Developing Professional Skills for Business and Finance Careers

This report reflects on personal and professional development within business and finance, utilizing a skills audit and SWOT analysis to evaluate key competencies and career prospects. It identifies strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, highlighting the importance of communication and leadership skills for long-term employability. The report outlines short, medium, and long-term career goals, including roles such as junior accountant, finance manager, and hedge fund manager. Progression opportunities, such as completing a certificate course in hedge fund regulations and gaining an internship, are discussed alongside potential barriers like digital communication skills and high competition. The conclusion emphasizes the value of self-assessment in identifying areas for improvement and achieving career aspirations, all of which can be further explored through additional resources available on Desklib.

Professional Skills for
Business and Finance
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Key competencies...................................................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis......................................................................................................................6
Career prospects.....................................................................................................................8
Progression opportunities.......................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
In higher education the student aims to attain personal and professional development in
order to achieve the career prospects. In order to acquire the personal and professional growth
the individual must focus on identifying their personal skills and weak areas for the
improvement. This helps the student in choosing their career prospects and also provide the
scope of progression opportunities (Anderson and et. al., 2018). The personal piece of reflection
is the effective strategy for the person to analyse its own growth and skill competencies. The
present report use swot analysis and skill audit to evaluate the key competencies and current
abilities. Further there is highlight of key career prospects. In the end, progression activities and
progression barriers are recognised with justification to materialize it after the graduation.
MAIN BODY
Key competencies
Skills Summary Confidence Example Transferability Need for
improvement
Mathematical
proficiency
This is one
of the major
skill that is
required in
order to have
good
financial
knowledge. I
will further
use my
mathematical
knowledge in
the financial
documents
4- Very
confident
Through this
skill I will be
able to
complete
various set of
assignments
that requires
these formulas.
The
mathematical
skills are also
handy in terms
of preparing
financial
This skill has
the option of
transferability
as I can
transfer this
skill to any
type of role
that requires
the respective
mathematical
knowledge.
This skill is
used in
monitoring the
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by applying
various set of
formulas
(Huerta,
2021). This
skill will also
be helpful in
compiling
and
representing
data.
budget. inflow and
outflow of
cash along
with the
preparation of
tax returns.
Analytical
thinking skills
This skill
helps me in
analysing
and
interpreting
data. While
doing a
financial job
it is essential
to apply
analytical
skills in
order to get
maximum
accuracy.
5-
Extremely
confident
This skill is
used in terms of
making
decisions in the
group in order
to ensure the
timely
completion of
assignment.
Through
analytical
skills, I can
make several
decisions
regarding the
different set of
information.
This is one of
those skill that
can be
transferred to
any type of
role as almost
every business
role requires a
set of
analytical
thinking.
While
performing
business roles
in the
organisation I
will be able to
well manage
the decisions
that are based
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on the
financial
performance of
the company.
Communication
skills
With this
skill I am
able to
effectively
present the
ideas and
information
in front of
the third
party, this
ensures that
other people
are able to
understand
my
viewpoint
and I am able
to understand
their
viewpoint.
3- Fairly
confident
Communication
of ideas during
making of
projects and
assignment is
essential as it
ensures that
everyone in the
team knows
about their
roles and
responsibilities.
Further this
also helps in
communication
of new set of
ideas (Kirsten,
2018).
This skill is
transferable as
it can be used
in any type of
business and
management
role and this is
also useful in
the personal
life. Through
this skill I will
be able to
present my set
of thinking to
the other end.
Yes
Leadership
skills
Through this
skill I can
motivate the
other people
of the team
and can
easily attain
1 Not
confident.
Leadership role
is one of the
most essential
role that is used
during the
completion of
group projects
This skill is
transferable
and is
considered as
one of the
most
employability
Yes
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the objective.
Though I am
not able to
determine
the key
competencies
of other
people
therefore
unable to
utilise their
skills in the
whole
process.
and assignment.
I was just a
team member
in which my
allotted task
was to just
complete my
work. As I was
not the part of
leadership
process I was
not able to
develop the
skills that are
required in
effective
leadership. As
no leadership
responsibilities
was on my
table, I was not
able to develop
this skill during
my
assignments.
skill as it can
be used in any
job. With these
skill, one can
learn to
manage and
motivate team
so that the
desired
objective can
be achieved.
With this skill
I can deliver
the result
within the
expected time
which will
help in
establishing
good grounds
for the
company.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
 I display strong knowledge of different
areas of finance and I have good
commands over accountancy. This skill
 I do not have good networking skills,
due to this I will have less prospects of
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will be helpful for me as it will help me
in attaining success professionally.
 I have effective presentation skills
which will be helpful for me in
developing professionally (Lei, 2018).
growth.
 I lack in terms of creativity and hence
this will impact my career development
as I won’t be able to apply these skills
on different situations.
Opportunities Threats
 I have good opportunities in the
business world as there is high need of
financial assistance in companies. If I
am able to master my financial skills,
then I hold good opportunity of
securing a job in a reputed firm.
 If I am able to secure some certification
in the financial field, then it will help
the recruiters in assuring that I have
good command over financial subjects.
 One of the major threat that I face is
due to lack of my professional
development as I hold no experience in
the financial industry.
 There are several candidates that are
currently pursuing financial courses and
are looking for making a career in this
industry.
