate or an experienced
0:54 professional so get yourself a pen and a
0:58 paper to take the notes along
1:00 don't miss out on any tip if you really
1:02 want to Ace your interview so let's Dive
1:05 In
1:07 question number one can you share an
1:09 example of a time when you identified a
1:12 critical requirement that others had
1:13 missed out
1:15 see this type of a question basically
1:17 tries to see three things on a candidate
1:19 the first one is your understanding of a
1:22 particular process and how do you think
1:24 about it
1:25 the second thing is your eye to detail
1:27 and the third one is how do you go about
1:29 resolving the problem
1:31 now to answer this question a sample
1:34 answer can be something like
1:36 while developing the online work process
1:37 for a famous International School we
1:40 aimed at getting all the students data
1:42 at one place
1:43 this data was to be filled up by the
1:45 students
1:46 the data from this database was also to
1:49 be pulled out to print the identity
1:51 cards for the students
1:53 during a meeting I realized that we had
1:56 neglected a very important feature in
1:57 the system
1:58 it was asking the students to lock the
2:01 data once they were happy with their
2:03 entries
2:04 not having this feature meant that the
2:07 students could change their data even
2:08 after the identity cards had been
2:11 printed and this meant that there could
2:14 be discrepancies between our data and
2:16 the actual icons
2:17 the solution was to include a log data
2:20 feature which meant that students
2:22 couldn't change their data without
2:24 getting it authorized
2:26 simple feature but far reaching impact
2:29 on identifying this I interacted with
2:32 the stakeholders and the development
2:34 team for a proper implementation
2:37 my domain knowledge of working for the
2:39 admission cell of my college during a
2:42 project came as a big help in
2:44 understanding this process and
2:45 anticipating the problems
2:48 so you see what I've done here is I've
2:51 discussed the problem its impact and how
2:54 did I go about resolving it
2:57 okay let's move on to question number
2:58 two now
3:01 and it is describe a situation where the
3:04 client told you about the requirements
3:06 very vaguely how did you go about
3:08 getting the clear requirements and
3:10 ensuring that the understanding and the
3:12 expectations of both the parties were
3:15 same from the system
3:16 now see this is a problem that the Bas
3:19 faced with every other client since many
3:22 of them are non-technical people
3:24 and for the system to meet these
3:26 requirements it is a very common part of
3:28 a Ba's role to understand these
3:30 requirements very objectively
3:33 basically with your answer to this
3:35 question you tell the interviewer number
3:37 one how well can you probe and how
3:41 actively can you listen
3:43 this says a lot about your communication
3:45 skills and number two how good are your
3:48 documentation skills
3:51 to answer this question you can say a
3:54 few months back I had an opportunity to
3:56 work with a retail company that wanted
3:58 to improve its online ordering system
4:01 the initial requirements they gave us
4:03 were a little week as they just
4:05 mentioned things like get more orders
4:07 through the app increase the time
4:09 customers spend on the app
4:11 Etc
4:12 now this is a very commonly phase with
4:14 the clients and one of our
4:16 responsibilities as base is to get a
4:19 clear and objective understanding of the
4:21 requirements
4:22 which needs us to use our probing
4:24 listening and documentation skills to
4:27 the best
4:28 and to get this Clarity I follow a very
4:31 simple procedure in which the first step
4:33 is to unveil the actual requirements
4:35 through stakeholders interviews
4:38 here I ask them questions related to
4:40 their operations pain points and
4:43 customer Behavior this probing helps me
4:46 unravel their actual needs and the areas
4:49 of improvement the Second Step that I
4:52 take is Bridging the Gap with the visual
4:54 aids like prototypes and mockups these
4:58 visual aids help the client visualize
5:00 the whole process and they are even able
5:02 to provide you some suggestions for
5:04 improvement at this stage
5:06 these visual representations help both
5:09 the parties tremendously in getting a
5:11 Clear Vision of the project
5:13 and the third step is documenting with
5:16 precision
5:17 the document that I prepare here outline
5:19 specific functionalities intricate
5:22 business rules and detailed user
5:24 interface specifications which further
5:26 solidifies the understanding of both the
5:28 parties
