iiba event slides 24-11-2011 (for slide share)

Visit the IIBA chapter website at http://uk.theiiba.org Visit the ISEB website at www.ISEB.org.uk

BA Recruitment Demystified

How to hire or be hired!

Chair : Adrian Reed

http://www.iseb.org.uk/


Tonight’s Agenda

1.Recruitment : Different perspectivesLawrence Hargreaves

Managing Director, Nicoll Curtin

Miles BarkerVice President, Credit Suisse

2. Panel DebateLawrence and Miles will be joined by:Lawrence Darvill - Certes Analysis Resources / Assist KDNigel Chambers – Head of Business Analysis, Skandia

3. Networking & Food until 21:15

Please tweet:

#UKIIBA



Blue Stickers

I’m Recruiting

Available at registration desk


Lawrence Hargreaves

Managing Director, Nicoll Curtin

“Good recruitment consultants offer candidates exceptional jobs, enhance careers and increase

earnings potential”

What recruitment consultants care more about

Comments:

“A necessary evil”

“All about the money”

“Recruitment Consultants are basically pimps”

Common frustrations of using Recruitment Consultants

Benefits of Recruitment Consultants

Comments:

“Offers opportunities outside my network”

“Saves time”

“Recruitment consultants are the pillar of society, without their incredible service - I would not be able to get a job”

1. Where to startQuality and accreditation: REC - Code of Professional Practice / APSCO. Awards and accreditations. Recommendations and referrals.

2. Choose an agency Master of the trade: Specialist is better than generalist. Knowledgeable and decent number of roles on their website. Clients they recruit for.

3. Grab their attentionSend a great CV and email bulleting key skills and achievements“Only 16% regularly tailored their CV, despite 67% realising that doing so increases chances of getting a role”

Key words, succinct and follow up call.

How to get the best out of your agency – 6 point guide

4. Qualify your agency / consultantFull understanding of your role? How many roles? Clients? Knowledge of industry? Will they tailor your CV?

5. Consult with your agency - regularlyBuild a relationship and stay at the forefront of their mind. Establish how and when you will receive feedback.Ask them to be frank with feedback AND give them feedback after interview.

If you are not happy walk awayThere are plenty of agencies around, deal with one you believe in.

How to get the best out of your agency – 6 point guide

FID IT

IIBA UK ChapterRecruiting Manager’s ViewDate: Nov 24, 2011Produced by: Miles Barker

Produced by: FID IT Date: 04/10/23 Slide 15

Talking Points

What a BA means - SME vs Analytical Skills – and how these differ by role

Context of a vacancy– the hirer’s needs behind the job description, how to understand it

In the recruiter’s shoes – time and budgets

Your application – telling a rounded version of your skillset

CVs – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Interviews- a time to be yourself, and a time to find out more.

Thoughts on a common “language”


What a BA Means – how might this differ by role?

There’s different elements, both by role and seniority

Subject Matter Expertise

Consultancy Skills Analysis Skills

?

Visit our chapter website at http://uk.theiiba.org

• Requirements capture • Rq documentation• Rq traceability

• Rq Analysis & Modelling

• Rq Verification• Rq elicitation• Rq Engineering• Test design

• Business Cases• Benefits Management• Requirements Change

Management• Test Management

• Establishing BA Processes

• Establishing training programmes

• Listening• Questioning• Business writing• Graphics• Facilitation

• People management• Influencing• Advanced facilitation• Recruitment• Training• Presentation skills

• Dealing with ambiguity• Mentoring• Stakeholder Analysis• Managing conflict• Organisational savvy

• Consultancy skills• Psychometrics• Enterprise strategy

• Mid-level managers• End-users• IT and change

managers

• Client Directors• Multiple departments /

locations• Managing Directors • Executives

• Junior BA • BA• BA Team Leader or

junior BA Manager• Consultant

• Manager within Organisation

• Senior Consultant

• Senior Manager within Organisation

• Consultancy PartnerRole

Practitioner Skills

Soft Skills

Stakeholder Interactions

ISEB Level

SFIA Level

Foundation Practitioner Diploma Professional

Balanced Skills and Competencies3 4 5 6 7

IIBA Level Junior Intermediate Senior

CCBA™ CBAP™


In the Recruiter’s Shoes – Time and Budgets

Many organisations manage project budgets on a per-year or per-project basis

..which means the budget needs to be “signed off” (or the client assignment “sold”) before recruiting can start…

...but by then the clock is ticking!

