1. Explain me the diagrams most used by business analysts?
Again, the hiring manager wants reassurance you have the skills to get the job done and know case, activity and sequence diagrams.
2. Tell me how do you like to be managed?
Asking this question helps hiring managers understand the level of responsibility that candidates are comfortable with, and will ultimately allow them to determine if their management style matches candidate expectations.
3. Tell me have you worked for our company in the past?
If candidates have worked for the company in the past, hiring managers will need to check rehire eligibility.
4. Tell me what would your current employer need to offer in order to keep you?
Your candidates' responses can tell you a lot about their current work situation and the likelihood that they will accept a new offer. This question even provides insight into the possibility of a counter offer from their current employer.
5. Explain me what do you know about SDD?
Your lingo acumen is being tested when you get one of these types of questions. Explain that the system design document (SDD) is a middle step separating business users and developers.
6. Explain me what do you want my hiring manager to know about you, specifically?
This question is a variation of “Why should I consider you for this role?” However, it is usually so unexpected that the responses are pretty telling. You quickly see what candidates value in their own experiences and gain a little more insight.
7. Tell me what are the best practices you follow while writing a use case?
The following are the best practices that are followed to write a clear and well documented use case:
☛ Capture both functional and non-functional requirements in a use case.
☛ Include use case diagrams along with the use case.
☛ Include the UI details/notes in the use case.
8. Explain which business intelligence tools or systems have you worked with?
Cite the specific tools and how you've used them. If you have used a system the company employs, mention your experience to the hiring manager. If you're not familiar with the technology the employer uses, discuss how you plan to get up to speed quickly.
9. Tell me what made you decide to apply to this job?
This one seems obvious but it's important to ask. You'd be surprised how many candidates can't really answer this question, or answer it in a way that underwhelms such as “I need a job and this was hiring.” Candor is a plus, and in situations like this is a huge benefit. It gets bad candidates in and out the door faster.
10. Tell me what is your requirement elicitation strategy?
The elicitation strategy depends upon the type of the project.
One can take advantage of direct collaboration with client and have facilitated workshops, interviews and observe the end users. In conjunction, we can use techniques that provide us with more precise information like prototype and scenario building.
11. Tell me what are the skills that a business analyst must possess?
A business analyst must possess fundamental skills such as elicitation skills, problem solving skills, communication and management skills. Alongside, he must have knowledge of IT skills, Software development understanding and domain knowledge regarding the domain he is working in.
12. Tell me what do you see your day to day being in this role?
This is a must to ask. By asking the candidate to tell you what they see as their day to day responsibilities, you will get a great idea of how well they will fit to the role. If they think they will be running the marketing department as an entry level analyst and refuse to accept why they wouldn't be given the chance, you can assume they are a bit out of touch and may be a problem to manage later on. If you let them know politely though that they are a bit off and they take it in stride and with unflagging enthusiasm for the opportunity, there is a good chance you've found a winner.
13. Tell us how have you handled difficult stakeholders?
Answer this one head on. The hiring manager is trying to assess your soft skills, particularly your communication and collaboration abilities. Working with people from different areas of the company and perspectives is an area where nontechnical skills are key.
14. Explain the main qualities of a good requirement?
The golden rule to measure the quality of a good requirement is the ‘SMART' rule. According to this rule a requirement should be:
Specific: The requirement should be specific so that it could be properly documented
Measurable: We should be able to measure the success criteria of the requirement by different parameters
Attainable: The requirement should be possible to attain with the given resources
Relevant: The requirement should be in line with the project's business case
Timely: The requirement should be posed in time i.e. early in the project life cycle.
15. Explain me when you had a disagreement at work and how you handled it?
You can expand on this further by asking about a disagreement with a superior and/or a colleague.
I like this question because it gives hiring managers insight into how candidates handle conflict at work. Are they naturally confrontational, quiet and secretly stewing or balanced when it comes to conflict? If they cannot give you an example, they may be hiding something.
16. Do you know what other positions are you currently interviewing for?
Not always, but oftentimes, if a candidate is interviewing with your company, he or she is also interviewing elsewhere. Finding out what other positions candidates are interviewing for provides you some additional insight. Are the roles they're applying for similar to yours or completely different?
A follow-up question asking what the candidate likes about the other positions he or she is interviewing for can be revealing as well. Candidates' responses can help you understand more about what they're truly looking for in a new position and may help you determine if the position you're hiring for matches their career goals.
