One of the hottest roles in the market right now are Business Analyst roles. It certainly feels as though every single one of our clients is investing in their BA function as they anticipate, restore and redirect business processes to manage and grow in a Covid impacted world. For senior level positions with acute specialisations, our permanent and contractor placed candidates are seeing well above average salaries and daily rates.

If you have ever considered a career change, now is a great time to be exploring the possibilities as a business analyst.

What’s all the fuss about?

According to SEEK, projected demand over the next 5 years for BA’s is set to exceed 20%. The evolution of business models and the digital transformation that is a direct result, is driving this demand for people with these skills.

The BA role itself is also maturing to adapt to such changes. 40 years ago, this job did not exist but now firms are heavily reliant on business analysts to analyse processes, create efficiencies, lead project teams and communicate technical information back to the business and vice versa.

Business analysts are the translators between the stakeholders from a multitude of backgrounds; the people that often allow ideas to become reality.

Without this role, many organisations would have just been reactive in their Covid responses and perhaps would not have survived. We saw a lot of businesses pivot and change to adapt to Covid, and at the heart of this was business analysts working behind the scenes to make this happen.

Could you become a Business Analyst?

A business analyst role is not a natural choice for a graduate emerging from university. As our Business Analysis specialist Adam Higgins says “It’s not the type of job that you grow up at school aspiring to be. It does not have the same visibility or familiarity of a role like a fireman or a professional sportsman; most people just fall into it.”

Business analysis as a profession is also a very broad term, with BAs coming in a variety of shapes and sizes, according to domain knowledge and specialist skillsets. After all, the role of acting as the conduit between technical specialists and business focused stakeholders is on a sliding spectrum, with BAs falling anywhere along the scale, whilst the most adaptable can sit across multiple areas.

In the current market, Adam is recognising that those with solid business acumen, stakeholder engagement skills and a natural ability to present, persuade and influence are rising to the very top. These are common transferable skills that can be learnt and developed in other roles and applied to be a successful Business Analyst. For many of the highest calibre BAs, it is an extension of their personalities, their attitude and their eagerness to grow.

Knowing that some BA roles require certain specialisations, I sat down with Adam to unpack the different roles that could support these specialisations and see if the compensation compares.

A list of jobs with transferable skills and salary ranges:

*Our business analyst compensation data has come from the Talenza salary survey, to find your role download here.

** Current salary data for other roles derived from SEEK data.

Across all of these roles, we saw a 10-53% increase in pay. In a job rich-candidate short market, these numbers will continue to head north and high performing individuals’ personal financial journeys will be hyperbolised.

While you might see some increase in salary and progression in one of the role listed above, as a business analyst there’s a lot more room to grow.

For example, when I spoke with Adam, he could recall a time when he placed a contractor in a business analyst role. When he placed her in this role back in 2018, she was on a daily rate of $700. Three years later in 2021 she is now earning $1000 a day, a 42% increase in just three years.

The business analyst role really does have high earning potential, more so than what you will see in other roles.

With this being said, the BA life is not for everyone and it’s important to choose a role and a company that you know will fit with your goals – personal and professional. Earning potential is important but it’s not everything.

Can we help you become a Business Analyst?

Do you feel that you have a suitable tool kit of skills and experience that would allow you to seamlessly transition into this fantastic and highly lucrative space?

If the answer is yes, Adam would love to open up a dialogue, both about you and with our clients about you.

In a world that has been flipped upside down so many times in quick succession, we are now entering a phenomenal period of opportunity whereby the hungriest and most dynamic individuals will escalate their careers at steeper trajectories than ever before!

To connect with Adam, reach out to him via LinkedIn.

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