Step 1: What's Business Operations All About?
Example: SWOT Analysis
AKA: BizOps, Business Analysis
Overview: Think of BizOps as a company’s internal consulting agency. Whenever there are big, meaty questions to unpack, BizOps folks are brought in to crack the case.
Example project: Conduct a SWOT analysis on the smartphone market.
What you do all day: Research questions, gather data, analyze data, make recommendations to stakeholders
Roles: Business Operations Analyst (more junior), Business Operations Manager (more senior)
What they look for: Former bankers and consultants with strong spreadsheet and presentation skills
Example job: Business Operations & Strategy Manager, NerdWallet
Step 2: Would You Be a Good Fit for BizOps?
Ask yourself if you'd love doing these kinds of things all day:
Gathering quantitative + qualitative data
Analyzing datasets
Using frameworks to make strategic recommendations
Presenting to executives
Implementing processes
If your answer is "Yes" to the majority of activities, you'd likely be a good fit for BizOps.
Step 3: What Skills Do You Need for BizOps?
For each major activity, I've listed the most common keywords from across dozens of job descriptions, as well as a sample resume bullet:
· Gathering quantitative + qualitative data
o Keywords: quantitative, qualitative, data, datasets, SQL, metrics
o Sample Bullet: Built the company's first customer feedback dataset, using SQL to identify a new upsell opportunity that ultimately generated $500K in new revenue within its first year
· Analyzing datasets
o Keywords: Excel, modeling, statistical analysis, generate insights from data
o Sample Bullet: Developed financial model for new product, leading to green light from executives
· Using frameworks to make strategic recommendations
o Keywords: strategy, competitive analysis, new market exploration, how to scale the business, go-to-market plan
o Sample Bullet: Conducted competitive analysis on peer-to-peer lending market, identifying opportunity for a $3B new business
· Presenting to executives
o Keywords: senior executives, leadership, management, communication, stakeholders, presentation
o Sample Bullet: Presented plan to senior leadership, earning buy-in for a process change expected to save the firm $500K annually
· Implementing processes
o Keywords: process improvement, implementation, operational efficiency, working with cross-functional teams, collaboration across the organization
o Sample Bullet: Worked cross-functionally to roll out a new recruiting system across the company that reduced search time by 50%
Step 4: Do You Need Additional Training to Get a BizOps Job?
Because so many Business Operations jobs are filled by former consultants and bankers, this largely depends on your pedigree:
If you already have a top consulting firm or I-Bank on your resume, you're good to go
If you don't, you're going to have to punch a little harder
For folks in this latter camp, you'll definitely want to network your way in, since recruiters may not give you as much consideration as your peers from the most prestigious firms (sad but true, alas).
And if you don't already have strong experience with data analysis, strategy development, and corporate presentations, you'll likely also want to brush up on those skills through courses like the one below.
Step 5: What BizOps Training Do You Recommend?
Because Business Operations is so focused on solving specific problems, I recommend training programs that emphasize case-based learning. In other words, instead of just learning theoretical business frameworks (e.g., how to analyze competitors), you learn them in the context of a real-world problem.
As such, I'm a fan of the Entire MBA course on Udemy. Not only does it cover just about every key BizOps skillset from financial modeling to presenting findings, but it does it all in the context of launching and growing a business - just like you'd learn at a top business school. The only difference is that this course does it for about 1/1000 the price of an MBA... :)
Disclosure: I’m an affiliate for some of the 3rd party courses listed on the site, which means I may earn a small fee if you choose to enroll (which I use to keep Break into Tech running).
Step 6: How Do You Actually Get a Tech Strategy Job?
To help you convert your passion and skills into an actual job, I've put together a step-by-step course that covers how to:
Design a resume that will mark you as an insider to tech recruiters
Make sure you find every single great tech job across multiple sites
Get a referral at just about any tech company - even if you don't know anyone directly
Prepare for every kind of tech interview question with point-by-point formulas