If you spend even just a couple of years in corporate you likely will catch on to the fact that a lot of skills are transferable across different corporate functions.
Yes, someone who works in finance is going to have specialized skills for their area, just like someone in marketing or human resources will have skills relevant to their specialty. But there are still many skills that are applicable and useful regardless of what function you work in.
Today I’m not going to weigh in on the debate of whether you should focus on specialized skills or broader, more transferable skills. Instead I’m simply going to touch on skills that will benefit you in any corporate job. How much time and effort you spend developing these skills is totally up to you, and the benefit will likely vary slightly depending on your role.
Financial Concepts
I’m biased because I’ve spent nearly a decade in corporate finance and accounting, but one skill that is beneficial in every area of a business is an understanding of financial concepts. For example:
- Budget – Understanding what costs go into a department, functional area, or even an entire business’ budget, is a valuable skill to have. This is expected of leaders, which involves partnering with finance to ensure alignment.
- Return on Investment (ROI) – ROI isn’t always straight-forward. It can be simplified, though, by being able to articulate what benefits or outputs a team is delivering, which in turn would justify the team’s costs. This can also be thought of on a larger scale understanding and being able to articulate the benefits of an investment you want to make.
These are two big financial concepts that are beneficial to understand, but there are definitely more.
Spreadsheet Skills
I promise we will pivot from the dry financial-focused skills soon, but spreadsheet skills go hand-in-hand with understanding financial concepts so it is worth mentioning here.
But this also brings up a good point: are spreadsheets just for financials? No! Spreadsheets are used to track projects, keep lists of tasks and responsibilities, and templates for various business functions. Based on the popularity of my spreadsheet-based editorial calendar, there really is no limit to what spreadsheets can be leveraged for.
The only way to get better at using spreadsheets is to spend time using them. It can be difficult at first. I struggled the first three- to six-months in my first job going from a college student who was barely familiar with the software into an accounting role where 90% of my work was spreadsheet-based. A base knowledge plus being good at looking up things on Google will be enough for most people, especially if your job doesn’t require hours and hours of spreadsheet work each week.
Public Speaking & Presentation Skills
I’m likely not the first person who has stressed the importance of public speaking, but what I found ironic in my career is how little opportunities are given to practice and develop these skills on-the-job. For most entry-level and lower-level employees, the opportunities can be extremely limited.
As you move up in your career and expand responsibilities, there is going to be situations where you need to present or give a speech. Unfortunately it can feel like you went from having no opportunity to being thrown into a scenario where you are expected to be comfortable presenting in a room full of people.
I gained most of my experience with public speaking outside of work. It was through webinars, speeches, and media appearances. I found it helpful that these were all voluntary – if I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t have to. I had control. Learning in a space where you have control can be helpful.
While I haven’t taken part in toastmasters, I have heard good things about it and there are many local chapters, including some within businesses themselves (depending on how big of a business you work for).
Regardless of how you get the experience, I encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and seek out a speech or presentation. You don’t have to wait to be asked, either. If you start a blog on a topic you want to write about, one piece of content you create can be videos or webinars. This can lead to more speaking opportunities (it did for me) and who knows? You may just start getting paid to speak.
PowerPoint / Slide Decks
Regardless of whether you are presenting or not, having the skills and knowledge necessary to create a good-looking PowerPoint slide will benefit your career. This skill spreads across all areas of corporate, since there are so many situations where a slide deck is necessary. Whether it’s a deck describing a new product that is being rolled out or the latest financial forecast, slide decks are created every day.
PowerPoint seems intuitive enough, but there are some differences in how each business wants their slide decks to look. You have to be able to adapt to different styles of slides – and know how to edit the slides so they align.
Ability to Show Empathy
I’m a huge Gary Vaynerchuk nerd and I agree 100% when he says that the #1 skill managers need is empathy. In case you don’t know what empathy is, it’s the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. Lack of empathy is a reason why we often end up hiring people who are similar to us and who we can relate to. Empathy takes work, but it’s the right thing to do.
The ability to show empathy towards coworkers, those who work for you, and those who you report to, is a skill that can be used regardless of what your job is. To steal an example from GaryVee, many managers wonder why their employees don’t work as hard as them. But if you think about it, managers – or especially business owners – have a bigger stake in the outcomes of their job. They are getting paid more money. If they have an ownership stake, they have the potential to sell down the road. It doesn’t take much to show a little empathy to understand why an employee isn’t motivated to work as hard as their manager.
I hate to put empathy in a box, but to a degree this is people skills. But it’s not just the ability to get along with the person who looks like you, is interested in the same things as you, and who has a similar background as you. It’s the ability to surpass that and make an effort to understand where others are coming from even if they are very different than you.
Ability to Prioritize
In many jobs there will be slow times (if you find yourself in that situation consider reading 10+ productive things to do if you are bored at your corporate job), but more often than not work will be busy. Every company is trying to squeeze productivity out of its employees.
The ability to prioritize competing tasks will benefit you regardless of what corporate job you have. There is always more you can do (as I point out in this post). It sounds simple, but prioritizing things and actually following through with getting the important things done first is a skill that is easier said than done. It’s oftentimes easier to fill your day with what is easiest or most pressing. But sometimes it’s not the right thing to spend your time on.
Being organized goes hand-in-hand with being able to prioritize. If your files (both paper and electronic), emails, and thoughts always feel like a chaotic mess, it’s going to be difficult to be productive. One thing many have found useful is listing out all the demands on your time and ordering them based on how important they are to get done. That way you can focus on what is most important, and some of the things that are more “nice to have” may fall off the list as you fill your time with what matters.
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You may be able to get by in finance with little to no presentation skills, but if you reach a certain level or your job changes, the lack of presentation skills and experience may harm your career. In the same way, having some solid experience giving presentations before you truly need the skill will likely benefit your career.
Another takeaway from this topic could be to always focus on personal growth and development. Staying curious and being proactive about development will benefit you regardless of where your career takes you.
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One of the most important things for professionals to remember is to constantly improve their skills. A lot of people think they are done learning once they are done school.
There’s a lot of good info right there. A lot of these companies are looking for people with spreadsheet skills. I’ve worked at three universities and with everyone of them, they expected people to at least know the minimum when it comes to Excel.