Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents

People in this career often have these skills:

• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Mathematics - Using mathematics to solve problems.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

People in this career often know a lot about:

• Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

People in this career often have talent in:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
• Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.

People in this career often do these activities:

• Negotiate prices or other sales terms.
• Monitor market conditions or trends.
• Maintain records of sales or other business transactions.
• Sell products or services.
• Prepare sales or other contracts.
• Process sales or other transactions.

• Prepare financial documents, reports, or budgets.
• Gather customer or product information to determine customer needs.
• Explain financial information to customers.
• Develop proposals for current or prospective customers.
• Identify investment opportunities or strategies.
• Develop professional relationships or networks.
• Customize financial products or services to meet customer needs.
• Review accuracy of sales or other transactions.
• Monitor sales activities.
• Explain technical product or service information to customers.
• Contact current or potential customers to promote products or services.
• Supervise sales or support personnel.
• Analyze market conditions or trends.
• Share sales-related or market information with colleagues.
• Coordinate activities with suppliers, contractors, clients, or other departments.
• Analyze business or financial data.
• Calculate costs of goods or services.
• Estimate costs or terms of sales.

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