critical thinking skills in finance

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How to develop critical thinking skills in finance & accounting

Stephen Moir

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When it comes to finance and accounting roles, employers are increasingly looking for problem solvers, not a number-crunchers. Over recent years, we have seen an increasing demand for people who can analyse and interpret data and think critically.

What is critical thinking.

A critical thinker is a problem solver. They are able to evaluate complex situations, weigh-up different options and reach logical (and often quite creative) conclusions.

Critical thinkers are highly-valued by employers as they innovate and make improvements, without taking unnecessary risks. Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand recently identified that it was in the top 10 attributes that will help you get noticed in the job market.

Why are critical thinking skills important?

Once you have learnt how to develop critical thinking skills you will be better able to add value to data, interpret trends within the business, understand how people and performance intersect and take-on broader commercial outlook that benefits the business.

How to develop critical thinking skills

Critical thinking comes naturally to some people, but it is also a skill than can be practiced. Here are some tips for how to develop your own critical thinking skills :

• Examine: Self-awareness is the foundation of critical thinking. It allows you to play to your strengths and address your weaknesses. Question how and why you do things the way you do.
• Analyse: Look for opportunities to grow and improve. Consider alternative solutions to the problems you encounter in your work.
• Explain:  Clear communication is key. Get into the habit of talking through your reasoning and conclusions with colleagues.
• Innovate: Develop an independent mind-set. Find ways to think outside the box and challenge the status quo. Make sure your decisions are well-thought out. A critical thinker is logical as well as creative.
• Learn: Keep an open and well-oiled mind. Brush-up on your problem-solving skills by doing brain-teasers or trying to solve problems backwards. Keep up-to-date with professional learning opportunities . You may also need to unlearn past mindsets in order to grow and move forward.

How to apply critical thinking skills in your current role

Could you implement a new process or procedure that enhances performance or profitability? You might also consider volunteering for a new project or responsibility that gives you the opportunity to innovate and take on a new challenge. It’s a great way to broaden your skillset and gain exposure to other parts of the business.

Surround yourself with other critical thinkers in the organisation and work together towards achieving a problem-solving culture. Ask questions, and always look for opportunities for continual learning.

Changing roles to develop critical thinking skills 

At Moir Group, we are passionate about finding the right cultural fit between people and the organisations they work with. If you are a critical thinker, it’s worth looking for a stimulating work environment that encourages innovation and non-conformist thinking when considering your next role.

How to demonstrate critical thinking skills at an interview

During an interview, use examples from your past experiences to demonstrate your problem-solving abilities. Show that you can be analytical, weigh-up pros and cons, consider other view points and be creative in your solutions. Clearly articulating your thought process is key.

Sometimes an interviewer will ask you to simplify the complex as a way of determining your clarity of thought. For example: “How would you explain the state of the economy to a kindergarten child?” In instances like these, the focus will be on how you explain your reasoning, rather than achieving a ‘right’ answer. Learn more here.

If you’re looking to take that next step in your career, we can help. Get in touch with us here .

2 Responses to “How to develop critical thinking skills in finance & accounting”

Hi Stephen,

The above is very useful and very valuable for employers. However my understanding of critical thinking is slightly different from above. I recently listened to a course in critical thinking by Professor Steven Novella of Yale School of Medicine. To keep it simple it is to do with assessing the veracity of views and statements made by oneself, others and media being constantly aware of the many biases, the flaws and fabrications of memory, half truths, unspoken truths, and even lies. So it becomes key to adopt an inquisitive mindset, to look for external evidence that supports argument and not just wishful or hopeful thinking.

Just wanting to add to the debate as this is a really important area.

Hi Richard,

We are pleased that found this article useful. Thanks for your sharing your thoughts about critical thinking.

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Improving Critical Thinking Skills

November 01, 2021

By: Sonja Pippin , Ph.D., CPA ; Brett Rixom , Ph.D., CPA ; Jeffrey Wong , Ph.D., CPA

Whether working with financial statements, analyzing operational and nonfinancial information, implementing machine learning and AI processes, or carrying out many of their other varied responsibilities, accounting and finance professionals need to apply critical thinking skills to interpret the story behind the numbers.

Critical thinking is needed to evaluate complex situations and arrive at logical, sometimes creative, answers to questions. Informed judgments incorporating the ever-increasing amount of data available are essential for decision making and strategic planning.

Thus, creatively thinking about problems is a core competency for accounting and finance professionals—and one that can be enhanced through effective training. One such approach is through metacognition. Training that employs a combination of both creative problem solving (divergent thinking) and convergence on a single solution (convergent thinking) can lead financial professionals to create and choose the best interpretations for phenomena observed and how to best utilize the information going forward. Employees at any level in the organization, from newly hired staff to those in the executive ranks, can use metacognition to improve their critical assessment of results when analyzing data.

THINKING ABOUT THINKING

Metacognition refers to individuals’ ability to be aware, understand, and purposefully guide how to think about a problem (see “What Is Metacognition?”). It’s also been described as “thinking about thinking” or “knowing about knowing” and can lead to a more careful and focused analysis of information. Metacognition can be thought about broadly as a way to improve critical thinking and problem solving.

In their article “Training Auditors to Perform Analytical Procedures Using Metacognitive Skills,” R. David Plumlee, Brett Rixom, and Andrew Rosman evaluated how different types of thinking can be applied to a variety of problems, such as the results of analytical procedures, and how those types of thinking can help auditors arrive at the correct explanation for unexpected results that were found ( The Accounting Review , January 2015). The training methods they describe in their study, based on the psychological research examining metacognition, focus on applying divergent and convergent thinking.

While they employed settings most commonly encountered by staff in an audit firm, their approach didn’t focus on methods used solely by public accountants. Therefore, the results can be generalized to professionals who work with all types of financial and nonfinancial data. It’s particularly helpful for those conducting data analysis.

Their approach involved a sequential process of divergent thinking followed by convergent thinking. Divergent thinking refers to creating multiple reasons about what could be causing the surprising or unusual patterns encountered when analyzing data before a definitive rationale is used to inform what actions to take or strategy to use. Here’s an example of divergent thinking:

The customer satisfaction metric employed by RNO Company has increased steadily for the quarter, yet its sales numbers and revenue have declined steadily for the same period. Jill, a senior accountant, conducted ratio and trend analyses and found some of the results to be unusual. To apply divergent thinking, Jill would think of multiple potential reasons for this surprising result before removing any reason from consideration.

Convergent thinking is the process of finding the best explanation for the surprising results so that potential actions can be explored accordingly. The process consists of narrowing down the different reasons by ensuring the only reasons that are kept for consideration are ones that explain all of the surprising patterns seen in the results without explaining more than what is needed. In this way, actions can be taken to address the heart of any problems found instead of just the symptoms. On the other hand, if the surprising result is beneficial to an organization, it can make it easier to take the correct actions to replicate the benefit in other aspects of the business. Here’s an example of convergent thinking:

Washoe, Inc.’s customer satisfaction metric has increased steadily for the quarter, yet sales numbers and revenue have steadily declined for the same period. Roberto found this result to be surprising. After employing divergent thinking to identify 10 potential reasons for this result, such as “the reason that customers seem more satisfied is that the price of goods has been reduced, which also explains the reduction in sales revenue.” To apply convergent thinking, Roberto reviewed each reason that best fit. If the reason doesn’t explain the unusual results satisfactorily, then it will either be modified or discarded. For example, the reduced price of goods doesn’t explain all of the results—specifically, the decrease in units sold—so it needs to either be eliminated as a possible explanation or modified until it does explain all the results.

Exploring strategic or corrective actions based on reasons that completely explain the unusual results increases the chance of correctly addressing the actual issue behind the surprising result. Also, by making sure that the reason doesn’t contain extraneous details, unneeded actions can be avoided.

It’s important to note that a sequential process is required for these types of thinking to be most effective. When encountering a surprising or unexpected result during data analysis, accounting professionals must first focus strictly on divergent thinking—thinking about potential reasons—before using convergent thinking to choose a reason that best explains the surprising result. If convergent thinking is used before divergent thinking is completed, it can lead to reasons being picked simply because they came to mind right away.

LEARNING THE PROCESS

Improving divergent and convergent thinking can benefit employees at any level of an organization. Newer professionals who don’t have as much technical knowledge and experience to draw upon may be more likely to focus on the first explanation that comes to mind (“premature convergent thinking”) without fully considering all of the potential reasons for the surprising results. Experienced individuals such as CFOs and controllers have more technical knowledge and practical experience to rely on, but it’s possible these seasoned employees fall into habits and follow past patterns of thought without fully exploring potential causes for surprising results.

Instructing all accounting professionals on how to think about surprising results can help them have a more complete understanding of the issues at hand that will help guide actions taken in the future. It can lead to a more creative approach when analyzing information and ultimately to better problem solving.

