Critical Review Of Industry Trends And Personal Capabilities In The Finance Sector

My Job Cluster

The future is uncertain. This is a phrase that has been used for quite some time now, but for me I vividly believe that the future can be made to have some degree of certainty when the right measures are taken. This write up consists of my personal insight and within it, I critically analyze the real-world requirements for potential future careers (Ahmed, 2010).I’ve always wanted to be an accountant or some kind of financial advisor ever since I was 10. This has been my passion since I have always seen my dad run a corporation and he has been my inspiration. This report will thus exclusively examine my personal capabilities and compare them the industry expectations.

In doing so, I will identify my job cluster, the current industry requirements and trends, my capabilities then finally there would be my SWOT and GAP analysis in relation to the identified capabilities and how perfect the match the industry requirements and trends. For the section of industry requirements and trends, a professional dashboard and an industry dashboard will be included that will clearly highlight and indentify my area of strengths and weaknesses and how the industry can actually mould me to become the professional person that I have always wanted to become (Jones & Murphy, 2011).

My Job Cluster

Finance is the selected job cluster. Finance is basically concerned with the proper allocation of resources in the right quantities so as to meet certain demands and this allocation is often done under conditions of great risk and uncertainties (Yin & Kaynak, 2015).

Finance is a broad job cluster and within it there exist quite a number of professions. Well, I chose this particular cluster because of the inspiration that I have always drawn from my father. Ever since I was kid, I have watched my father run various corporations and being with him around I have always told myself that one day I would love to be like him.

Secondly and most importantly, I have always had this notion with me that finances run this world. Everything that runs and goes around the world would not be possible if there were no finances to fund these activities. The allocation of resources to all these activities has been fascinating to me ever since I was ten and this coupled with my father’s inspirations has made want me to explore the finance world and see what it has to teach me.

There are some very crucial and quite important transferable skills that could be both technical and personal soft skills that are essential in the finance job cluster (Hillier, Grinblatt, Titman, 2011).They not only equip and individual and makes them appropriate for the jib but they also then professionally trustworthy and indicispensable.

These skills are clearly discussed below;

Personal soft skills required in Finance

In the 21^st century, soft skills have become increasingly important to almost all job clusters not just the finance job cluster. The finance section for instance needs a totally new development of employees that have a finely processed set of soft skills and a mindset that is promising (Wainwright, 2013). Well, these soft skills include skills such as time management, teamwork, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, proper communication, creative thinking and problem solving among others.

Personal soft skills required in Finance

Technical knowledge and skills required in Finance

This refers to all the necessary skills that enable the actual performance of various tasks in the finance job cluster. Some of these skills include, bookkeeping skills, event management, database management, customer services, social media campaign analysis among others. 

My industry requirements and trends

Having looked at industry dashboard, it is important that we also consider and highlight on some of the current trends that are taking place in the finance industry.

Some of the emerging trends in the finance industry are outlined below;

Investing in cyber security

 The issue of cyber security and risks has remained a primary concern for quite a number of financial institutions in the modern world. An advent of cyber attacks has been witnessed in various industries over the years and this greatly poses a risk to the finance industry. Statistics have constantly shown that as technology grows, then the issue of cyber security and risks also increases with it and also what is more threatening is the fact that the projected rate of cyber attacks shows an increase in the forthcoming years (Zhang, Wardrop, Ziegler, Lui, Burton, James, Garvey, 2016).

This therefore calls for various finance institutions across the globe to tighten their technological security so as to avoid the random cases of cyber attacks and frauds. In the past five years for instance, no cases of serious cyber securities have been reported on the finance industries. This has made various scholars come to a conclusion that in the case where such a case will be reported on the finance industry, then its impacts will be so huge and greatly unbearable.

Automation

Automation has increasingly become much more common across the globe especially in the finance industry (Kirchler, Lindner, Weitzel, 2018). Robotics have been used to carry out some basic aspects in the banks and other financial institutions. With much more developed automations, then there is some hope that various financial institutions will be in a position to efficiently and effectively carry out various processes at a high degree of accuracy thus avoiding any chances of looses or mistakes (Frieden, 2015). 

 Basically with the execution and implementation of these various automation services then finical institutions and banks across the globe will be have the perfect opportunity to develop and grow a high market share but also develop other seamless processes that could bring tremendous advantages to not only a certain financial institution but also the entire finance industry (Kurtz, 2011).

My capabilities 

MY PROFESSIONAL DASHBOARD

Do you agree/disagree with the findings of your tests

I do agree with all the tests that I conducted and the findings they unveiled about me. To be honest, I did not know myself so much but having to take these three tests has made me much aware of whom I am. The 16 personality test for instance has indicated that I am a protagonist. Well, this is something that some of my tutors had told me by judging from my behavior but having to find out this through the test has really meant a lot to me.

