Business Analyst Cover Letter

As a business analyst, you’re an expert at identifying problems and formulating solutions, but writing an excellent cover letter might not be your greatest strength.

But to impress a hiring manager and receive an invitation for an interview, you’re going to need to submit an outstanding business analyst cover letter along with your next job application.

To help you write a great business analyst cover letter, we’ve included four professional writing tips below.

1. Start off your cover letter with a strong introduction

Business analyst positions are competitive, often going to only the most qualified individuals.

Hiring managers typically view hundreds of job applications for a single position, and in order to grab their attention, you’ll need to start off your cover letter with a strong introduction that showcases your experience, skills, and qualifications.

Even if you’re an entry-level business analyst with no experience, you can still write a compelling cover letter introduction by stating your enthusiasm for the position and the company, highlighting your educational background, and listing the skills you possess that make you a great business analyst.

Here’s an example of an entry-level business analyst cover letter introduction:

As a fellow IT enthusiast and soon-to-be BA Economics graduate from Northwestern University, I thoroughly enjoyed interacting with Wells Fargo’s team at our recent job fair on campus. After speaking with your team, I believe my educational background in economics, Entry Certificate in Business Analysis (ECBA), and keen observational and analytical skills make me a great fit for the business analyst position at the Wells Fargo branch in Midtown Chicago.

2. Proofread your cover letter before submitting

As a business analyst, you likely have experience testing business and IT systems to ensure they work properly.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that the hiring manager is using your cover letter to test elements of your performance as well.

In a business analyst role, you’re required to use your refined attention to detail and precise observation skills to analyze data in search of problems and opportunities. Therefore, if you submit a business analyst cover letter that’s littered with errors, you likely won’t be invited for an interview.

Ensure that you check the following before submitting your business analyst cover letter:

1. Did you spell the hiring manager’s name correctly?
2. Are there any grammar or spelling errors in the body of your cover letter?
3. Did you end your cover letter with a professional sign-off?

Using spell check is a good way to check for grammatical errors, but it’s better to have your cover letter reviewed by a secondary source in the IT field before submitting it.

3. Quantify Your Accomplishments

Adding hard numbers when describing your experience on your cover letter is a great way to back up your accomplishments and demonstrate that you’re results-oriented.

Focus on the positive changes you directly produced or contributed to using metrics like dollar amounts, time, and percentages.

Here’s an example of how to use hard numbers (in bold) on a business analyst cover letter:

Using my knowledge of SQL, I further support our clients’ systems by conducting 5+ levels of testing including functional, regression, user acceptance, integration, and performance, thus improving data accuracy by 35%