5 soft skills to develop for a career in finance

Besides technical skills, more commonly known as “hard skills”, recruiters are now paying particular attention to “soft skills”. These days, a relevant academic background is not enough to meet the expectations of a finance job, soft skills are an important criterion in the recruitment process. They enable recruiters to find out more about the candidate’s interpersonal skills, rather than their know-how, which is already well established. Focusing on your soft skills will help recruiters to decide whether your profile is a good match for the job. 

Analytical skills

Analytical ability is a highly useful and sought-after skill in the financial sector. In fact, it is indispensable for understanding your environment and establishing strategies to improve a company’s performance. Beyond what this skill enables, it is important to understand what recruiters expect of you, so that you can develop it. Recruiters analyze your ability to find solutions through identified key resources, and above all your capacity to make decisions to implement your strategies. 

Proactive

Have the reflex to take the initiative. Recruiters are looking for active people who anticipate and give themselves the means to succeed. This relational skill is highly prized by recruiters in the finance sector, where reactivity is not enough. Indeed, this is a field where it is important to meet deadlines, while at the same time moving the department forward efficiently. 

Rigor

Rigor is essential to the success of any organization, and particularly in finance. By having a culture that encourages rigor, an organization can become more effective and efficient, and create a positive atmosphere for its employees. Here, rigor, means setting expectations for oneself and others, holding everyone accountable for their performance, and regularly assessing progress against set objectives. Rigor also echoes reliability and punctuality, which are also important soft skills in finance. Indeed, employees in this sector are regularly required to deliver documents on time, make precise calculations and carry out financial analyses where mistakes are out of the question. Being rigorous, organized and reliable are invaluable qualities for an accountant, and necessary for conducting an audit.

Communication 

Recruiters are looking for candidates with strong communication skills. For most finance jobs, you will be required to convey precise information to managers, customers, colleagues… This skill requires you to be able to address a clear message to a specific target audience, while adapting to that audience and its knowledge. Indeed, the financial sector is a complex field requiring precise technical skills to understand it, which is why it is important to be able to explain while adapting to the level of knowledge of your interlocutor. Moreover, your reliability will be put to the test as you evolve in this field, as you will be required to retrieve financial data as quickly as possible. You also need to be able to facilitate the collection and sharing of information, to communicate and analyze it more easily – this is what we call reporting. Daily, it is important to communicate positively and constructively in order to move the organization forward and maintain good interpersonal relations. 

Management skills

Leadership and managerial skills are highly sought-after qualities by recruiters for positions of responsibility in finance. Throughout your career, make sure you develop these skills to become a good manager of your time, your objectives, your teams, your projects… Apart from positions of responsibility, it is very useful to communicate your management skills to recruiters during your interviews, and to illustrate them through projects you have carried out in your previous experience. These skills are highly valued by recruiters and can have a major influence on their choice of candidates. 

To sum up, candidates must develop their analytical and communication skills if they are to be considered for a job in finance. Furthermore, mastery of specific software or tools requiring technical skills is not enough to arouse the curiosity of recruiters. It's important to highlight your soft skills in the same way as your hard skills, by presenting concrete situations when updating your CV or during your interview. We also advise you to include all your skills on your LinkedIn profile to optimize it.

At Fed Finance, our consultants, experts in temporary and permanent recruitment for finance functions in Switzerland, will support and advise you throughout your recruitment process. Are you looking for a job or career development? Take a look at our vacancies on our website or contact one of our consultants for advice and support in your search. Not interested in any of our current vacancies? Send us your spontaneous application!