When teaching employees to use divergent and convergent thinking, the goal is to get them to focus on what should be done once they identify information that suggests a surprising result has occurred. The first step is to learn how to properly use divergent thinking to create a set of plausible explanations more likely to contain the actual reason for the surprising results. There’s a three-step method that individuals can follow (see Table 1):

• Ask a broad question that reflects the goal you have: For instance, what is it about the current information that suggests a potential surprising event? Or what led to this event that can help predict future occurrences?
• Answer that question with a complete sentence: Be sure the answer includes a description of the information that suggests a potential surprising event.
• Turn the broad question into a creative challenge: Identify the plausible reasons that could have led to the indications of a surprising event.

Once employees have a good grasp of how to use divergent thinking, the next step is to instruct them in the proper use of convergent thinking, which involves choosing the best possible reason from the ones identified during the divergent thinking process. Potential reasons need to be narrowed down by removing or modifying those that either don’t fully explain the surprising results or that overexplain the results.

Two simple questions can help individuals screen each of the possible explanations generated in the divergent thinking process (see Table 2):

• Can I think of transactions or events that would be considered expected but are accounted for by my ­explanation?
• Can I think of transactions or events that aren’t accounted for by my explanation but are unusual?

The first question is designed for an individual to think about whether there are other events outside of the current issue that fit the explanation: “Does the explanation also address phenomena that aren’t related to or outside the scope of the surprising result that’s being studied?” If the answer is “yes,” then this is a case of overexplanation. Consider, for example, a scenario involving an increase in bad debts. Relaxing credit requirements may explain the increase, but they would also explain a growth in sales and falling employee morale due to working massive amounts of overtime to make products for sale.

The second question is designed to think about whether an explanation only accounts for part of the phenomenon being observed: “Does the explanation address only part of what’s being observed while leaving other important details unexplained?” If the answer is “yes,” then it’s an under-explanation. For example, consider a decline in sales. An economic downturn at the same time as the decline may be a possible explanation, but it might only be part of the problem. A drop in product quality or a drop in demand due to obsolescence could also be causing sales to decline.

If the answer to either screening question is “yes,” then the explanation needs to be discarded from consideration or modified to better address the concern. In the case of over-explanation, the reason is too general and may lead to action areas where none is needed while still not addressing the actual issue. For underexplanation, the reason is incomplete because it accounts for only a portion of the phenomenon observed, thus action may only address a symptom and not the actual root problem.

If the answer to both questions is “no,” then the explanation is viable. The chosen reason neither overexplains nor underexplains the issue at hand, making it more likely that the recommended solution or plan of action based on that reason will be more successful at addressing the actual cause of the issue.

Divergent and convergent thinking are two distinct processes that work in conjunction with each other to arrive at potential reasons for the results they observe. Yet, as previously noted, the two ways of thinking must be conducted separately and sequentially in order to obtain optimal results. Divergent thinking must be applied first in order to achieve a diverse set of potential reasons. This will maximize the probability of generating a feasible reason that explains the results correctly. After the set of potential reasons has been generated using the divergent thinking approach, convergent thinking should be used to methodically remove or modify the reasons that don’t fit with the surprising results.

If both divergent thinking and convergent thinking are done simultaneously, premature convergence can lead to a less-than-optimal reason being chosen, which may lead to taking the wrong course of action. Thus, it’s important with training to instruct employees in the use of both divergent thinking and convergent thinking and to use the types of thinking sequentially.

ORGANIZATIONAL TRAINING

Learning to apply divergent and convergent thinking can require a substantial time commitment. The process we’ve described here is designed to enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It outlines a general approach that doesn’t provide specific guidance on the best methods to analyze data or complete a task but rather focuses on successful methods to think of a diverse set of reasons for any surprising results and then how to choose the best explanation for that result in order to be able to recommend the most appropriate actions or solutions.

Individuals can practice the approach we’ve described on their own, but each organization will likely have its own preferred way to approach the analyses. Plumlee, et al., used training modules in their study that could be employed in a concerted effort by a company, with supervisors training their employees. We estimate that a basic training session would take about two hours. Complete training with practice and feedback would require about four hours—which could grow longer with even more for intensive training.

One area where this training could be very effective in helping employees is data analytics. In the past decade, an increasing amount of accounting and financial work involves or relies on data analysis. Data availability has increased exponentially, and companies use or have developed software that generates sophisticated analytical results.

Typical data analysis procedures accounting professionals might be called on to perform include things such as ratio and trend analyses, which compare financial and nonfinancial data over time and against industry information to examine whether results achieved are in line with expectations for strategic actions. Additionally, analyses are forward-looking when performance measures examined are leading indicators.

In order to perform data analytics effectively, accounting professionals must exercise sufficient judgment to critically assess the implications of any surprising results that are found. The quality of judgments and understanding the best ways to conduct and interpret the information uncovered by data analytics have typically been a function of time spent on the job along with training. At the same time, however, it’s commonplace that many of these analyses are performed by newer professionals.

Training in metacognition will help these employees more effectively and creatively reach conclusions about what they’ve observed in their analysis. Since the method discussed provides general instruction, each organization can customize the approach to best fit its own operations, strategies, and goals. Implementing a training program can be worth the investment given the importance of critical thinking throughout the process of evaluating operating results. Avoiding potential failures with interpreting results that could be prevented would seem to warrant the consideration of metacognitive training.

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The Must-Have Finance Skills of the Future

The financial professional of the future must utilize strategic and critical thinking skills to solve complex problems, leverage new technologies, and manage ever-changing risks..

Rapid rates of transformation require finance professionals to innovate. What important skills are a must-have to succeed within the finance function? FEI Daily spoke with Corporate Financial Reporting Insights Conference (CFRI) speaker and Vice Chair of Chief Products and Technology Officer at PwC about the skills he predicts will be most in-demand.

FEI Daily: Why are upskilling/training events for senior-level financial executives important, especially this year?

I’d also encourage executives not to underestimate your organization - and your team’s - capacity to grow. At PwC, a huge contributor to our success has been what we call “citizen led” innovation. Quite simply, we put the right tools in the hands of our people and we equipped them with the knowledge and the empowerment to put them to work. We learned quickly that they have the best view of what’s possible - they brought the knowledge of their work to the task of changing their work. Not only did they benefit from a new sense of purpose and a drive to innovate, but we also benefited from their ability to apply new technologies and new skills to make the work more efficient and more effective. They became the drivers of our transformation, instead of the recipients, and they knew - as we did - that they would be better positioned for future career growth as a result.  

FEI Daily: What skills do you predict will be most in-demand over the next several years (finance and otherwise)?

Atkinson : We used to talk about jobs as “tech” jobs and “non-tech” jobs, but now there are just jobs. We all have to embrace the tech. Careers today and the careers of tomorrow will require getting comfortable being uncomfortable - a mindset that allows people to explore tech, to ask the “stupid” questions and explore in a collaborative way with their coworkers what the tech means to the way they do their job.

We know we need smart, diligent accountants and financial executives who demonstrate the integrity that’s at the heart of financial reporting.  Data skills, analytics, data visualization - all are critical skills to the finance function of the future. But so is agility, a “product mindset,” and an understanding of the concepts behind human centered design. These aren’t the skills we often associate with our finance functions, but if we’re going to drive true and lasting transformation, these are the additional skills we need.

FEI Daily: What skills are finance teams looking for as they face COVID-related challenges?

Atkinson : Many observers are saying that the pandemic has significantly accelerated digital transformation - and in many ways it absolutely has. But in the last few months, what we’ve really seen is great strides in how we all work and communicate remotely. We still have a great deal to do to change the way work gets done, and to create sustainable patterns of work in a post-COVID world. Many people report they’re working longer hours than ever before, and as leaders, we need to listen to that reality and do all we can to create a better experience for the talented professionals we rely on every day. 

This has been a terrible and challenging time for many people. But - in the category of small silver linings - what the pandemic has demonstrated is that people have more agility and willingness to change than we as leaders typically give them credit for. None of us may be able to reliably work the mute/unmute buttons, but we are all more comfortable connecting, sharing content remotely, and driving outcomes even as we work far apart from each other. We have an opportunity to tap into that agility and empower our people to bring the next set of innovations to how we work.

FEI Daily: What do you hope attendees will take away from your session at CFRI?

Atkinson : Experience matters - organizations need steady leadership in uncertain times and the confidence that deep knowledge of our financial functions and processes brings comfort to our teams. But our teams also see the pace of change - they know the world is changing around them - and the additional burden of leadership today is to help them navigate that, even when we ourselves may also be uncomfortable with that pace of change. I hope today that participants will realize that the key takeaway is not to defer your learning. The learning curves may seem imposing, but the reality is they’re not that steep, they’re just continuous. The sooner you lean in and create the culture of learning, and empower your people to innovate with the right tools and skills, the faster you’ll unlock the ability of your teams to deliver the transformation you seek.