Technical knowledge and skills required in Finance

What are your strengths and weaknesses and areas of improvement

I have strengths in areas such as communication, I can greatly communicate with people without any fear or panic, I am also bold which makes me a very good team player.

I have weaknesses in handling others; I do believe that at times logic should come first before other people’s emotions.

This is the area that I need to strengthen on. I really need to know and understand other people in a much deeper way and also relate to them in a much more personal level (Linnenluecke, Chen, Ling, Smith, Zhu, 2016).

What impact do these elements have on you in your choice of job role

The elements identified above (My strengths and weaknesses) have a very great impact on the choice of my job role. In the finance industry for instance, it always a requirement that a person be in a position to carefully communicate with people and clients. Being a team player on the other hand enables a person get involved in various activities thus making an organization much more successfully. Understanding others and being in a position to get them in a much deeper way is also very important, at times it’s not always about logic emotions should also be brought into play especially for factors directly affecting people (Olen, 2013).

Does this align with your job cluster and career aspirations

Well, this perfectly aligns with my job cluster and career aspirations.  My job cluster requires that one be a good team player and also a good communicator which from the results of the tests conducted therein I am (Nanduri,2013).

My SWOT and GAP Analysis

GAP Analysis

SWOT Analysis

Conclusion

As indicated in the text above, it is clear that the finance industry is quite promising and when a person decides to venture in it like myself needs to be well equipped with the necessary skills required in order to make a breakthrough (Philippon, 2015).  There some very essential skills that have been mentioned therein such as communication skills, creative thinking, critical thinking, decision making, negotiation skills, data management, event planning and team-work among others that are very important (Platt, 2015).

Apart from that, certain trends have been identified that make this particular industry very competitive, one of the trends identified is automation where robots have been constantly used to perfume various tasks which poses a challenge to the individuals planning to venture in this particular industry (Doehler, Hellermann & Hall,2011). 

Generally, it can be concluded that the finance industry just like any other industry is an industry that is competitive in nature and very promising for that matter. With an analysis of some of the skills that I do posses it is clear that I have a chance, I just need to develop more on some my areas of weaknesses such as my negotiation skills among others (Philippon, 2012).

References

Ahmed, A. (2010). Global financial crisis: an Islamic finance perspective. International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, 3(4), 306-320.

Doehler, S. P., Hellermann, J., & Hall, J. K. (2011). L2 Interactional Competence and Development (Second Language Acquistion). Multilingual Matters.

Frieden, J. (2015). Banking on the world: the politics of American international finance. Routledge.

Hillier, D., Grinblatt, M., & Titman, S. (2011). Financial markets and corporate strategy (No. 2nd Eu). McGraw Hill.

Jones, A., & Murphy, J. T. (2011). Theorizing practice in economic geography: Foundations, challenges, and possibilities. Progress in Hu

Kirchler, M., Lindner, F., & Weitzel, U. (2018). Rankings and risk?taking in the finance industry. The Journal of Finance, 73(5), 2271-2302.

Kurtz, S. R. (2012). Opportunities and challenges for development of a mature concentrating photovoltaic power industry (p. 5). National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Linnenluecke, M. K., Chen, X., Ling, X., Smith, T., & Zhu, Y. (2016). Emerging trends in Asia-Pacific finance research: A review of recent influential publications and a research agenda. Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 36, 66-76.

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Nanduri, N. (2013). Role of culture in second language acquistion: a case study of the English syllabus of airline and airport management, Sreenidhi Vaughn college of aeronautics and technology, Hyderabad, AP.

Olen, H. (2013). Pound foolish: Exposing the dark side of the personal finance industry. Portfolio.

Philippon, T. (2012). Finance vs. Walmart: Why are Financial services so Expensive?. Rethinking Finance,” A. Blinder, A. Lo and R. Solow (eds).

Philippon, T. (2015). Has the US finance industry become less efficient? On the theory and measurement of financial intermediation. American Economic Review, 105(4), 1408-38.

Platt, S. (2015). Criminal capital: How the finance industry facilitates crime. Springer.

Wainwright, T. (2011). Tax doesn’t have to be taxing: London’s ‘onshore’finance industry and the fiscal spaces of a global crisis. Environment and Planning A, 43(6), 1287-1304.

Yin, S., & Kaynak, O. (2015). Big data for modern industry: challenges and trends [point of view]. Proceedings of the IEEE, 103(2), 143-146.

Zhang, B., Wardrop, R., Ziegler, T., Lui, A., Burton, J., James, A. D., & Garvey, K. (2016). Sustaining Momentum: The 2nd European Alternative Finance Industry Report. Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, 120.

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