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5 Important Skills Needed for a Career in Finance

In order to sustain a successful career in finance, you need more than an advanced degree from a reputed university and important industry connections.

You also need to acquire an extensive skill set that can help you stay relevant in an intensely competitive industry.

Finance graduates today have to showcase an in-depth knowledge of financial terms and trends, a razor-sharp analytical ability, an innate sense of intuition and an extensive understanding of the latest technological advancements in the financial domain.

What is the Required Skill Set for a Financial Career?

Here is a list of the five most desirable skills that financial employers take into consideration while hiring for financial roles:

Strong Interpersonal Skills

The time is long gone when a career in finance was all about crunching numbers and spreadsheets in the back-end.

Today, finance roles involve a good deal of interpersonal interaction with external stakeholders, potential clients and investors.

Therefore, you need to bring your a-game when you deal with them. Good interpersonal skills are a must for sustaining a career in the financial domain.

Good Communication Skills

There is an emergence of content-based financial roles where candidates have to showcase exceptional written and verbal communication skills in addition to their subject expertise.

Many employers also choose candidates who are able to effectively communicate the company needs and expectations with the vendors and the brand image with the customers.

Great communication skills are therefore essential for a modern financial career.

Financial Reporting Skills

With the emergence of newer financial domains such as block-chain and super-forecasting, possessing financial reporting skills can be a huge bonus for your career.

These financial skills can help you gain your company a competitive edge and help you become an attractive candidate for potential employers and also helps you find career opportunities easily around the job market.

Analytical Skills

With uncertainties galore in today’s financial markets, your job description might include analysing market conditions and determinants to identify the relevant trends and data.

Most employers in the domain want to hire employees who can think laterally, possess strong analytical skills and can draw suitable conclusions to drive KPIs and business decisions.

Problem Solving Skills

A watertight understanding of financial institutions and principles is not enough to sustain a career in the business domain—you also need to possess exceptional problem solving skills and an innovative thinking to design ingenious solutions to these problems.

Whether it is a case of the address of the implications of a complicated business or devising a solution to the company’s tax dilemmas, a problem-solving attitude can enhance your financial career.

Enhance Your Skill Set

Developing expertise in these areas can demonstrate your keenness towards personal and professional development as well as enhance your career prospects in the financial domain.

If you are interested in enhancing your skill set and increasing your chances of success, consider investing your time in an online chartered accountant qualification course.

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