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Top soft skills for accounting professionals

Soft skills are key to career advancement. one cpa at the forefront of recruitment and professional development shares tips for boosting these critical skills..

• Professional Development

Communication

• Career Development

As professionals advance in an accounting or finance career, soft skills become increasingly important. In a world that is becoming more digital, computerized, and automated, soft skills can be the differentiator between two employees competing for the same promotion or position.

In fact, in a recent survey reported by the Society for Human Resource Management, 97% of employers stated soft skills were either as important or more important than hard skills. Whether a professional is looking for a new job or seeking a promotion, focusing on and developing soft skills can help employees be more well-rounded and employable professionals.

What I am seeing, for my own team and firmwide working with hiring companies, is the importance placed on various soft skills for accounting and finance professionals, which can help take the company's work to the next level.

For professionals looking to improve their work and their employability, the four soft skills listed below are most prominent.

Time management

Time management is an essential skill for any accounting professional because of not only how deadline-focused the profession is, but also because of the time management discipline required by the large-scale shift to remote work. It can be challenging to avoid procrastination, and it is easier to get off track when working virtually.

Because of accounting's cyclical nature, employees have ample opportunities to hone time management skills. Most significant projects and deliverables will happen at the same time of year, depending on the organization. Here are a few tips I have found to help develop time management skills and stay organized.

Start with leveraging calendars and tasks. Using the organization's digital tools can help move projects along and keep them organized. For example, if working within a team setting, use a shared spreadsheet with colleagues to track each person's responsibilities for month-end close or whatever project the team has prioritized. For sole practitioners, diligently using a calendar can help with keeping on task and meeting deadlines.

Another way to develop time management skills is by talking to managers and colleagues. Ask how they keep their tasks aligned. They might be planning their days in a way that can work with other projects and tasks. CPAs who demonstrate good time management have a leg up both for new employment opportunities and for promotions within their organization.

Critical thinking

Various hiring managers we work with often request that candidates have "strong critical-thinking skills," but what does that mean for the accounting and finance profession? Critical thinking — analyzing problems and finding the causes and solutions to those problems — is a major facet of the accounting profession.

Organizations are constantly facing new financial challenges. Most recently, COVID-19 created a range of challenges for accounting and finance teams to solve. Reallocating funds and cash management, managing payroll changes, reacting to new legal changes to internal reporting practices, and other changes required employees to think critically and creatively to meet organizational needs.

While COVID-19 was unexpected, there are other challenges accounting teams can plan for. What we are seeing most employers ask for is accounting and finance professionals who not only look at the problems of the past and find solutions, but who also can predict problems before they occur. From first glance to final analysis, accounting professionals should look at all the information they have and be able to communicate why something happened and what can be done in the future to plan or account for it.

When working to develop critical thinking skills, I've found it extremely important to first question how and why processes are done the way they are and ask how they can be done better. This "professional skepticism" and general curiosity can help ensure accuracy across all tasks. Professional skepticism will make it easier to ask the right questions and find the "why" instead of just trusting information at face value.

Leveraging other successful accounting professionals' advice can hone critical thinking skills and make any accounting professional a stronger asset to their organization. Webinars, conferences, and networking with other accounting professionals can give insight into what other organizations are doing and offer vendor recommendations, process improvements, and more.

Our recruiters regularly see communication as a top skill for accounting and finance talent. Nearly every function of an organization interacts with the accounting and finance teams. Therefore, professionals need to have exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal. Important projects need to be communicated in an easy-to-understand way to executives and colleagues (especially if they are unfamiliar with accounting or finance terminology) to ensure proper completion.

If accounting and finance professionals have poor communication skills, making clear points, sharing their reports and creating action items from the findings can be difficult. 

When working to develop strong communication skills, reach out to a manager for feedback. Have them review emails, reports, and other communication before sending out or sharing.

Ask them if the communication gets the point across and if they believe the end user will understand the report or the solution being communicated. It's important to recognize who your audience is and the best way to present the information.

Avoid using too much jargon and ensure that anyone can understand the information, not just accounting professionals. Along with asking a manager for help, do a self-review of any communication. For written work, read it out loud to catch errors. Hearing versus reading something has a different impact. For oral communication, practice in advance so that the meeting's goal or call is adequately communicated.

Collaboration

Collaboration with teammates and other employees is paramount for accounting professionals. Since accounting and finance teams touch every area of the business, they are expected to work cross-functionally and collaborate well with other employees. Projects that involve other employees — like budgets, cash flow projections, or strategic planning — can be complicated and require a high degree of collaboration.

While entry-level accountants might not lead these projects with other company leaders, they will eventually be expected to meet with teams across the organization, so developing this skill now is crucial for continued growth. Even for sole practitioners who work relatively independently, collaboration is absolutely key while working with clients and any other stakeholders in various projects.

One way I've found helpful in practicing to become a stronger collaborator is spending time before a meeting writing down questions and thoughts to bring to the conversation. Make speaking up in meetings and calls a regular habit, and eventually, it'll become muscle memory. Preparing questions and engaging with the topic will encourage other team members to do the same and create more dialogue and collaboration in the discussions.

— Ryan Chabus , CPA, MBA, is the controller at LaSalle Network, a staffing, recruiting, and culture firm based in the US. To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Drew Adamek, a JofA senior editor, at [email protected] .

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How to Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills as a Chief Financial Officer

Learn how to enhance your critical thinking skills as a CFO. Master decision-making, problem-solving & leadership with our tips.

As a Chief Financial Officer (CFO), you play a crucial role in driving the financial success of your organization. To achieve this, you need to have exceptional critical thinking skills that enable you to identify complex financial issues, evaluate multiple solutions, and make sound decisions. In this article, we will explore practical ways to enhance your critical thinking skills and take your CFO role to the next level.

Understanding the Importance of Critical Thinking for CFOs

As a CFO, you are responsible for managing the financial health of your organization and ensuring that it stays on track towards achieving its financial goals. Critical thinking is an essential tool in this role as it enables you to make sound decisions based on logic, analysis, and evaluation of available facts.

However, critical thinking is not just about making decisions based on data and facts. It also involves being able to identify assumptions, biases, and fallacies that may impact your decision-making process. By being aware of these potential pitfalls, you can make more informed decisions that are not influenced by personal biases or preconceptions.

The role of a CFO in decision-making

As a CFO, you are involved in decision-making at every level of your organization. Whether you are making decisions related to budgeting, investing, or risk management, critical thinking is essential to ensure that you are making informed decisions that align with your organization's goals.

Moreover, critical thinking enables you to see the bigger picture and understand how your decisions may impact other areas of your organization. By taking a holistic approach to decision-making, you can make decisions that benefit your organization as a whole rather than just one department or area.

How critical thinking impacts financial performance

Critical thinking is vital to financial performance as it enables you to identify financial risks, evaluate investment opportunities, and develop effective financial strategies that drive growth. By honing your critical thinking skills, you can make better financial decisions that contribute to the success of your organization.

However, critical thinking is not just about improving financial performance. It also helps you to identify opportunities for innovation and growth that may not be immediately apparent. By thinking critically, you can identify new markets, products, or services that can help your organization to stay ahead of the competition and achieve long-term success.

In conclusion, critical thinking is an essential skill for CFOs who want to make informed decisions that drive financial performance and contribute to the success of their organization. By developing your critical thinking skills, you can identify risks, opportunities, and innovative solutions that can help your organization to achieve its goals and stay ahead of the competition.

Developing a Growth Mindset

Growth mindset is the belief that you can develop your skills and abilities through hard work, practice, and learning. As a CFO, having a growth mindset is essential to continuously improve your critical thinking skills.

Embracing challenges and learning from failures

Challenges and failures are part of the learning process. Instead of shying away from them, embrace them as opportunities to learn and grow. By analyzing past failures, you can identify areas for improvement and make better decisions in the future.

For example, let's say your company recently experienced a financial setback. Instead of dwelling on the negative, use this as an opportunity to analyze what went wrong and how you can prevent it from happening again in the future. Perhaps you can identify areas where you need to improve your forecasting or risk management skills. By embracing this challenge and learning from your failure, you can become a stronger and more effective CFO.

Cultivating curiosity and open-mindedness

Curiosity and open-mindedness are critical to critical thinking. By staying curious and open to new ideas, you can challenge your assumptions, evaluate multiple perspectives, and make informed decisions that drive financial growth.

