Essay: Skills and Subjects for a Business Analyst Career Path

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the skills and subjects required for a business analyst career. It begins by identifying the academic subjects needed, highlighting the differences between the subjects the author will study and those relevant to the career. The essay emphasizes the importance of communication, finance, management, and economics. It then delves into key skills, including interpersonal communication, oral skills, business writing, and critical thinking. Teamwork skills, such as organization, decision-making, and problem-solving, are also discussed. The essay underscores the significance of a strong resume and the need to focus on the external environment of business, aligning market knowledge with academic skills. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding changing business needs for a successful career in business analysis. The essay references multiple scholarly sources to support its arguments.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Professional development and Business communication
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
This essay is an analysis of the appropriate skills required for the chosen career as a
business analyst. In general, it can be mentioned that course requirement of business analysts
vary greatly. Some employers often require the business analysts to have masters’ degree
particularly in the business administration however, the overall course requirement of
becoming a business analysts requires skills and knowledge in some certain areas. The
individual must have a proper understanding about team working, decision making,
interpersonal skills, compressive skills and several other skills. This essay provides a detailed
description about the subjects that I need to study to achieve the career of business analysts
and simultaneously, I would also discuss about the subjects areas in which I am going to be
enrolled in. A detailed analysis between the two have been provided in the following.
Identification of the subjects you should be completing for chosen career
Babu (2012) mentioned that business analysts guide the management executives,
clients and stakeholders by analysing the business practices, identifying the potential issues
and delivering the financial or the managerial solutions. So, in general it can be added that
students or the individual who pursue a bachelor degree in business is most likely to or have
to qualify for the work as business analysts. I believe in the fact that particularly the college
students or the university students may receive credit for taking part in the professional
practicum or the internship opportunities. For example, a finance intern may apply learned
techniques to create portfolio of the financial assets and demonstrates their investment
strategies.
Moreover, it has also been identified that some employers or the organizations tend to
prefer the business analysts with some certification from the Institutes of Management
Consultant. This means the certified management consultant test could be available in three

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different level such as the basic, experienced and the management. In addition to this, it is
worth stating that business analysist is a broad area, and it is one of the crucial career
opportunity in today’s competitive business world, thus it is highly important for the
individual to pay additional to communication. The individual has to be experienced enough
in communication such as the interpersonal communication, leadership, team management
and decision making.
On the other side, understanding the business requirement, the educational institutions
today mostly focus on the aboard areas of the management, because it is certain that market
environment are changing in rapid manner. Thus, it is highly important for the organization
focus on the external area of learning. So, the course I will be enrolled are little different than
the career as the business analyst I have chosen. The enrolled course mostly focus on the
communication and the universities treat communication as the most significant area of the
course study.
It has been identified that in order to become a business analysts, I as an individual
should be more conscious about the external area of skills instead of sticking to broad subject
area. For example, Arbaugh and Hwang (2013) stated the fact that beyond the bachelor
degree, the individual needs to focus on computer programming and it has also been
identified that different business analyst role could require different levels of technical
proficiency however, more the computer skills one does have the better the career is.
However, particularly, when the individual is required to focus on the subject area, there are
some areas that individual must have to consider. For example, communication, finance,
management and economics are the basic area that I must have to consider when pursuing a
course of business analyst.

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Particularly, I have to focus on the management as it is certain that business
environment or the market place have been changing rapidly. So, to understand the market
environment and its basic characteristics, I have to gain a proper understanding about the
management and its basic principles, while economy is another significant areas that I must
not overlook. Economy is the backbone of the market and it has always has a changing
nature. Economy strongly influences the market and characteristics and behaviour of the
market economy is always dynamic in nature, when pursuing a career of business analyst the
individual must have to have a basic understanding about the economy, so that basic
characteristics of market economy can be learnt. Moreover, additional financial course should
he attempted. Nonetheless, Chen, Chiang and Storey (2012) mentioned the fact that
prospective employees should have a sharp analytical skills and the organizations need to
perform an aptitude on the basis of some written test for hiring the purpose and students
should score effectively well in that particular test.
Detailed description of the subjects you will need to study to achieve your chosen career
and the subject in which I am supposed to enrolled in
Thus, it can be added that there are some major differences between the subjects that I
need to study and the subjects that I will be enrolled in. The difference lies in the fact that
market environment is rapidly changing. There are several marker dynamics that strongly
influence the establishment of a business and moreover, those dynamics could generate a
different insight about the business. Every element of the business is rapidly changing. While
the subjects that I am going to have enrolled mostly focus on the academic management
literature, businesses are mostly sustainable due to innovative ideas and application of
technology. So, when it comes to studying, I should be focussing more on communication
and technology based education because market demands are highly associated with
technology and communication, while the subjects that I will be enrolled in focussing more

