5 important soft skills to have for finance positions

Hard Skills versus Soft Skills

To excel in your career, you need to identify and develop the balance between hard and soft skills. The first refers to technical skills and the second to personal skills.
Companies are aware that soft skills promote more results for the business, create a healthier and more productive work environment, which propitiates the improvement of interpersonal relationships. Nowadays, having behavioral, emotional and social skills is as important as mastering the technique. And the combination of both is the key to success: career progression and getting the job of your dreams.
See below the 5 most requested soft skills for positions in finance : 

• Communication

Share information with your service and with other departments in the company. Make your work known clearly and honestly, increasing the efficiency of team spirit.
Know how to talk, listen and question. Accounting and finance professionals must be able to tell the story behind the numbers in a simple, direct and engaging way. Having the ability to explain complex financial processes, to clients and partners from other departments who have limited financial knowledge is a highly valued skill. Being a communicative person is crucial to building a good and lasting networking. 

How to do it?

Promote active listening. Show interest in what is being said.
Be assertive. Convey your message objectively.
Negotiate. Present your point of view calmly and cordially.
Give and receive feedback. Knowing how to give feedback, whether positive or negative, as well as how to receive opinions from others, are part of good communication. 

• Organization

Key skill in COVID time, as most people tend to work both from the office and at home, or 100% remotely. Being organized helps you keep a clear mind, so you are less stressed, gain efficiency and achieve greater results. When time is monetized well, you can get more done and generate more value from the same amount of time. 

How to do it?
Plan your tasks in advance.
Writing lists with daily tasks and priority levels is a great help.
Use technology. There are several applications that help you organize your tasks and deadlines.
Organize simple and efficient meetings.

• Networking skills 

Networking is very important, both inside and outside your company. Why is it important? Because it helps you create relationships that can be useful for your work. You can also get important and privileged information for the business by keeping in touch with the right people. Using powerful personal marketing has become indispensable to stand out in the financial market.

How to do it?
Read The power of networking: how to build a solid network

• Independence

Managers like people who are proactive. Of course feedback is important, and you should always ask questions if doubts arise. But keep in mind that trusting your technical skills is also important, and that being independent and proactive can help you in your daily work. The market is moving fast, and for this, organizations need leaders who can guide and motivate teams to succeed in periods of continuous change. Companies are looking for employees who can work alone and still complete necessary tasks on time. 

How to do it?
Be able to solve problems on your own and emerge from the situation with desirable results. Strive to demonstrate that you have confidence and assurance in decisionmaking processes, that you know how to listen, communicate your ideas and that you find it easy to take initiative.

• Leadership

Financial employers are looking for people who can lead by example, who make decisions, who trust their intuition, who know how to manage projects, who are positive and excellent team members.
Those who know how to lead use the strengths of each team member towards the goals the company has planned to achieve. Make the team feel valued and motivated through feedback, adjusting the functions to the personal profile of each one. Besides that, you must always be an updated professional who continuously analyses the competition.
To become a good financial director, one must know how to position oneself and act as a leader. Good leadership is that which above all promotes the well-being of the group. 

How to do it?
Always can adapt to change.
Be motivating and inspiring.
Know the profile of your collaborators and team.
Delegate tasks according to the abilities of each team member.
Invest in individual feedbacks. 
Read also: How to improve your online presence.

Conclusion
Soft skills show the employer a set of personal qualities and attributes that can provide additional benefits to the company culture, productivity and working environment. Get in touch with one of our Fed Finance consultants, specializing in finance, for a chat about how we can help you find the best talent with the right skills for your company or the best opportunity that fits your profile.
Read more: Why Portugal is an attractive country to work in Finance