One way to cultivate curiosity is to regularly attend industry conferences and events. This will expose you to new ideas and perspectives, and help you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices. Additionally, you can seek out mentorship from other CFOs or industry experts, who can provide valuable insights and guidance.

Open-mindedness is also important when it comes to working with your team. By encouraging diverse perspectives and ideas, you can create a culture of innovation and collaboration. This can lead to new solutions and approaches that drive financial growth and success.

In conclusion, developing a growth mindset is essential for CFOs who want to continuously improve their critical thinking skills and drive financial growth. By embracing challenges, learning from failures, cultivating curiosity, and staying open-minded, you can become a stronger and more effective leader in your organization.

Enhancing Problem-Solving Abilities

Problem-solving is a critical skill for any professional, and it is especially important for CFOs. As a CFO, you are responsible for identifying and addressing complex financial issues that can impact your organization's success. Developing your problem-solving abilities can help you identify these issues and develop effective solutions that drive growth.

There are several key strategies that you can use to enhance your problem-solving abilities:

• Break down complex issues: When faced with a complex financial issue, it can be helpful to break it down into smaller parts. This can help you identify the root cause of the issue and develop targeted solutions.
• Analyze all available information: To make informed decisions, it is important to gather and analyze all available information related to the issue at hand. This can include financial data, market trends, and input from other stakeholders.
• Evaluate potential solutions: There are often multiple solutions available for complex financial issues. By evaluating each potential solution and its potential outcomes, you can make an informed decision that drives the best financial performance for your organization.

Identifying and Analyzing Complex Financial Issues

As a CFO, you face a wide range of complex financial issues on a daily basis. These can include everything from managing cash flow and budgeting to forecasting revenue and analyzing market trends. To effectively address these issues, it is important to break them down into smaller parts and analyze all available information.

For example, if your organization is experiencing cash flow issues, you might start by analyzing your accounts receivable and accounts payable to identify any potential bottlenecks. You might also look at your sales data to identify any trends or patterns that could be impacting your cash flow. By breaking down the issue into smaller parts and analyzing all available information, you can develop targeted solutions that address the root cause of the issue.

Evaluating Multiple Solutions and Their Potential Outcomes

When faced with complex financial issues, there are often multiple solutions available. For example, if your organization is struggling to meet its revenue targets, you might consider launching a new product, expanding into a new market, or increasing your marketing efforts.

To evaluate these potential solutions, it is important to consider their potential outcomes. For example, launching a new product might require a significant investment of time and resources, but it could also generate a significant amount of revenue if successful. Similarly, expanding into a new market could be a high-risk, high-reward strategy that could drive significant growth for your organization.

By evaluating each potential solution and its potential outcomes, you can make an informed decision that drives the best financial performance for your organization.

Strengthening Emotional Intelligence

Effective decision-making is not just about logic and analysis. Emotions also play a crucial role in decision-making. As a CFO, it is important to recognize the impact of emotions on your decision-making process and strengthen your emotional intelligence to make better decisions that align with your organization's goals.

Emotions can be powerful and have the ability to cloud our judgment. When making decisions, it is important to recognize and manage your emotions to ensure that they do not negatively impact your thought process. By strengthening your emotional intelligence, you can develop strategies to manage your emotions and make informed decisions.

Understanding the impact of emotions on decision-making

Research has shown that emotions can influence decision-making in a variety of ways. For example, fear can cause individuals to avoid taking risks, while anger can lead to impulsive decisions. By understanding the impact of emotions on decision-making, you can develop strategies to manage your emotions and make informed decisions that align with your organization's goals.

One way to manage your emotions is to take a step back and evaluate your feelings before making a decision. By taking a moment to reflect on your emotions, you can better understand how they may be influencing your thought process. This can help you make a more informed decision that is based on logic and analysis, rather than emotions.

Developing empathy and effective communication skills

As a CFO, you need to communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels. Developing empathy and effective communication skills can help you communicate with authenticity, build trust, and make informed decisions that align with your organization's values.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. By developing empathy, you can better understand the perspectives of your stakeholders and make decisions that take their needs into account. Effective communication skills are also important for building trust and ensuring that your stakeholders understand your decisions.

One way to develop empathy and effective communication skills is to actively listen to your stakeholders. By listening to their concerns and perspectives, you can better understand their needs and make decisions that align with their expectations. Additionally, communicating your decisions clearly and transparently can help build trust and ensure that your stakeholders understand your thought process.

Overall, strengthening your emotional intelligence can help you make better decisions as a CFO. By understanding the impact of emotions on decision-making and developing empathy and effective communication skills, you can make informed decisions that align with your organization's goals and values.

Building Effective Decision-Making Processes

Building effective decision-making processes is crucial to enhancing your critical thinking skills as a CFO. By establishing a systematic approach to decision-making, you can make sound decisions that align with your organization's goals. But what does it take to create an effective decision-making process?

First, it's important to understand that decision-making is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Different situations call for different decision-making processes. For example, a quick decision may be necessary in a crisis situation, while a more deliberate approach may be needed for long-term planning.

Establishing a Systematic Approach to Decision-Making

Establishing a systematic approach to decision-making involves identifying the problem, analyzing available information, evaluating potential solutions, and selecting the best solution. This process can be broken down into the following steps:

• Identify the problem: Clearly define the problem you are trying to solve. This step is crucial because it sets the foundation for the entire decision-making process.
• Analyze available information: Gather and analyze all relevant information related to the problem. This may involve reviewing financial data, market trends, and customer feedback.
• Evaluate potential solutions: Consider all possible solutions to the problem and evaluate their pros and cons. This step may involve brainstorming, conducting research, and seeking input from others.
• Select the best solution: Based on the analysis and evaluation of potential solutions, choose the best course of action. This decision should be based on sound reasoning and aligned with the organization's goals.

By following a systematic approach, you can make sound decisions that lead to financial success.

Encouraging Collaboration and Diverse Perspectives

Collaboration and diverse perspectives are essential to effective decision-making. By encouraging collaboration and listening to diverse perspectives, you can gain new insights, challenge assumptions, and make informed decisions that contribute to the financial success of your organization.

Collaboration involves working with others to solve a problem or make a decision. This may involve brainstorming sessions, team meetings, or seeking input from subject matter experts. By involving others in the decision-making process, you can gain new perspectives and insights that you may not have considered otherwise.

Diverse perspectives refer to the idea that people with different backgrounds, experiences, and expertise can contribute unique insights to the decision-making process. By seeking out diverse perspectives, you can challenge assumptions and avoid groupthink, which can lead to better decision-making.

In conclusion, building effective decision-making processes involves establishing a systematic approach to decision-making and encouraging collaboration and diverse perspectives. By following these principles, you can make sound decisions that contribute to the financial success of your organization.

In Conclusion

Enhancing your critical thinking skills is essential to becoming a successful CFO. By understanding the importance of critical thinking, cultivating a growth mindset, enhancing your problem-solving abilities, strengthening your emotional intelligence, and building effective decision-making processes, you can make sound decisions that drive the financial success of your organization.

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• Q1: Why is critical thinking important for CFOs? Critical thinking is important for CFOs as it enables them to make sound decisions based on logic, analysis, and evaluation of available facts. It also helps in identifying assumptions, biases, and fallacies that may impact the decision-making process.
• Q2: What is the role of a CFO in decision-making? CFOs are involved in decision-making at every level of the organization. Whether it is related to budgeting, investing, or risk management, critical thinking is essential to ensure that informed decisions are being made that align with the organization's goals.
• Q3: How does critical thinking impact financial performance? Critical thinking is vital to financial performance as it enables identifying financial risks, evaluating investment opportunities and developing effective financial strategies that drive growth. It also helps in identifying opportunities for innovation and growth that may not be immediately apparent.
• Q4: How can CFOs enhance their problem-solving abilities? CFOs can enhance their problem-solving abilities by breaking down complex issues, analyzing all available information, and evaluating potential solutions. This helps in identifying the root cause of the issue and developing targeted solutions.
• Q5: How can emotional intelligence help in effective decision-making? Emotional intelligence can help in effective decision-making as it helps in recognizing the impact of emotions on the decision-making process. By developing empathy and effective communication skills, CFOs can communicate with authenticity, build trust and make informed decisions that align with their organization's values.

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Critical Thinking and Personal Finance: A Smart Approach to Money Management

In today’s fast-paced world, personal finance is more crucial than ever for long-term financial success and stability. It’s not enough to simply follow traditional financial advice; individuals must apply critical thinking skills to their money management decisions. By analyzing and evaluating their financial situation, people can make informed choices that will improve their overall financial well-being.

Additionally, it’s essential to stay informed about new opportunities and potential challenges in the financial world. By staying current with economic trends and financial news, individuals can better discern which strategies will work best for their unique situation, reducing the risk of financial setbacks and increasing their chances of long-term financial success.