5:29 following this process has helped me
5:31 many times in converting big
5:33 requirements into a well-defined vision
5:35 for the project
5:37 see one thing to notice here is the use
5:40 of formal terms they make you sound
5:43 professional during the interview
5:45 so an important tip that I would provide
5:47 you with this answer is pay attention to
5:49 your vocabulary it'll help you
5:53 fantastic let's move on to another very
5:56 common question question number three
5:58 have you ever worked on a project with a
6:00 very tight budget and limited resources
6:03 how did you go about prioritizing the
6:05 requirements to give a functional
6:06 product
6:07 now see once again the skills that are
6:11 under assessment with such a question
6:12 are number one
6:14 how effectively do you communicate
6:16 because this is going to help you with
6:18 unraveling the actual requirements and
6:21 aligning everyone's understanding of the
6:23 system
6:24 number two your analytical thinking
6:27 ability
6:28 so that you are able to assess how
6:30 important is each requirement to the
6:32 system
6:33 and number three prioritization
6:36 so that you are able to put your finger
6:38 on the exact requirements you are going
6:40 to fulfill in the first question of the
6:42 system
6:44 now see again the interviewer here is
6:47 more interested in your approaching
6:48 learning from the situation rather than
6:50 the situation itself so Focus your
6:52 answer on that
6:54 to answer this type of a question you
6:56 can say something like
6:58 this is again a situation we face with
7:00 every project as business analyst let me
7:02 discuss something that happened very
7:04 recently
7:05 we were working on a project for our
7:07 retail client who had very ambitious
7:09 expectations but was actually grappling
7:11 with a very modest budget an interesting
7:14 puzzle to solve in fact
7:16 to deal with the situation I followed
7:18 the following strategy
7:20 my step number one was to unravel the
7:23 real needs and assess them for this I
7:26 discussed the project with the
7:27 stakeholders to clearly understand their
7:29 requirements
7:31 my step number two was to prioritize
7:33 these needs to do this I assess these
7:37 requirements to identify the ones that
7:39 were an absolute must to roll out the
7:42 first functional version of the platform
7:43 within their budget
7:46 once I had this understanding The Next
7:49 Step was Bridging the expectations
7:52 so I'm with this information I discussed
7:55 with the stakeholders of feasible
7:56 solution based on their budget
7:59 I also showed them how their goals could
8:02 be achieved incrementally
8:04 now coming from a non-technical
8:06 background they were a little
8:07 disappointed initially but once I told
8:10 them how their primary expectations can
8:12 be met within the limited budget and
8:14 time frame their trusts began to grow
8:17 and once we froze upon the critical
8:20 requirements to be met in the first
8:21 build the process of execution began
8:24 this whole thing gave me a lesson that
8:27 having a Clarity of what's deliverable
8:29 an ability to prioritize the
8:31 requirements and making the client
8:33 understand these things is the most
8:35 important thing to get the project going
8:39 great let's move on to question number
8:41 four now
8:42 have you ever been in a situation where
8:44 you had to carry out a thorough analysis
8:46 to convince the client about the
8:48 investment they are making
8:50 now see justifying the investment to the
8:53 client is again something that a
8:55 business analyst has to do in every
8:57 project so a very very important
9:00 question that tries to assess your
9:03 financial analysis
9:04 quantitative analysis and business case
9:07 development abilities
9:09 at the same time it also tries to
9:11 understand your ability to make use of
9:13 various ba tools and financial modeling
9:16 software to carry out this kind of
9:19 analysis so talk about all of these
9:22 things
9:23 to answer this question you can say
9:25 something like well this is again a
9:28 situation we have to face with almost
9:29 every project
9:31 I'll tell you about a time when it
9:32 happened recently
9:34 this was a CRM project that we were
9:36 working on for a retail company
9:38 to deal with this situation I follow an
9:41 approach that I have designed for myself
9:42 it has always worked for me
9:45 as my step number one I try to
9:47 understand the requirements clearly
9:50 then I gather all the costs associated
9:52 with the system we are proposing which
9:55 includes any licensing implementation
9:57 training maintenance cost
10:00 Etc