So the recruiter is likely to be under pressure to recruit quickly so they can “start”

….or they might be waiting for that signoff…..

They can also have constraints around what grade or payscale they can use – which might run much wider than that team or project

All of which means there are often compromises to be made

We’re working within constraints


Context of a Vacancy – the hirer‘s needs behind the description

Which are the most important parts of the job description?

How will this role balance with current staff?

Is it a one-off role or part of a team?

Is it a short-term assignment or something that evolves over the longer term?

The more short-term the more precise the SME “fit” is likely to be.

The more senior, the more people skills will feature

What are the real challenges in this role?

Are there other similar roles in the pipeline/at the organisation?

Many things will influence the way we shape our choice


What a BA Means - SME vs Analytical Skills, and how these differ by roleWe’re likely to balance different needs vs “perfection”

Subject Matter Expertise

Consultancy Skills Analysis Skills

Job Description


Your Application – telling a rounded view of your skillset

You may not know where your hirer’s situation sits*, so:

Tell us what YOU did, and what skills you used to do it.

Hit all three corners of the triangle

The subjects you worked on

The analysis you did and the skills you used

The influence and interactions you had with people

Tell us what you learned.

Be clear about the transferability of your skills

Remember – there might be another role in the organisation that you’d be perfect for – I’ve passed candidates on many times

Give the Full Picture!

Although the best agents will have found some of these things out…..


CVs – Common Mistakes 1Give the Full Picture!

The project was to deliver

Bling and Widgets using

Buzzwords One, Two, and

Three.

I’m interviewing YOU – not the whole project team

I want to know what YOU did, and how you did it.

I need to see descriptions, in case the keywords are ambiguous (they often are…)


CVs – Done wellHow about…

I delivered functional

requirements for a widget

system using model-storming

workshops to reconcile

priorities of stakeholders

from 3 departments


CVs – Common Mistakes 2Be human

If it’s true – what compromises did you make to achieve it?

How did you go about prioritising and scoping?

Where there any knock-on effects?

I delivered everything to time

and budget


CVs – Common Mistakes 3Be neat

I will.

I think my steakholders

won’t notice thi

s


The Interview – telling your story, finding out ours

Explore the wider parameters of the role and its situation

Clarify the key aspects of the role

Understand the interviewer – are they a BA, a PM, a Development Manager?

Explain with appropriate examples

How you approached the subject matter

The analysis you did and the skills you used

The influence and interactions you had with people

Tell us what you learned.

Demonstrate your understanding of underlying principles – but flexed towards the key aspects of that role (SME, Analysis, People)

Remember – there might be another role in the organisation that you’d be perfect for, so be transparent

Find out the common areas


Further Thoughts – towards a common language 1

We now have the potential for a common language when explaining tasks and levels of seniority

Wouldn’t it make our collective lives clearer if we all used it?

From BABOK:

SFIA, BABOK, and Bloom’s Taxonomy

Describes how business analysts prioritize and progressively elaborate stakeholder and solution requirements in order to enable the project team to implement a solution that will meet the needs of the sponsoring organization and stakeholders. It involves analyzing stakeholder needs to define solutions that meet those needs, assessing the current state of the business to identify and recommend improvements, and the verification and validation of the resulting requirements.

Requirements Analysis and

Documentation

RequirementsManagement

Describes how business analysts manage conflicts, issues and changes in order to ensure that stakeholders and the project team remain in agreement on the solution scope, how requirements are communicated to stakeholders, and how knowledge gained by the business analyst is maintained for future use.

Incorporating excerpts from the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®) Business Analysis Competency Model that have been modified for use by Credit Suisse


Further Thoughts – towards a common language 2Determining Levels - Bloom’s Taxonomy/SFIA

CSBand

CS ComplexitySFIA Level

SFIA3 Description

Band 3

In moderately complex environments: elicit, analyze, document and validate business requirements, conditions and priorities. Help determine deliverables, staffing and schedules for business engineering.

4

Takes responsibility for investigative work to determine requirements and specify effective business processes…. Applies and monitors the use of required modelling and analysis tools, methods and standards. Conducts investigations at a high level for strategy studies, requirements specifications and feasibility studies. Defines, plans and justifies (in business terms) projects to develop/implement … new or changed processes.


Further Thoughts – towards a common language 3Putting it together


Questions - ?

…..& For the Panel


Panel Debate

Lawrence Hargreaves

Miles Barker

Nigel Chambers

Lawrence Darvill