Business analyst is the least standardised title on this list: one posting means requirements documentation and process mapping, the next means SQL and dashboards, and a third means something closer to project management. That means the keyword list is not one list — it is three, and picking the wrong one makes an otherwise strong resume look off-target. Read the posting first and match the half it is describing.
Hard skills
Split roughly into requirements work and analysis work. Most postings lean clearly one way; claiming both is fine only if you have done both.
- Requirements gathering — The core BA activity in most postings and the phrase they tend to use verbatim.
- Requirements documentation — Distinct from gathering — it is the artefact, and some postings care about the artefact specifically.
- Process mapping — Names a concrete deliverable; strongest when you can say what changed as a result.
- Gap analysis — Standard BA vocabulary for current-state versus target-state work.
- User acceptance testing — Frequently the BA's responsibility; spell it out as well as UAT so both forms match.
- Stakeholder analysis — More specific than 'stakeholder management' and named in structured BA postings.
- Business process improvement — The outcome half of the job; pair it with what got faster or cheaper.
- Data analysis — Include when the posting leans analytical — but then the data-analyst terms matter more than these.
- Workflow design — Appears in operations-flavoured postings where the BA owns how work moves.
- Change management — Signals you handled adoption, not just specification; only claim it if you dealt with the people side.
Use only the keywords that are true for your experience. Screening software matches words, but a human reads them next — and a claim you cannot back up in an interview costs more than a missed keyword.
Tools and platforms
BA tooling varies more than most roles. Name what the posting names; a tool you have not used is the easiest thing to catch in an interview.
- Jira — The default tracker in most BA postings; name it rather than writing 'ticketing system'.
- Confluence — Where BA documentation usually lives; often listed alongside Jira.
- Visio — Named specifically in process-mapping postings, especially in larger enterprises.
- Lucidchart — The common modern alternative for diagramming — match whichever the posting lists.
- SQL — Increasingly expected even in non-technical BA roles; a genuine differentiator when true.
- Power BI — Common where the BA also builds reporting; do not claim it for a documentation-only role.
- Excel — Still the working tool for much BA analysis, and matched literally.
- BPMN — Notation rather than a tool, but matched as a term and meaningful in formal process work.
Soft skills
BA work is mostly conversation, so these matter more here than in most roles — which is exactly why the generic versions are worthless. Attach each to a situation.
- Stakeholder management — The phrase most BA postings use; make it concrete by naming the competing groups you sat between.
- Facilitation — Names running the workshop rather than attending it; a real differentiator.
- Requirements elicitation — The formal term for getting people to say what they actually need — signals trained BA practice.
- Written communication — Unusually credible here because the documentation is the deliverable.
- Conflict resolution — Relevant when requirements genuinely competed; empty otherwise.
Bullet verbs
BA bullets fail most often by describing a process rather than an outcome. Open with what you did and close with what changed.
- Documented — Accurate and unglamorous; strong when the document had a consequence.
- Facilitated — Implies you ran the session rather than took notes in it.
- Mapped — Concrete for process work where 'analysed' is vague.
- Streamlined — Names an improvement; needs the before-and-after to mean anything.
- Aligned — The right verb for the part of the job that is getting groups to agree.
- Validated — Covers UAT and requirements sign-off, both of which postings ask about.
How to use these
Put each term where it is actually true — in your skills section if it is a capability, in a bullet if it is something you did, in your summary if it is what you are known for. Match the wording the posting itself uses, since screening software compares strings rather than meanings. Do not repeat a term to raise a count: it does not help you with the software and it reads badly to the person after it.