Analysis of impact of gaps and future assess to training and development
I have gap in the communication and leadership skills; I need to bridge this gap as they are
essential in the financial industry. If I am able to bridge this gap, then this will help me in
enhancement in the long term perspective. The long term employability will be increased if I am
able to manage these skills during my professional life. If I am able to develop good
communication skills during my working, then it will assist my work in terms of efficiency and
effectiveness.
Training and development in these areas will help me to bridge this gap which will
further assist in terms of having good future growth prospects. Good leadership skills will ensure
that I am able to well manage the projects that are allotted in teams whereas good
communication skills ensure that I can communicate the ideas and information from one end to
another in an effective manner.
Career prospects
Small term career prospects
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 Junior accountant- This is my small term financial career prospect in which the job is to
provide the significant services to the organisations by maintaining record of the finances
of business. They play a major role in the financial department in which they provide
support to the financial decisions of the company. The junior accountant is responsible
for recording the financial transactions, issuing the payment invoices and preparing
financial report. My mathematical and financial skills would be helpful for this job as I
will be able to use these skills in my job. If I am able to develop my communication skills
than I will be able to perform well in my job (Meissner and Shmatko, 2019). Junior financial analyst- This is one of the job that is a very basic financial job in which
an individual does an effective utilization of data in order to prepare financial documents
of the company. At this job, the individual is required to audit the documents and further
evaluate the performance, budgets, other financial activities and business performance.
Medium term career prospects Mid-level finance associates- Medium term associates responsible for reviewing the
financial information, managing the account records, processing the transactions,
analysing the financial data of the company. The job prospects of the mid-level financial
associates is to advise the senior managers and internal department about the best
practices that can be applied in the company. Finance manager- This is one of the medium level of job in the financial sector and the
individuals are required to the provide financial guidance to the company. They are
responsible for formulating strategies in the organisation so that a long term business plan
can be applied in the growth prospects. This refers to the medium terms prospect of the
business in terms of gaining experience and attaining the goals in medium term.
Long term career prospects
 Hedge fund manager- The career prospects involves managing of operations of
hedge funds in which the funds of experienced investors are managed so that the
funds can be well managed. They monitor different types of funds and create a
portfolio allocation where they pick up assets based on the risk capability of the
investors. This is one of the long term goal as the fund managers requires a lot of
knowledge about the different types of assets, stocks and mutual funds so that they
can deliver high returns to the investors.
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 Top level management job in financial institution- The top level management is
another long term goal that I am looking to attain. The top level managers of financial
firms are responsible for managing the lower level and middle level financial analysts
and accountants. In this job, I will be responsible for dealing with major financial
decisions and problems (Tan and Laswad, 2018).
Progression opportunities
The key progress activities which will take place after my foundation course of business
and management is completion of my certificate course in hedge fund regulations which will be
useful and valuable for me in attaining my career goal to become the Hedge fund manager in the
top multinational organisation. This key progression activity is useful in improving my CV and
also will help me in standing out with my knowledge of hedge fund management. This
progression activity has also assist me in attaining the long term career prospects and also helped
me to use my excellent analytical skills to attain success. I will also be enable to utilize my
current knowledge of finance to complete this certification course with good grades and to
increase my credentials for the continuous professional development. During This phase I
encountered the progression barrier which was my incompetent digital communication skills.
After the completion of the foundation course online courses are the foremost option to secure
the hedge fund related certification and to build my professional communication. But, my lack of
digital communication skills impacted my experience of online education in negative way as I
was unable to experience the entire course to develop my knowledge. It is very important to
remove the barriers in order to gain future progression growth for which it is important for me to
develop digital communication knowledge in digital world (Mishra and Kumar, 2019).
The second progression opportunity which will origin after the graduation is gaining the
internship as the junior Accountant at a multinational company. For this progression opportunity
I will be able to use my arithmetic skills, analytical skills and most importantly the financial
knowledge to secure this internship. The progression barrier that effected this opportunity is the
high rising competition for the fresher’s in the finance industry. Along with this my mediocre
communication skill also impacted my interview round at the selection process. Therefore,
effective communications skills are must for me to start my career in finance field.
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CONCLUSION
It is concluded that personal audit and SWOT analysis is helpful tool in identifying and
understand the self-capabilities and weaknesses for the improvement. Also, this analysis of
skills, competencies, knowledge is useful in deriving the long term, short term sand medium
term career prospects. Thus, it is vital for personal growth to identify progression opportunities
and barriers it involves so that they can be mitigated in beginning of the course.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Anderson, S.J., and et. al., 2018. Pathways to profits: The impact of marketing vs. finance skills
on business performance. Management Science, 64(12), pp.5559-5583.
Huerta, M.N., 2021. Financing Strategies for Small and Medium Enterprises in
Mexico (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).
Kirsten, C.L., 2018. The role of financial management training in developing skills and financial
self-efficacy. The Southern African Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Management, 10(1), pp.1-8.
Lei, Z., 2018. A Brief Discussion on the Experience of Marketing Events in Jilin Professional
Skills Competition: Taking Changchun Finance College as an Example. The Science
Education Article Collects, p.05.
Meissner, D. and Shmatko, N., 2019. Integrating professional and academic knowledge: the link
between researchers skills and innovation culture. The Journal of Technology
Transfer, 44(4), pp.1273-1289.
Mishra, D. and Kumar, M., 2019. Financial Literacy and Education for Improving Financial
Skills. Available at SSRN 3488670.
Tan, L.M. and Laswad, F., 2018. Professional skills required of accountants: what do job
advertisements tell us?. Accounting Education, 27(4), pp.403-432.
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