Understanding Personal Finance

Income and expenses, debt and credit, savings and investments.

By focusing on these critical aspects of personal finance— income and expenses, debt and credit, and savings and investments—you can develop a solid foundation for financial success and security. Remember to review and adjust your financial plan regularly to ensure you stay on track and make informed decisions for your future.

Critical Thinking in Finance

Emotional factors, decision-making process, budgeting and cash flow, creating a budget, managing monthly expenses.

Managing your monthly expenses effectively is crucial for maintaining a healthy cash flow and staying within your budget. Start by tracking your spending to identify any patterns or areas where you may be overspending. Use budgeting apps or tools to help you categorize and monitor your expenses. Prioritize essential living expenses and consider cutting back on non-essential items to maintain a positive cash flow.

Dealing with Debt

Debt management strategies.

Dealing with debt requires a confident and knowledgeable approach. It’s important to develop a clear plan to tackle existing debt while preventing further accumulation. Consider the following debt management strategies:

Credit Card Debt

Student loans, income diversification, side hustles.

Exploring side hustles can be a great way to create multiple streams of income and improve financial stability. Having a side hustle not only provides extra income but also can act as a safety net in times of financial uncertainty. Some common side hustles include freelancing, selling handmade products, or offering consulting services. It is essential to focus on activities that leverage your skills and align with your interests to ensure long-term commitment and success.

Investment Diversification

Planning for the future, retirement planning.

Retirement planning is a crucial aspect of personal finance to ensure a comfortable and secure future. Establish clear financial goals and start saving and investing early in various retirement accounts, such as 401(k)s, IRAs, or annuities. Diversification in investment options like stocks, bonds, and mutual funds can help generate consistent returns, minimize risks, and build a robust portfolio over time. Keep revisiting and adjusting your retirement plan as needed to stay aligned with your financial goals and market changes.

Family Planning

Navigating financial challenges.

When it comes to personal finance, it’s important to have a strategy in place to deal with various financial challenges. Two such challenges that have the potential to significantly impact personal finances are recessions and economic uncertainty, as well as pandemics. By understanding these challenges and how to address them, you can make more informed decisions to safeguard your financial well-being.

Recessions and Economic Uncertainty

Pandemic and finances.

Pandemics, like the recent COVID-19 outbreak, can pose unique financial challenges. These events can lead to sudden income loss and increased expenses, making it essential to reassess your financial plans:

Making Smart Purchases

Housing and mortgages.

When considering housing options, it’s essential to be mindful of the costs associated with purchasing a home. One critical aspect to think about is obtaining a mortgage . It’s vital to shop around and compare different lenders’ interest rates and terms to ensure you get the best deal possible. Also, make sure to consider the overall cost of the mortgage, including any fees and closing costs.

Vehicle Ownership

Another essential factor in vehicle ownership is deciding between buying or leasing a car. A lease can be an attractive option for those who want to drive a new car for a lower monthly payment and not have to worry about its resale value. However, leasing can also come with mileage restrictions and may not be the best option for those who plan to keep their vehicle for an extended period.

Managing Financial Products

Bank accounts.

A checking account typically allows for unlimited transactions, providing flexibility in money management. This type of account is beneficial for everyday expenses, bill payments, and managing cash flow. It is crucial to track transactions to avoid overdrafts and maintain a healthy financial status.

Insurance Options

Health insurance is essential in managing potential medical costs. It’s crucial to find a plan that meets one’s needs and budget. Factors to consider when selecting a health insurance plan include the coverage provided, out-of-pocket costs, provider networks, and any additional benefits. Maintain awareness of deductibles, copays, and policy changes.

Tax and Wage Considerations

Income tax planning.

One of the essential aspects of personal finance is effective income tax planning . This involves considering the timing of income, the size of income, and planning for expenditures. By saving for retirement in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or other tax-advantaged accounts, you can reduce your taxable income and plan for a more financially secure future. Furthermore, taking advantage of deductions and tax credits can help to minimize the tax burden and provide additional resources for personal financial goals.

Salary and Wage Factors

In today’s complex financial world, it is essential to think critically about personal finance management. Making informed decisions and having a solid financial plan can ensure long-term financial stability and security.

Besides managing debt and savings, investment in oneself plays a significant role in personal finance. Acquiring new skills, pursuing higher education, and staying updated with industry trends can lead to better job opportunities and income growth. This, in turn, contributes to long-term financial well-being.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can i improve my financial decision-making skills.

Improving financial decision-making skills involves increasing your financial literacy and being objective in evaluating options. Consider reading books or attending seminars on personal finance, and consult with a financial advisor to gain further insights. Continually analyzing your spending habits and making necessary adjustments will contribute to better decision-making skills.

What methods can I use to create a successful budget?

How can i effectively manage debt and credit, what should i consider when planning for long-term financial goals.

When planning for long-term financial goals, consider factors such as anticipated income, expected expenses, inflation, and investment returns. Start by defining clear and realistic goals, such as saving for a down payment on a house or planning for retirement. Develop a strategic plan to reach those goals and review your progress periodically.

How do I build an emergency fund?

How can i make informed investment choices, you may also like, unleashing your creativity: associative thinking techniques explained, thinking critically about new information, master cognitive biases and improve your critical thinking.

Does social media affect critical thinking skills?

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7 Finance Skills Employers Look for on a Resume

• 07 Jun 2022

There's a shortage of talent in today's job market. While some believe it's caused by factors like the pandemic or "Great Resignation," the finance field is experiencing a talent shortage largely due to changing industry trends.

According to Robert Half Talent Solutions , 65 percent of senior managers in finance and accounting are hiring for permanent positions in the first half of 2022. Yet, only 33 percent are hiring for vacant roles, meaning many positions are newly created, largely due to the changing skill sets needed.

Are you interested in breaking into finance but not sure what your resume should include? Here are the top finance skills employers want, why they're essential to the job market, and how you can obtain them.

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What Are Finance Skills?

Finance skills are often associated with industry-specific positions, such as accountants and finance managers. This definition only scratches the surface when examining finance's role in business. Finance skills are soft and hard skills that enable stakeholders to manage and navigate financial decision-making and problem-solving.

Some common roles that require financial skills on a resume are:

• Accountants
• Financial analysts
• Chief financial officers (CFOs)
• Underwriters
• Finance managers

Each role requires varying skills and experience levels. Yet, several skills are important, and often mandatory, across all positions. Here's an overview of what finance skills employers want and what you can do to enhance your resume.

Finance Skills You Need on Your Resume

1. accounting skills.

The first, and perhaps most important, finance skill employers ask for is accounting. This doesn't mean you need to have previous experience as an accountant, but rather proficiency in reading and understanding financial documents , including:

• Balance sheets
• Income statements
• Cash flow statements
• Annual reports

The data points extracted from these financial documents inform finance and business leaders about a company's financial health and its future initiatives.

For example, cash flow management —tracking a company's assets as they move in and out of the business—is an incredibly important metric. Leadership and key stakeholders use it to predict how much money will be available at any given time and how much is needed to cover outstanding debts.

Since accounting is fundamental in tracking a company's performance, employers tend to offer a competitive salary to those who possess these skills. According to Emsi Burning Glass data, prospective finance professionals with accounting skills can expect a median salary of $80,320 or more.

2. Analytical Thinking Skills

While employers need team members who build financial statements, business leaders need experience analyzing and leveraging this information. This is called financial statement analysis , the process of reviewing key financial documents to better understand a company's performance.

This is done by analyzing performance metrics found on various financial statements and through financial ratios. Some important ratios include:

• Current ratio , which measures a company's ability to pay off its short-term commitments
• Quick ratio , which calculates whether a company can pay off its short-term obligations with liquid assets
• Debt-to-equity ratio , which evaluates a company's financial efficacy by dividing a company's total liabilities by shareholder equity

Analytical thinking has quickly become a high commodity in the finance job market. Some of the top employers advertise finance job postings that require analytical thinking. According to Emsi Burning Glass data, the top 10 companies that require this skill include:

• Travelers Insurance
• Charles Schwab
• JPMorgan Chase & Co.
• Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield
• Wells Fargo
• The Hartford
• Health Care Service Corporation

3. Financial Decision-Making Skills

Decision-making is an essential skill for aspiring leaders. While business leaders often take time to understand an organization's goals, initiatives, and mission, finance is crucial to positioning a company for success.

Managers in any department can benefit from finance knowledge. For example, estimating a project's financial impact is a common responsibility, often done by calculating its return on investment (ROI) .

Data-driven financial decision-making creates a clear framework for company leadership to reference and provides the building blocks to a far more elusive finance skill: intuition. For this reason, it's invaluable to include on your resume.

