Interview scorecard template

Business Analyst interview scorecard

Evaluate Business Analyst candidates across 4 weighted areas: technical proficiency, systems and trade-offs, evidence and rigour, and collaboration and communication. Technical proficiency leads at 35%, so check fluency with requirements artefacts: BRDs, user stories with acceptance criteria, BPMN or swimlane process maps, data dictionaries, plus SQL querying and tools. Use the rubric to compare role-specific evidence consistently.

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software dataprocess mappingrequirements elicitationsqluser stories

TL;DR

For technical proficiency, look for evidence the candidate names artefacts they authored, writes acceptance criteria in Gherkin or equivalent, and queries source systems directly rather than requesting extracts. For systems and trade-offs, look for evidence the candidate explains a specific trade-off they framed for sponsors, including what was deferred, why, and the downstream cost the business accepted. Apply the written 1–5 anchors to every answer, record the evidence behind each rating, and use the factor weights to reach a consistent overall assessment.

Complete evaluation framework

What to assess and how to score it

Review the evidence signals before interviewing. Then use the anchored descriptions—not instinct alone—to choose the score that best matches each answer.

Evaluation factor

Technical proficiency

35% weight

Check fluency with requirements artefacts: BRDs, user stories with acceptance criteria, BPMN or swimlane process maps, data dictionaries, plus SQL querying and tools like Jira, Confluence, Visio.

Evidence to listen for

Command of the languages, frameworks, and data tools the role actually uses
Understands correctness, performance, and failure modes, not just syntax
Has opinions on testing and can justify them
Reads and reasons about code they did not write

Five-point scoring guide

Poor

Cannot work independently; fundamentals are missing.

Needs Improvement

Weak fundamentals; output needs heavy review.

Satisfactory

Competent for the role; needs guidance on complex or unfamiliar work.

Very Good

Strong practitioner; handles hard problems with little guidance.

Excellent

Names artefacts they authored, writes acceptance criteria in Gherkin or equivalent, and queries source systems directly rather than requesting extracts.

Evaluation factor

Systems and trade-offs

25% weight

Probe how they handled conflicting requirements between departments, scope creep on a release, or a build versus configure decision on an ERP or CRM module.

Evidence to listen for

Reasons about scale, latency, cost, and failure before writing code
Names the trade-off they chose and what they gave up
Understands the data lifecycle end to end
Anticipates what breaks at ten times the volume

Five-point scoring guide

Poor

No thinking beyond the immediate task; no awareness of scale or failure.

Needs Improvement

Limited architectural awareness; struggles with design decisions.

Satisfactory

Works within an existing design; makes sound local decisions.

Very Good

Designs for scale and maintainability; articulates trade-offs clearly.

Excellent

Explains a specific trade-off they framed for sponsors, including what was deferred, why, and the downstream cost the business accepted.

Evaluation factor

Evidence and rigour

25% weight

Test how they validated requirements: data profiling before migration, as-is volumetrics, UAT test scripts, defect triage, and benefits tracked after go-live.

Evidence to listen for

Validates results rather than trusting output
Knows how their work is measured and what a bad result looks like
Can describe a time their own analysis or model was wrong and how they caught it
Careful about data quality, leakage, and silent failure

Five-point scoring guide

Poor

Ships unvalidated work; no notion of how correctness is checked.

Needs Improvement

Validates superficially; misses obvious quality or leakage issues.

Satisfactory

Reasonable checks in place; rigour drops under time pressure.

Very Good

Validates thoroughly; can name a real error they caught in their own work.

Excellent

Cites baseline and post-launch numbers (cycle time, error rate, ticket volume) and admits where a requirement proved wrong in UAT.

Evaluation factor

Collaboration and communication

15% weight

Assess how they run elicitation with reluctant stakeholders: workshop facilitation, shadowing operations staff, sign-off chasing, and translating between business users and developers in sprint ceremonies.

Evidence to listen for

Explains technical work to non-technical stakeholders
Gives and takes code or peer review constructively
Documents enough that the work survives their absence
Aligns with team process rather than working around it

Five-point scoring guide

Poor

Cannot work in a team; resistant to feedback.

Needs Improvement

Communication issues create rework; lone-wolf tendencies.

Satisfactory

Adequate team member; documentation and review participation are light.

Very Good

Communicates well; reliable reviewer and collaborator.

Excellent

Describes named workshop formats they ran, how they secured sign-off from a resistant department head, and gives clear, jargon-free explanations.

Evidence-led prompts

Interview questions for a Business Analyst

Use these prompts to surface evidence for the weighted factors above and compare candidates against the same role-specific criteria.

01
Which methodologies are you familiar with for analysing and improving business processes?
02
Which documents and models have you produced in previous projects?
03
Are you familiar with lean or continuous improvement approaches?
04
What steps do you take when gathering requirements?
05
How do you prioritise requirements on a project?

See the complete Business Analyst question set

Put this rubric to work

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