It’s strange how many finance professionals are told they’re “Missing Something”, even as companies claim they can’t find the talent they need.
There’s no shortage of qualified people or ambition. But despite that, promotions stall, applications get missed, and candidates are left wondering how they’re supposed to take the next step forward.
The answer is to reassess whether you really have all of the key skills employers are looking for right now, not just the standard qualifications or capabilities.
In the UK, finance leaders are updating how they hire. They’re not abandoning technical skills (but they are looking for different ones). They’re also focusing more on soft, transferable, human skills that are much harder to teach on the job.
These are the “hidden skills” that can really make a difference to the future of your career. They might not appear on job descriptions, but employers will still check for them in interviews and assessments, so defining them early is a good idea.
The Hidden Skills in Finance that Make the Biggest Difference
There is some variety in the skills that different employers in the finance space prioritise.
And if you speak to a financial recruitment company, they’ll tell you what patterns are emerging. The people who move up quicker and more consistently tend to be strong in five key areas:
1: Emotional Intelligence – The Ultimate Career Accelerator
In most finance roles, you’re expected to keep things steady. Hit the deadline, fix the variance, don’t make a fuss. But underneath that, you’re working with people, pressured people, tired people, sometimes difficult ones.
How you handle those dynamics has an impact.
To stay stable, you need emotional intelligence. That means knowing how to recognise and manage your own emotions, as well as how to show empathy to others. Emotional intelligence is what helps you build stronger stakeholder relationships, manage teams through change, connect more deeply with clients, and strengthen your leadership abilities.
A growing number of employers value this. Around 71% of hiring managers say they prize emotional intelligence over technical skills.
So, how do you develop emotional intelligence? A course or boo helps and; It’s more about what you practise, every week:
- Noticing your own stress signs and slowing your reaction.
- Pausing before you respond, especially in a difficult conversation.
- Listening properly, not just waiting for your turn to speak.
- Asking for honest feedback and paying attention even if it’s uncomfortable.
- Being present in a meeting that could have been an email.
These things sound small, yet over time, they build trust. And trust is what gets your name mentioned when roles open up.
2. Commercial Acumen and Business Savvy
You can be excellent at the details in finance, delivering tight forecasts, clear reconciliations, and getting everything filed on time. But you may still feel like you’re watching the big decisions happen somewhere else. If that rings true, commercial acumen might be the gap.
Commercial acumen is all about understanding how the business actually works. That means knowing where it makes and loses money, which opportunities and risks it faces, and where you contribute to the overall outcomes.
You don’t need to know everything. But you do need to ask better questions.
How does this team make money? What are our biggest costs? What’s changing in the market that might hit us in six months? The more you develop skills linked to analysing markets, competitors, customers, and industry trends, the more you can help drive the business forward.
People stop seeing you as the person who “does the numbers” and start seeing you as someone who can help shape the plan. To develop commercial acumen:
- Ask questions outside your lane: Speak to Sales, Ops, and Product teams. What are they worried about?
- Reading the business press (even just a weekly skim). It builds instincts.
- Sitting in on non-finance meetings. Even if you don’t speak. You’ll learn.
- Thinking past the spreadsheet. Not “did we hit target?” but “what’s the real-world story behind the variance?”
Building commercial acumen is a good place to start if you want skills that will put you on a fast track to a leadership position.
3. Data Storytelling and Visualisation
This is one of the top hidden skills that often aligns with commercial acumen. You can do a brilliant analysis, spot the outliers, and find something important. But then you need to translate what you discover into something everyone can understand.
That’s what data storytelling skills are for. They’re how you help people understand what numbers, figures, and graphs are actually saying. Skills like this are becoming increasingly important now that so much of the reporting in the finance industry is automated.
That means the real skill isn’t gathering data anymore, it’s making it make sense. You will need to develop some technical skills here. Learning how to work with data visualisation tools and design reports will be useful. It also helps to:
- Know your audience. Please don’t talk to Ops like they’re the CFO.
- Say the headline first. Not “Q3 variance was 12%” but “Sales dipped because one major client paused orders.”
- Use visuals sparingly. A clean bar chart is better than a clever one nobody understands.
- Practice explaining things in plain English. What would you say if you had one minute stuck in a lift with the CEO?
This takes time. But once people start turning to you to explain what’s really going on, you’ll find new opportunities open up a lot faster.
4. Strategic Thinking and Future-Focused Planning
In a lot of finance roles, it’s easy to get caught in the short term. Month-end, quarter-end, year-end. You’re solving what’s right before you until the next thing rolls in. However, people who work in senior roles tend to work differently. They need to look further ahead.
Strategic thinking is all about connecting today’s decisions to the wider direction of the business, seeing risks early, or spotting opportunity gaps. It’s about asking, “What are we missing here?” when everyone else is deep in the numbers.
You don’t have to be on the executive team to start thinking this way. You could:
- Ask to join planning sessions, even if you’re observing.
- Run a scenario analysis on something no one’s asked about yet.
- Connect data to strategy, not just saying “sales dropped” but also “here’s why, and what we could consider next”.
- Read outside your domain, especially around industry shifts, tech trends, and policy changes.
The focus should be on staying curious. Strategic thinkers tend to get pulled into bigger rooms, even if they didn’t put their hand up.
5. Adaptability and Change Leadership
Change is constant in finance, particularly now. AI, ESG, digital reporting, regulatory shifts, new tools, new structures. It’s a lot to keep track of. How you respond to that change significantly impacts your potential for growth.
If you resist change or panic, you’ll fall behind. If you embrace it with a growth mindset, you’ll move forward. Back in 2023, only 1 in 5 finance teams in the UK were using AI. Now, it’s nearly 60%. Changes like that influence everything about how you work.
Adaptability doesn’t have to mean pretending everything is fine, even when you’re nervous. You need to be able to adjust without losing your cool. That might mean:
- Saying yes to a system upgrade project, even if you’re not the tech expert.
- Supporting teammates during changes, rather than just focusing on yourself.
- Staying open to new tools, even if you’re not initially sure about them.
- Learning how to communicate through change, especially when people are unsettled.
These things don’t always get recognised, but they build reputation fast. People remember who stayed calm, who adapted, and who helped others do the same.
Building the Hidden Skills that Matter in Finance
There’s no single checklist for career growth in finance anymore. The market’s changing too fast, and the roles are shifting with it. But if there’s a common thread in who’s progressing, it’s this: they’re strong in areas that don’t show up on a balance sheet.
They build trust, think ahead, stay steady during times of change, and speak the language of the business. It might take time to develop these skills, but it’s worth the effort. If you’re curious, proactive, and focused, you’ll open the door to endless new opportunities.
About Rebus Financial Recruitment
Rebus Financial Recruitment provides a specialist and focused recruitment service to its customers, ranging from various organisations, including SMEs, to large PLCs.
We strive to offer both the client and candidate a seamless recruitment experience. Using our expertise, we understand employer and employee needs and match them perfectly.
To learn more, contact one of our team members today or call us at 01282 930930.