4. Management Skills

Like most industries, employers in the finance sector always look for applicants with management skills and experience. These skills are needed for managing people as well as the various moving parts of a company's capital structure and reporting processes.

This skill doesn't apply solely to mid- and high-level managers. For example, preparing an organization's budget requires management skills. Whether a quarterly budget for performance tracking or a budget proposal to recommend future initiatives, the preparation of this essential document calls for collaboration, regular communication, and clear direction.

According to Emsi Burning Glass data, some top finance job titles that require management skills include:

• Financial managers
• Personal service managers
• Financial and investment analysts
• Financial risk specialists
• Financial specialists
• General managers
• Operations managers
• Securities sales agents
• Commodities sales agents
• Financial services sales agents

5. Financial Reporting Skills

Many finance professionals deal with historical data, but looking to the future is equally as crucial.

Financial forecasting predicts a company's financial future by examining historical performance data, such as revenue, cash flow, expenses, or sales. This is an incredibly important skill to include on a resume since it often assists business leaders in major decisions around areas like hiring, budgeting, and strategic planning.

Cash flow forecasting is a particularly important form of forecasting. These predictions help support a company's stability by determining whether it will have enough cash to cover future expenses. As a result, these skills are often synonymous with "forward-thinking"—a valuable characteristic of prospective finance employees.

6. Communication Skills

Most prospective finance professionals understand the importance of accounting and analysis skills, but many minimize the role of effective communication.

This skill can take the form of strong oral communication in meetings or written communication in financial documents. Being an effective communicator also requires explaining financial jargon in simple terms. This is accomplished through financial literacy —the understanding and use of financial terminology, statements, and concepts.

Since many stakeholders and clients are outside the financial sector, companies often select candidates who can communicate complex industry language to others. Emsi Burning Glass shows a steady increase in finance job postings requiring communication skills over the past year.

7. Investing Skills

In today's market, most employers know profits made from their goods and services aren't enough to sustain long-term growth. Investing as one form of capital allocation is a great way for companies to generate even more money outside of their operations.

Since investing is a riskier endeavor than releasing a new product to market, it's important for employers to hire individuals with a keen eye for investing. For example, a company that has numerous alternative investments should hire people who understand these assets and can assess the varying risks.

Another aspect of this industry that's grown in popularity and demand is sustainable investing . This trend of purpose-driven investing has created a need for financial leaders who value and understand environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors when deciding whether resources should be contributed to a venture.

How to Improve Your Finance Skills

Finance skills are essential for industry leaders and managers. These positions require an intuitive knowledge of financial principles and statements to unlock critical insights into a company's performance and potential.

One of the best ways to develop these high-demand skills is by taking an online course. These courses can offer a solid foundation in finance and accounting concepts while giving you the tools and processes to tackle some of the biggest financial challenges companies face.

Are you looking to strengthen your finance resume? Check out our finance and accounting courses , including Leading with Finance , Financial Accounting , Sustainable Investing , and Alternative Investments , to acquire the skills needed to land an interview. If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

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Critical thinking for accounting and finance.

No skill is more important in business today than the ability to understand, analyze, and act on information effectively and responsibly. Finance and Accounting professionals who are also savvy, sharp critical thinkers can cut through ambiguity and information overload to quickly zero in on what is really important. This session shares cognitive techniques and critical thinking tools to enhance decision-making under pressure and strengthen your impact.

Learning Objectives

Examine cognitive techniques and critical thinking tools to enhance decision-making under pressure and strengthen your impact

Major Topics

• Cognitive techniques
• Critical thinking tools
• Decision making under pressure

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Leaders in an organization who want to improve their communication and critical thinking skills

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• Kreyòl Ayisyen

Financial knowledge and decision-making skills

Financial knowledge and decision-making skills help people make informed financial decisions through problem-solving, critical thinking, and an understanding of key financial facts and concepts.

Building financial knowledge and decision-making skills

How do we learn to make good financial choices? Learn more about the financial knowledge and decision-making skills building block and how it can help young people make the right decisions for their situation.

Importance of financial knowledge and decision-making skills

Strong financial knowledge and decision-making skills help people weigh options and make informed choices for their financial situations, such as deciding how and when to save and spend, comparing costs before a big purchase, and planning for retirement or other long-term savings.

Development of this building block

Financial knowledge and decision-making skills typically don’t develop until adolescence and young adulthood. During these years, they become more relevant, especially for youth who start to earn money, buy things on their own, manage a bank account, or borrow for education.

The tables that follow show what this building block looks like at three stages of development and how the skills and abilities relate to adult behavior associated with financial well-being.

Early childhood (ages 3–5)

Middle childhood (ages 6–12)

Adolescence and early adulthood (ages 13–21)

Teaching this building block

Schools can provide opportunities for youth to practice financial behaviors, make financial decisions, and reflect on the outcomes and consequences of those decisions. Across the curriculum, teachers can provide opportunities for students to learn how to find and recognize reliable financial information, compare financial products, and do purposeful financial research in order to analyze options and make decisions.

Instructional strategies

Research shows that the following strategies can be effective to help people develop financial knowledge and decision-making skills.

• Competency-based learning: Student-centered learning that encourages students to progress toward well-defined benchmarks to give them a sense of mastery and ownership over the skills and knowledge they are learning
• Direct instruction: A structured, straightforward, teacher-directed approach that focuses on an explicit skill and typically includes a lecture, demonstration, or discussion
• Personalized instruction: Teacher assesses each student’s needs, then tailors instruction to the individual student, including focusing and differentiating resources, strategies, supports, and pacing on that student’s needs to individualize learning
• Project-based learning: A hands-on strategy in which students actively explore real-world challenges, answer meaningful questions, and accomplish relevant tasks and, in doing so, are encouraged to make their own decisions, perform their own research, overcome obstacles, and present their work to others
• Simulation: Hands-on learning activities that use real-world scenarios to promote critical thinking and application of learning

Learning activities

Learning activities that nurture financial knowledge and decision making should support young people’s acquisition of factual knowledge, research and analysis skills, and deliberate financial decision-making. The types of activities that support these skills include the following.

• Financial coaching and mentoring: Adults engage and encourage students (individually and in small groups) to develop financial capability and work toward financial goals
• Financial simulations: Educational tools or activities that replicate real-world financial management situations and allow students to develop skills such as budgeting, comparison shopping, and investing by making mock decisions that result in realistic consequences
• Real-world case studies: Stories that present realistic situations involving a dilemma, conflict, or problem to be negotiated or resolved by analyzing and evaluating a range of information and weighing the consequences of different decisions

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The Value of Soft Skills in Finance

Soft skills, commonly referred to as people skills or interpersonal skills, are traditionally seen as relevant to industries like hospitality, education and social work. But that isn’t the case anymore. Today, a growing body of research suggests that soft skills are more valuable than ever in the labor market—and the finance industry is no exception. 1

Skills like communication, leadership, cultural awareness and teamwork help to shape an efficient workplace. They also play a crucial role in building relationships with customers and stakeholders.

In this post, you’ll learn why employers in the finance industry are seeking applicants with fine-tuned soft skills and how an online Master’s in Finance can nurture your soft skills to help you get ahead.

Cognitive vs. Non-Cognitive Skills

Soft skills is an umbrella term used to describe any non-technical skills used in the workplace. These skills are often difficult to measure but nonetheless critical for a candidate’s long-term success. 2 To better understand soft skills, it may help to break down the difference between cognitive and non-cognitive skills.

Both cognitive and non-cognitive skills are used in every industry, can be sharpened through education and experience and will help you get ahead in your workplace. However, non-cognitive skills are seen as "softer" (less technical and more difficult to measure) and affect how you relate to people.

Cognitive Skills: Memory, Logic and Reason

Cognitive skills are used to accomplish tasks. Some common examples that employers look for include reasoning, memory, multi-tasking, complex problem-solving and pattern recognition. An enhanced set of cognitive skills can help you meet deadlines, tackle long-term projects and develop your job-specific skills over time.

These skills are often thought of as related to your IQ and can be measured through standardized testing. While cognitive skills are important for any industry, high test scores don’t necessarily mean high employability—you also need non-cognitive skills to succeed.

Non-Cognitive Skills: Empathy, Passion and Adaptability

Non-cognitive skills are used to relate to others and think on your feet. Communication, for example, is a non-cognitive skill that affects how you relate to your coworkers and customers. While multi-tasking and time management skills will help you get a task done on time, great communication ensures that the finished project will meet the needs and desires of everyone involved.

Grit is another example of a non-cognitive quality that employers look for. 3 People with this quality are passionate about their work and resilient in the face of challenges. When complications arise, grit can help you get creative and find a new solution.

People with strong non-cognitive skills often make good teammates and leaders. In a fast-paced work environment, skills like critical thinking and empathy can go a long way to ensure everyone works together smoothly.