17. Explain me what do you hope to learn from this job?
This is a round of finding out their strengths and weaknesses.
Sure, you can ask them that directly, but do you think any candidate will actually tell you they are horrible at reports or have never run a campaign for a client? Entry level candidates will probably have a lot they want to learn, so pay close attention to what they say as compared to their resume or previous experiences and why. Couple this with how much training you can provide for the role and you'll be able to tell how well the prospect matches up. If they are looking to learn an entirely new skill set and you don't have the time train, the position may not be the best fit and you'd want to look for someone looking to grow their current skillset more fully through daily application. Conversely, if you have a strong training program and the person is extra motivated to start on something new and could make a big impact, it only makes sense that you hire and train them, not give the position to someone that would be uninterested in receiving training for new skills.
18. Tell me what part of your previous experience do you think translates to being successful here?
This can seem like a trick question, especially if the candidate doesn't have much traditional work experience. What you're really looking to find out is how quickly a candidate can come up with a cohesive, impactful response. Many entry level candidates will have little to no experience to call on, so this gives you a peek into how quickly they can solve a problem when there is an obvious barrier in their way.
Answers to these questions are very telling about candidates' motivation, personality and potential cultural fit. If the job they least liked has similar qualities as the job they're being interviewed for, then they're probably not going to be a good fit and likely won't stick around for long.
20. Tell us the difference between an alternate flow and an exception flow of a use case?
Alternate flow are the alternative actions that can be performed apart for the basic flow and might be considered as an optional flow whereas Exception flow is the path traversed in case of the error or an exception being thrown. For e.g. on a logic page the ‘Forgot password' is the alternate flow and system showing ‘404 error' when correct username and password are entered is exception flow.
21. Explain what are the documents that you have prepared as a Business Analyst?
Through the course of a project, a BA is constantly striving to help technology achieve the business requirements and in this pursuit he prepares a number of documents. They are :
☛ Project vision document
☛ Requirement Management Plan
☛ Use cases
☛ User stories
☛ Business Requirement Document
☛ Requirement traceability matrix (RTM)
☛ Functional requirement specification (FRS)/ Functional Specification Document (FSD)
☛ System requirement specification (SRS)/ System Requirement Document (SRD)
☛ Test case
22. First Senior Benefits Analyst interview questions:
☛ Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you handled implementing it.
☛ What is the highest-level job one can hold in this career?
☛ Do you have the qualities and skills necessary to succeed in your Senior Benefits Analyst career?
☛ How do you think I rate as an interviewer?
☛ Tell about a time that you had to adapt to a difficult situation.
☛ What parts of your education do you see as relevant to this Senior Benefits Analyst position?
☛ Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they weren't thrilled about?
Tell them about the training you received or the work related experience you gained. The vast majority of companies value a collaborative work style. Your answers to these Senior Benefits Analyst interview questionsshould be a quick rundown of your qualifications and experience.
23. Difficult Health and Benefits Analyst interview questions:
☛ Are you willing to take calculated risks when necessary?
☛ How have you improved yourself recently?
☛ Would you work holidays/weekends?
☛ Do you feel your GPA reflects your academic ability?
☛ Do you prefer working with others or alone?
☛ Do you consider yourself a leader? What qualities make a good leader?
☛ Why aren't you earning more money at this stage of your career?
24. Panel Based Health and Benefits Analyst interview questions:
☛ Tell me about the most effective presentation you have made.
☛ What are your long-term goals or Health and Benefits Analyst career plans?
☛ What is a typical career path in this job function?
☛ What do you consider your strengths and weaknesses as Health and Benefits Analyst?
☛ What was the most important task you ever had?
☛ When you achieved a great deal in a short amount of time.
☛ A team experience you found disappointing.
25. Informational Senior Benefits Analyst interview questions:
☛ What have you learned from your past jobs that related to Senior Benefits Analyst?
☛ Give some instances in which you anticipated problems.
☛ Give me examples of projects tasks you started on your own.
☛ How do you make your decisions in general?
☛ How long will it take for you to make a significant contribution?
☛ Did you ever not meet your goals? Why?
☛ What is the difference between a good position and an excellent one?
26. Phone Based Senior Benefits Analyst interview questions:
☛ Have you ever had difficulty getting others to accept your ideas?
☛ What type of management style do you thrive under?
☛ Describe a recent unpopular decision you made as Senior Benefits Analyst
☛ Describe how you have balanced your academic work with your extracurricular activities.
