Key soft skills needed to work in Financial Services

When applying for jobs employers will ask potential candidates to meet some requirements to the given role. Some of these requirements are known as hard skills and some are soft skills. Hard skills are technical skills required for the job. These are normally acquired through education and work experience. Soft skills complement hard skills and are important for increasing your chances of being the right candidate for the role. They are the personal traits and interpersonal skills someone possesses.

In the financial services some soft skills will be vital to have the best chance of working in this field. How you interact with people and approach situations will be important to succeed. Some important soft skills are listed below:

1. Communication skills: Being able talk to people clearly is essential to work in financial roles. This may include one-to-one communication with clients or presenting to larger groups about some particular findings or key information. Communication isn’t all one sided, however. One must be a good listener too. Being able to take on board information, in a fast-paced environment, is extremely important.

2. Collaboration skills: A report from Adaptive Insights in 2016 stated 70% of chief financial officers said teamworking skills would be of greater importance than any other soft skill in a successful candidate for the role. One must know how they can provide and work together to reach common goals when working in a team. This means one must be able to adapt to different situations with different teams, signifying open-mindedness is important in these roles.

3. Problem-solving skills: Issues arise regularly in financial jobs. These can be predicted beforehand or spontaneous. When these issues arise, one must be confident and efficient in solving the problem at hand. You will need to be able to communicate and collaborate, whilst also taking some leadership if necessary.

4. Resilience: In the financial world there will be many challenges that arise, as well as setbacks and changing circumstances. In these moments it is important to stay calm and have confidence in your ability to complete the task at hand successfully.

5. Leadership skills: There will be moments where you will have to take lead of a particular situation or group. It is essential you are comfortable to take the responsibility in these cases and be prepared to deal with issues effectively.

These skills will be gained in day-to-day life but there are some things you can do to help develop them further. This could involve volunteering at a local club to boost communication and collaboration skills. Organising activities will help your leadership and communication skills. Public speaking is often promoted as great way to improve presenting skills to larger groups. Logic puzzles and games can help your problem-solving skills. Finally, being open to feedback and constructive criticism is needed to grow your soft skills.

This blog has stated some of the soft skills deemed necessary in the financial services job world. We hope you found this useful and if you are considering a job in the financial services check out our jobs page or contact us for more information.

More News