The Growing Demand for Soft Skills in Finance

The financial sector, like most other industries, is facing changes in the digital age. In response to those changes, major financial companies are increasingly seeking job candidates with soft skills instead of just technical or cognitive skills. 4

One driving factor behind the importance of soft skills in finance is an increasing demand for great customer service. Thanks to new technology and disruptive business models, customers’ expectations have changed—fast, responsive and personalized customer service is now the norm. 5 Even if that service is automated, soft skills like emotional intelligence and cultural awareness are necessary to create programs that meet everyday customers’ needs.

Shifting demographics in the finance industry have also increased the demand for soft skills. Younger employees have different expectations for their learning and training experiences than their baby-boomer predecessors.

Some studies show that training models based on soft skills, instead of just technical training, help to improve employee performance and retention. 6 In other words, investing in soft skills can help companies create more dynamic, successful workplaces.

Which Skills are in Demand?

A 2022 study compared the difference between the financial sector and other industries in terms of high-demand soft skills. The results showed that these skills most increase a candidate’s employability in the finance sector: 7

• Emotional intelligence
• Coordinating with others
• Judgment and decision making

Of those skills, emotional intelligence is most lacking among candidates in the finance industry. Decision-making and critical thinking are also lacking (and therefore in high demand)—mainly due to a lack of soft skills training. That means a candidate can give themselves a competitive edge by showing a high level of emotional intelligence in their application, along with other critical soft skills.

Critical Thinking: An Essential Skill in Finance

Critical thinking is a crucial soft skill in the financial services industry, allowing professionals to objectively analyze and evaluate information to reach sound decisions. 8 This skill is particularly vital for roles such as chief financial officers, who are often called upon to strategize and solve complex problems. A critical thinker objectively analyses data and patterns, enabling them to understand financial trends and forecasts more accurately.

Additionally, critical thinking enhances the ability of modern finance professionals to offer valuable financial advice. This capability is not just beneficial for their current or past colleagues, but for anyone who might seek financial advice. Such professionals are in high demand in the financial services sector, especially among finance sector employers who value the skill of critical analysis that drives informed, strategic decision-making.

Communication Skills: Bridging Gaps in the Financial Sector

Effective communication skills have become an integral part of the finance professionals' skill set in financial services firms. According to an Indeed article,“ as businesses become increasingly global, the need for professionals who can successfully communicate across diverse cultures and languages becomes more pressing.” 9

Communication skills are not merely about conveying ideas but understanding the nuances of human emotion, cultural subtleties and the ability to empathize with others. The growth of technology has also given rise to the need for professionals who can explain complex financial concepts in layman's terms. In the financial services industry, this is particularly crucial when dealing with clients who may not have an in-depth understanding of finance.

Moreover, great communication skills enhance cooperation among team members, improving efficiency and productivity. Modern workplace learning methods are incorporating these skills into their curriculums, recognizing their importance in the finance sector.

Modern Workplace Learning Methods: Nurturing a Flexible Finance Professional

The changing nature of work and the advancement of technology have resulted in the evolution of modern workplace learning methods. 10 These methods have a profound impact on finance professionals and how they continue to develop their soft skills. Many financial services firms now invest in leadership development programs, prioritizing the cultivation of soft skills to breed a more adaptive and flexible finance professional.

New-age learning methods include blended learning, e-learning and experiential learning, among others. These techniques are instrumental in teaching finance professionals how to adapt to fast-paced work environments, collaborate with diverse teams and think critically to solve complex problems.

In conclusion, the financial services industry is changing rapidly. To keep pace, finance professionals must embrace the value of soft skills. These skills not only make them more employable but also equip them with the tools they need to navigate the dynamic world of finance successfully.

The Balance of Hard Skills and Soft Skills in Finance Jobs

While soft skills are crucial, hard skills remain vital for finance jobs. Hard skills encompass specialist knowledge like financial modeling and economics, traditionally the focus of finance training. Today's financial institutions, however, demand more than a list of hard skills. They seek professionals like investment bankers who can unite hard and soft skills, such as problem-solving, communication and creative thinking, to navigate the finance world's complexities. 11

Embracing Digital Transformation in Finance

Digital transformation is revolutionizing the finance industry. 10 Finance professionals must keep pace, adopting new technologies and cultivating a flexible mindset. This adaptability isn't limited to proficiency in the latest finance software but extends to adjusting to new business methods, evolving regulations and fast-paced business environments. Flexible employees excel at managing expectations and handling uncertainties, making them a treasure in finance.

Creative Thinking and Relationship Development

Creative thinking is a valued soft skill in finance, entailing innovative problem-solving, unique investment strategies and unconventional approaches to group working scenarios. 12

Similarly, relationship development is key in finance jobs and often overlooked. It involves more than networking; it's about building and nurturing meaningful relationships with clients, peers and competitors, drawing on experiences from previous job roles.

This balance of skills distinguishes professionals who excel in the rapidly evolving finance industry.

Sharpen Your Soft Skills With a Master’s in Finance

So, how can you acquire these in-demand skills at the start of your career? An online Master’s in Finance will help you get ahead.

A specialized finance degree teaches more than just technical skills. It offers insights into the expertise of leaders in the finance industry. That includes current industry changes, challenges and demands of modern customers—all of which can help increase your emotional intelligence, cultural awareness and other soft skills.

An online education can also help to improve soft skills like adaptability. Pursuing an online degree shows grit—applicants who have completed an MS program have faced challenges like balancing their schedule, remote networking and juggling multiple tasks at once.

Help Secure Your Future in Finance with a William & Mary Master’s

In the William & Mary Online MS in Finance program , you’ll have the chance to gain specialized knowledge and stand out in the job market

Whether you’re interested in becoming a wealth manager or investment banking analyst or rising to the top of a major financial company, our unique credential program can get you on the right path. The program takes as little as 15 months and offers hands-on learning opportunities.

Contact an admissions outreach advisor today to learn more about the Online MS in Finance and how it can help you craft valuable soft skills.

• Retrieved on July 17, 2023, from nber.org/reporter/2017number4/value-soft-skills-labor-market
• Retrieved on July 17, 2023, from thebalancemoney.com/list-of-soft-skills-2063770
• Retrieved on July 17, 2023, from indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/non-cognitive-skills
• Retrieved on July 17, 2023, from financedigest.com/the-growing-importance-of-soft-skills-in-financial-services.html
• Retrieved on July 17, 2023, from d2l.com/blog/importance-soft-skills-financial-services/
• Retrieved on July 17, 2023, from linkedin.com/pulse/importance-soft-skills-banking-sector-daksha-skilling-academy/
• Retrieved on July 17, 2023, from researchgate.net/publication/359973817_The_Role_of_Soft_Skills_in_Employability_in_the_Financial_Industry
• Retrieved on July 17, 2023, from linkedin.com/pulse/how-critical-thinking-skills-workplace-financial-services-bhayare/
• Retrieved on July 17, 2023, from linkedin.com/pulse/3-multicultural-communication-strategies-enhance-tatyana-fittipaldi/
• Retrieved on July 17, 2023, from mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/technology-jobs-and-the-future-of-work
• Retrieved on July 17, 2023, from indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/finance-resume-skills
• Retrieved on July 17, 2023, from afponline.org/ideas-inspiration/topics/articles/Details/finance-leaders-need-to-embrace-creativity.-and-fast!

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More From Forbes

Critical thinking: what is it and how can you develop this skill.

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Founder and Head of the international IT recruitment company Lucky Hunter .

I have already raised the issue of the importance of developing emotional intelligence in previous pieces, and today I would like to talk about why critical thinking also matters for employees—especially top managers of companies.

First of all, let's define what critical thinking is. In general, it is the ability to objectively analyze events, incoming information and arguments; approach an issue from different sides; and form conclusions based on the analysis. Developing critical thinking is relevant not only for work but also for life—today we're inundated with huge amounts of information every day, and in order to be able to analyze this information and determine our position based on balanced facts, it is important to look at situations critically.

Critical thinking allows you to always soberly assess the situations taking place in your work, give an objective assessment, including your own actions and the actions of others, effectively negotiate and find the best way out of ambiguous situations. That is why large companies, when hiring employees, pay close attention to the soft skills of a candidate, especially if they are applying for top positions.

So, how can you develop critical thinking?

Practice analyzing.

Turn the events happening around you into facts. Learn to separate them from emotions. Emotions often prevent us from thinking critically, because they reduce everything to the emotional component, which cannot be relied on. Study different points of view on a specific topic. Read more, broaden your horizons and work with information—the more you “dissect” any information material, the more chances you have to get to the bottom of it.

Pay attention to self-criticism.