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the existing literature about the business management. So, the difference is vividly
highlighted in the above discussion. As the suggestion it is worth mentioning that education;
institutes should focus more on the real-world scenario of the businesses.
Identification and discussion of the key skills
It has been identified that interpersonal skill is one of the significant element that
individual requires to become a business analysts. Interpersonal skills is a broad term, but in
the case of business analysts, employers mostly focus on the verbal communication of the
individual; thereby, it is important to focus on the communication skills. Debortoli, Müller
and vom Brocke(2014) mentioned that to enhance the interpersonal skills or the
communication skill , business analyst must have to work in group, collect information from
as well as represent it to the wide-rending stakeholders in the organization and negotiate
between the parties as well as communication the solutions in the most accessible way. This
means the individual must have to focus on enhancing written and spoken skills and must
enhance the confidence in becoming leader to gain the approval for the ideas from the
supervisors or the company as a whole. Oral skill is another area that directly contributes to
the development of communication skills. To enhance the oral communication, the individual
must have to be engaged in public conference, where one can take part in the public debate,
meeting to discuss the social issues. This would help to increase the level of oral
communication in the individual.
Business writing and critical thinking skill is equally important when one does
want to become a business analysts. In this context, Robles (2012) commented that business
analyst mist have to understand several facets of the organization for whom they are most
likely to be working. In the field of business, the individuals must have to capable of
understanding the roles of different individuals and departments and how these departments

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communicate and depend on each other. Business writing is required because, it is certain
that marketing copy as well as the proposal play a great role in the sale process so, if it is
written poorly, the written materials could make the organization or the business seem
unprofessional and incompetent and this could damage the whole operation. The business
analyst must have to understand the fact that effective writing usually boosts the brand
reputation. In this context , Guffey and Loewy (2012) commented that learner or the
individual must have grasp the fact that single business in larger context of the whole sector
and the business writing skills then permit the individual to successfully analyse the data facts
and develop a strong strategic plans for the future. Compared to the above stated skills
required to achieve a good career as business analyst, Team-working skill requires more
attention as this is one of the broadest area in the field.
Team working skill involves several other areas in the context. Seymour (2013)
mentioned that one of the significant area that individual needs to focus on is organising and
planning skills. This means that being organized highly important to get the job or task done
on time. For example. If the individual does not have the idea about what needs to be done, it
is quite difficult to make it work and happen by the deadline. So, one does have to plan the
ideas things accordingly. On the other side, Mc Goldrick et al. (2013) mentioned about the
decision-making skill and this is treated as the most basic required when working in a team.
Even though, it could be important to take time to collect information to make sure that the
decision is appropriate, there could be a situation when any decision is better than none. So,
to enhance this skill, the individual must have the willingness to give up one’s own view in
order to take a shared decision. Conversely Brock et al. (2013) stated about the problem
solving skills which are required especially when the individual is working in a team. In order
to deal with real-world situation, the individual must have the real world experience of

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resolving the issues by applying the innovative ideas. Individual must have to learn about
turning those ideas into actions.
I as a business analyst must learn the fact that every business situation has its own
good and bad outcome; thereby having a good analytical skill often helps to resolve the
business or deal with the business quickly. It is certain that business analysis requires a good
content, thereby, it does not matter how great the presenters or how great the PowerPoint
slides are, if the content are not up to the mark, it generate a poor result. So, one does have to
focus on developing the content when making a presentation. Presenters must have a good
and creative ways of presenting their content and then they can describe the story. Apart from
the business development skills, the individual must have to focus on their own skills so that
they can grab the position in which they wish to work for. It is worth stating that a good
resume could go a long way and thereby, the individual needs to find everything to know
about how to present a good resume. Tillotson and Osborn (2012) mentioned that resume is a
brief summary of a job applicant’s past employment history and it provides valuable insight
about the candidate. Some fundamental areas such as one does have to avoid embarrassing
formatting errors, spelling errors and the whole work should be comprehensible enough to the
reader.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be added that even though individuals are supposed to go
through a long series of academic courses for becoming a good business analysist, every
learner should focus on the external environment of the business to know about the changing
needs of the market. Individual need to align the knowledge gained from market with
academic skills they are mastering. Understanding the changing needs of the business should

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be one of the major area that individual could consider for pursuing a good career in business
analysts.

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References
Arbaugh, J.B. and Hwang, A., 2013. Uses of multivariate analytical techniques in online and
blended business education: An assessment of current practice and recommendations for
future research. Journal of Management Education, 37(2), pp.229-260.
Babu, K.V.S.N., 2012. Business intelligence: Concepts, components, techniques and
benefits. Components, Techniques and Benefits (September 22, 2012).
Brock, D., Abu-Rish, E., Chiu, C.R., Hammer, D., Wilson, S., Vorvick, L., Blondon, K.,
Schaad, D., Liner, D. and Zierler, B., 2013. Interprofessional education in team
communication: working together to improve patient safety. BMJ Qual Saf, 22(5), pp.414-
423.
Chen, H., Chiang, R.H. and Storey, V.C., 2012. Business intelligence and analytics: From big
data to big impact. MIS quarterly, 36(4).
Debortoli, S., Müller, O. and vom Brocke, J., 2014. Comparing business intelligence and big
data skills. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 6(5), pp.289-300.
Guffey, M.E. and Loewy, D., 2012. Essentials of business communication. Cengage
Learning.
Mc Goldrick, N.B., Marzec, B., Scully, P.N. and Draper, S.M., 2013. Implementing a
multidisciplinary program for developing learning, communication, and team-working skills
in second-year undergraduate chemistry students. Journal of Chemical Education, 90(3),
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McLeod, M.S., Payne, G.T. and Evert, R.E., 2016. Organizational ethics research: A
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Robles, M.M., 2012. Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s
workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), pp.453-465.
Seymour, A., 2013. A qualitative investigation into how problem-based learning impacts on
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