10:01 then I collect the data on potential
10:03 cost savings that the system would bring
10:05 with improved efficiency and streamline
10:08 processes
10:10 my step number four is to quantify all
10:12 these benefits through data analysis
10:14 showing the results visually with the
10:17 help of some charts and tables
10:20 this visual representation helps to
10:22 communicate even with the stakeholders
10:24 who are not very friendly with the data
10:27 otherwise
10:28 I also make it a point to study and
10:30 present how other kpis will be
10:32 positively impacted with the project
10:35 for example while dealing with the CRM
10:38 project specifically
10:39 I talked about things like how the cost
10:42 of acquiring and retaining the customers
10:44 maximization of satisfied customers Etc
10:46 would improve the flow of Revenue
10:49 because ultimately everyone is
10:51 interested in improving the ROI
10:54 I've come to realize that once I'm armed
10:56 with this comprehensive analysis
10:58 presenting the business case convincing
11:01 the client and handling any objections
11:03 becomes a lot more easier
11:06 and now comes a pro tip if you want to
11:09 make your answer more impactful
11:11 you can also discuss the various data
11:14 collection and Analysis tools that you
11:17 use with each project
11:20 okay and now coming on to question
11:22 number five which is again a very very
11:25 important question in the life of any ba
11:28 and the question is describe a situation
11:31 where you had to handle a major scope
11:33 change in the middle of the project how
11:35 did you deal with this
11:37 with this question actually the
11:39 interviewer is basically trying to
11:40 understand your ability to analyze the
11:43 effects of the change and also your
11:45 ability to adapt to it
11:48 they also want to see how value Drive
11:51 the change management process
11:53 so keep these things in mind
11:55 a sample answer to this question can be
11:57 something like well this happened with
11:59 me during an international project when
12:02 we were working to manage the financial
12:03 process of the business
12:06 the regulatory text compliances of the
12:08 country changed all of a sudden as we
12:11 were Midway through the project
12:13 this meant incorporating new text
12:15 calculation methodologies and the
12:17 reporting process
12:18 without this change it was useless to
12:22 have
12:23 the situation was such that without
12:25 making this change in the system it was
12:28 almost useless to have this system in
12:30 place
12:31 to address this challenge first of all
12:33 the finance department of the client
12:35 assessed the implications of the new
12:37 text regulation on the business and the
12:40 new requirements as a result
12:42 they explained these requirements to me
12:44 and I took a stock of the technical
12:46 complexities
12:48 and then I evaluated their impact on our
12:50 system in terms of technical
12:52 requirements processes timelines
12:54 everything
12:56 based on this study we held a meeting
12:58 with the key stakeholders to explain
13:01 them the impact of these changes on our
13:03 system it also had an impact on timeline
13:06 and budget so that also had to be
13:08 explained
13:09 they understood that non-compliance is
13:11 not something that the business can
13:13 afford
13:14 and after getting their approval I had a
13:17 meeting with a project team to explain
13:19 them this new requirement
13:21 reprioritize the requirements and
13:23 reallocate the resources majorly
13:25 in such situations clear documentation
13:28 becomes very important to maintain the
13:30 traceability of each requirement and
13:32 communicate transparently and
13:34 effectively with the stakeholders
13:36 while driving this change I try to
13:39 ensure that we disrupt the existing
13:41 system minimally in terms of the
13:43 timelines resources and budget also so
13:47 do you notice how I've tried to showcase
13:49 the impact of the sudden change and how
13:51 we went about assessing its effect on
13:53 the business and adapting to it
13:57 fantastic so friends with this we come
14:00 to the end of this video do share your
14:02 thoughts in the comments box below I
14:04 look forward to them let me know which
14:06 questions resonated the most with you
14:08 also let me know if you've faced any
14:11 other questions in your interview
14:14 if you found this video useful do give
14:16 it a thumbs up and share it with your
14:18 friends too for more such videos that
14:20 can help you get your dream job
14:22 subscribe to the channel I'll see you
14:24 with a new one very soon till then bye
14:26 bye and take care