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Whether you’re fresh out of school or an experienced employee, top employers are looking for some very specific skills in their candidates. And while the ability to build rapport during the interview process might help you land the job, likeability won’t win the daily work battle. Instead, when it comes to delivering success, employers look consistently for these 3 qualities when hiring accountants.
Communication Skills
In our research with Clarity Labs one thing became abundantly clear, when employers were asked which traits were most likely to lead to a top performer, they consistently highlighted strong communication skills. Accountants today need to be able to build business partnerships, communicate cross functionally and clarify data to their non-financial peers. If you want to advance, you need strong communication skills.
Grit and Resilience
While employers love having an ideas person on a team, they particularly value those who can finish a project in spite of obstacles. When was the last time an initiative truly ran smoothly? Accountants with grit and resilience demonstrate exceptional motivation to accomplish a goal. In the deadline-driven world of accounting and finance, the ability to dust yourself off in the face of adversity and be solutions-focused is very appealing.
Detail-Oriented
No surprise here. Employers need finance minds that are detail-oriented. This means dealing with intense time constraints effectively, while not compromising accuracy. Since a small mistake can compound over time into a costly error, companies need people who can be detail-oriented even under pressure.
Organizations today want accountants who are not only fantastic with numbers, but people as well. A personality that couples resilience with a high level of technical proficiency is often the candidate who gets signed to the dotted line.