Careers > Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents

Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents

$67.48K Median Salary 42.5K Job Openings (Annual Projection) 4.2% Job Growth

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About This Career

Buy and sell securities or commodities in investment and trading firms, or provide financial services to businesses and individuals. May advise customers about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, commodities, and market conditions.

Reported Job Titles

Broker, Commodities Broker, Equity Trader, Financial Advisor, Financial Consultant, Investment Representative, Investments Advisor, Investments Specialist, Personal Banker, Trader

Career data shown for:

Skills You'll Need

Click on skills to find related courses.

Abilities

Oral Comprehension

Oral Expression

Deductive Reasoning

Speech Clarity

Written Comprehension

Problem Sensitivity

Speech Recognition

Written Expression

Inductive Reasoning

Information Ordering

Near Vision

Category Flexibility

Fluency of Ideas

Mathematical Reasoning

Number Facility

Originality

Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service

Economics and Accounting

English Language

Mathematics

Sales and Marketing

Computers and Electronics

Administration and Management

Law and Government

Administrative

Skills

Active Listening

Critical Thinking

Judgment and Decision Making

Monitoring

Active Learning

Persuasion

Reading Comprehension

Speaking

Complex Problem Solving

Social Perceptiveness

Writing

Service Orientation

Systems Analysis

Management of Financial Resources

Mathematics

Systems Evaluation

Time Management

Negotiation

Technology Skills

Enterprise resource planning ERP software

Presentation software

Financial analysis software

Data base user interface and query software

Customer relationship management CRM software

Object or component oriented development software

Electronic mail software

Operating system software

Accounting software

Desktop communications software

Spreadsheet software

Graphics or photo imaging software

Development environment software

Transaction server software

Office suite software

Cloud-based data access and sharing software

Word processing software

Business intelligence and data analysis software

Analytical or scientific software

Internet browser software

Compliance software

Web page creation and editing software

Calendar and scheduling software

Project management software

Tools

Photocopiers

Wearable computing devices

Scanners

Notebook computers

Special purpose telephones

Laser fax machine

Desktop calculator

Desktop computers

Personal computers

Tablet computers

Abilities

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.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
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 Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
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).
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.

Knowledge

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.
Economics and Accounting: Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
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.
Computers and Electronics: Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Administration and Management: Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Law and Government: Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Administrative: Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

Skills

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.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Management of Financial Resources: Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
Mathematics: Using mathematics to solve problems.
Systems Evaluation: Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.

Technology Skills

Enterprise resource planning ERP software: Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne; Oracle PeopleSoft; Oracle PeopleSoft Financials; SAP software
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint
Financial analysis software: Delphi Technology
Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Customer relationship management CRM software: Blackbaud The Raiser's Edge; Microsoft Dynamics; Salesforce.com Salesforce CRM
Object or component oriented development software: Oracle Java
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Operating system software: Microsoft Windows
Accounting software: Billing software; Bookkeeping software; Intuit QuickBooks; Sage 50 Accounting
Desktop communications software: Edmodo
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Graphics or photo imaging software: SmugMug Flickr
Development environment software: Adobe Systems Adobe Creative Suite
Transaction server software: Customer information control system CICS
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Cloud-based data access and sharing software: Dropbox; Google Drive; Microsoft SharePoint
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Business intelligence and data analysis software: BrightEdge; Conductor Searchlight; IBM Digital Analytics; Searchmetrics Suite
Analytical or scientific software: Statistical analysis software; TapRooT
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Compliance software: ESS Compliance Suite; Mannus Compliance: EHS; Primatech AUDITWorks
Web page creation and editing software: Facebook; Google Sites; LinkedIn; Social media sites
Calendar and scheduling software: Appointment scheduling software
Project management software: Mavenlink; Microsoft Project

Tools

Photocopiers: Photocopying equipment
Wearable computing devices: Wearable computers
Scanners: Data input scanners
Notebook computers: Laptop computers
Special purpose telephones: Multi-line telephone systems
Laser fax machine: Laser facsimile machines
Desktop calculator: 10-key calculators
Desktop computers:
Personal computers:
Tablet computers:

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