☛ When you achieved a great deal in a short amount of time.
☛ What are you expecting from Senior Benefits Analyst job in the future?
☛ How would you weigh a plane without scales?
A good strategy for these types of Senior Benefits Analyst interview questions is to brainstorm a list of your top ten best qualities. Let answers show that you have taken the tithe interviewer. Say something about your interest and how it can help you on the job you are applying for.
27. Role-specific Benefits Analyst Job Interview Questions:
☛ Tell me about your experience with cost-benefit analysis
☛ How would you rate your data analysis skills, on a scale of 1 to 10?
☛ Do you think the job of a budget analyst requires teamwork? Why?
☛ How do you maintain attention to detail when preparing a budget?
28. Behavioral Health and Benefits Analyst interview questions:
☛ What contributions have you made to a group project?
☛ What do you know about us as an organisation?
☛ If one of your co workers was having difficulty doing their job, what would you do?
☛ What was the toughest problem you had to solve?
☛ Describe the type of teacher who had the most beneficial influence on you.
☛ If you disagree with a supervisor, do you make your opinions known?
☛ Do you work well on your own initiative?
29. Group Based Health and Benefits Analyst interview questions:
☛ Does a leader need power or authority? How do you influence people?
☛ How did you handle meeting a tight deadline?
☛ What are your salary increases?
☛ What is more important to you: the money or the work as Health and Benefits Analyst?
☛ Examples of strategic thinking in past situations.
☛ Which subjects did you enjoy during your qualifying degree?
☛ How do you handle failures? Provide examples.
30. Basic Senior Benefits Analyst interview questions:
☛ Do you have the qualities and skills necessary to Senior Benefits Analyst?
☛ What interests you about this Senior Benefits Analyst position?
☛ Tell me about the most effective presentation you have made.
☛ What motivates you to do a good job?
☛ When was the last time you were in a crises?
☛ How do you keep each member of the team involved and motivated?
☛ Do you work better under pressure or with time to plan and organize?
These are excellent Senior Benefits Analyst interview questions that lets a potential employee really sell themself. Impress the interviewer by highlighting your successes that are most relevant to the job.
This is a good time to illustrate how you can contribute to the company if you are successfully recruited.
31. General Senior Benefits Analyst interview questions:
☛ Have you gone above and beyond the call of duty?
☛ What do you feel is the best educational preparation for this Senior Benefits Analyst job?
☛ What assignment was too difficult for you?
☛ Describe how you have balanced your academic work with your extracurricular activities.
☛ When did you last update your Senior Benefits Analyst education?
☛ Where would you like to be in your career five years from now?
☛ Why did you choose your major?
32. Phone Based Health and Benefits Analyst interview questions:
☛ Describe a team experience you found disappointing. What could you have done to prevent it?
☛ What was the most rewarding experience at work?
☛ Why do you think you would do well at this job?
☛ What are some things about yourself that you would like to improve?
☛ What would you like to be doing five years from now?
☛ What do you feel is a satisfactory attendance record?
☛ Do you know what the current headline news is?
33. Operational and Situational Benefits Analyst Job Interview Questions:
☛ Walk me through the process of preparing a budget
☛ Tell me how you go about preparing a forecasting report
☛ When reviewing a funding request, what kind of information do you need?
☛ Imagine an executive tells you there's some inconsistency between approved budget and actual expenditure at a department. What do you do?
☛ If you had to prepare several budget at the same time, how would you prioritize?
34. Face to Face Senior Benefits Analyst interview questions:
☛ Does a leader need power or authority? How do you influence people?
☛ How many Senior Benefits Analyst projects do you work on at once?
☛ What kinds of things really get your excited?
☛ Describe how you have balanced your academic work with your extracurricular activities.
☛ What do you see yourself doing within the first days as Senior Benefits Analyst?
☛ Specific example of a time when criticised your work.
☛ Describe a team experience you found rewarding.
35. Behavioral Benefits Analyst Job Interview Questions:
☛ Tell me about a time you made a suggestion that resulted in a significant spending cut
☛ Recall a time you had to defend a budget recommendation to a demanding executive. Was the recommendation approved in the end?
☛ Describe a time when you had to present a budget recommendation to an multi-disciplinary audience. How did you make yourself understood to all of them?
☛ Give me an example of a time you used financial information to solve a problem
☛ Tell me about a time you had a disagreement with a department's manager over budget