There should always be a certain amount of healthy self-criticism in your actions and behavior. The keyword here is healthy because it is important to maintain balance and not slip into self-flagellation. Learn to adequately evaluate yourself and your actions, and determine your strengths and growth areas. I work in recruiting, so I will give an example from my practice: In the work of a recruiter, self-criticism is vital for an objective assessment of a candidate, because, in order to evaluate others, you must first be able to objectively evaluate yourself.

Build productive communication.

If you conduct a dialogue calmly and kindly, without insults and rudeness, truly listening and hearing the interlocutor, you thereby increase the chances of getting some useful insight into the process of interaction. It can give you the opportunity to look at the situation from a new angle and come to a conclusion that you would not have come to otherwise. Therefore, the ability to conduct effective, productive communication also affects the development of critical thinking.

Develop your forecasting skills.

This point is quite closely related to the first one. Analyze information and build forecasts based on the analysis, think over the likely development of events and try to answer for yourself why it will be exactly like this. Such forecasting, again, allows you to study a specific situation from different sides, get certain insights into the process and come to an objective conclusion.

Today, it's crucial for employees and managers to develop the skill of thinking critically—all you need to do is start. The result could have a positive impact on all fields of your life, both personal and professional, because a high level of critical thinking has a good effect on communication (including business). It allows you to form objective conclusions and cut off the excess of information garbage, focusing on facts and analyzing them.

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8 Essential Soft Skills for a Successful Career in Finance or Accounting

Learn what soft skills are most essential for modern-day finance professionals. [Skyword]

Samuel Holzman

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Finance and accounting professionals perform tasks that are often complex, demanding, and incredibly consequential to the success of their company. As such, they rely on many technical skills gathered through years of experience and education. But, mathematical skills and role-specific expertise are just a piece of the puzzle – success in finance or accounting also requires a number of equally important soft skills.

Below, we’ll cover eight valuable soft skills and explain why these attributes are instrumental to success in the finance and accounting fields. If you want to get ahead in your career, these are the attributes you should actively work on improving.

Or, if you’re hiring for a new finance or accounting position, our tips will be just as useful – as these are the skills you should be looking for in any job candidate.

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Soft skills vs. hard skills

For those who may be new to the workforce, we want to take a minute to distinguish the difference between hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills are job-specific duties required of a role. These are often technical, measurable, and objective. Hard skills can be taught or learned through training. Examples of hard skills include copywriting, data analysis, project management, and computer programming.

Soft skills, on the other hand, aren’t job specific. They’re more subjective, but equally important skills that make someone a valuable asset in any role they may take on. Some soft skills include: communication, collaboration, leadership, and problem-solving.

Neither skill set is more or less important than the other. In fact, the ideal employee possesses an equal mix of both soft skills and hard skills. But, in professions like finance or accounting, where the focus is often on the more technical aspects of the role, it can be easy to overlook the importance of soft skills.

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8 essential soft skills for finance professionals

Whether you’re a hiring manager looking for your next candidate or a finance professional looking to develop your skill set, remember to keep these eight finance soft skills in mind.

1. Communication

Communication skills are in high demand across all industries, but are especially essential for finance workers. You may be a technical wizard, highly trained in all kinds of billing and cash flow analysis activities, but the results you produce are only as good as your ability to communicate them to key stakeholders.

For example, say you’ve just released your monthly commission statements to your sales team. You’ve already taken every measure to calculate their commission in the most efficient, accurate manner possible. But, a sales rep has a question about their statement, as they believed they were set to earn more than the statement indicates.

If you approach compensation communication with clarity and precision, you’ll be able to quickly explain the numbers to this sales rep, thus earning their trust and cultivating a strong interpersonal relationship, while also alleviating their confusion. On the other hand, if you come off as dismissive, unconfident, or hard to understand, you’ll only exacerbate their concerns and these problems are likely to reoccur.

The same logic applies to good communication with senior leadership – if you can present your analysis and ideas confidently and concisely, you’ll be able to earn their support and influence their decision-making.

Think of communication in finance as an act of translation: you must be able to convert intricate technical concepts and hard data into clear, digestible information that peers and stakeholders can trust and understand.

2. Attention to detail

The work you do as a finance or accounting professional is both highly impactful and highly sensitive. After all, you’re dealing with money, whether you’re managing budgets, calculating payroll, fulfilling an invoice, and so on.

That’s why attention to detail is so critical to your performance. Any error or oversight won’t go unnoticed, whether it’s a small issue, like a negligible typo in a budgetary document, or a major mistake, like a miscalculation in an earnings statement. Keen attention to detail will go a long way in preventing these issues and producing work that is efficient and accurate rather than rushed and error-prone.

3. Organization

It’s incredibly difficult to succeed in finance and accounting without organizational skills. When working on any given project, you might need to manage large amounts of financial data, while adhering to strict deadlines and ensuring both accuracy and compliance.

That’s a lot of critical factors to consider – and too much for an unorganized worker to handle. If you don’t create and adhere to a hyper-structured process, you’ll either be scrambling and rushing through tasks, which makes you prone to error, or you’ll become bogged down by inefficiencies and struggle to meet deadlines.

The best financial workers are always interrogating their own process, seeking to identify areas where they’re unnecessarily wasting time, risking accuracy, or misusing resources.

4. Digital dexterity

This next finance skill once again speaks to the dynamic nature of the financial industry. Companies adopt new finance solutions frequently, either replacing legacy software or filling a need with an entirely new solution. So, while you may possess hard skills in terms of proficiency with specific tools, you must also cultivate the soft skill of adaptability – or more specifically, digital dexterity.

Digital dexterity refers to your ability to quickly pivot to new and potentially unfamiliar technologies. You might be a master of a budgeting software your company adopted years ago, but what happens if they decide to switch to a different solution? Adaptable employees step up in these scenarios, learning the ins and outs of the new technology and helping others become proficient as quickly as possible.

In finance and accounting, being digitally dexterous means that the value you bring to the table isn’t contingent on one specific tool.

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5. Problem-solving

If you work in finance or accounting, you likely have a number of regimented processes in place to help you accomplish very data-driven responsibilities. But, when change occurs or conflict arises, you can’t always fall back on numbers and systems – you must also be able to think outside the box and leverage intuitive problem-solving skills.

Problem solving refers to your ability to remove blockers, prioritize work, act with urgency, and make good judgment calls in the face of adversity.

6. Multitasking

You might prefer to use tunnel vision to see a single important task to completion, but this strategy runs counter to the reality of any finance or accounting position. More often, you’ll have to juggle multiple tasks and responsibilities, including processing transactions, preparing financial reports, fielding inquiries from stakeholders, and responding to urgent issues.

So, not only will you need to multitask, but you must also do so effectively. In other words, your efficiency and attention to detail can’t falter as you take on additional work and responsibilities.

7. Foresight

If you want to truly excel in finance or accounting, you must have vision. This means, being able to see the big picture, understand the impact of market and internal changes, and you must be able to accurately predict how your role, company, and industry at large will change in the future.

Of course, even the best finance workers don’t have a crystal ball that tells them what the market will look like a year from now. But, you should make efforts to anticipate change, particularly when it comes to trends that may impact your organization, either financially or operationally.

For example, consider a recent uptick in state regulations around pay transparency and reporting. Imagine you’re working at an organization that falls outside of the jurisdiction of these regulations, and therefore hasn’t made any substantial changes to its operations.

However, considering this trend of emerging laws, you predict that within the next year, your company will be subject to similar regulations. So, you recommend proactive measures, including an audit of your compensation reports, in order to ensure that your company is tracking and reporting on the data points necessary to adhere to regulations that might soon be enforced.

In this scenario, you will have helped your organization stay ahead of the current landscape, so that when a consequential change does occur, they’re ready to take it in stride rather than scramble to quickly fill operational gaps.

Finance and accounting professionals are often characterized as technical, data-driven workers who defer to their rigid processes in moments of conflict. While that may be partially accurate, it’s equally important to possess and demonstrate empathy and emotional intelligence in your day-to-day interactions with stakeholders.

Remember, finances are a delicate matter, and you never know what financial challenges a stakeholder may be dealing with. If you respond to inquiries or concerns with a cold, numbers-first approach, you might answer their questions– but you’ll likely lose their trust and alienate or offend them.

Approach every interaction with empathy – show people that you care, you’re listening, and you’re willing to work with them to reach mutual understandings and resolutions.

Work on honing soft skills alongside your technical abilities

There are plenty of ways to hone your finance skills, from developing new technology expertise to becoming more well-versed in data management and analytics. But, the next time you’re taking stock of what you need to improve upon, pay equal attention to your soft skills. These qualities aren’t just personality traits that will make you a nice employee to have around; they’re improvable skills that, when combined with the right hard skills, can make you more valuable to your organization and accelerate your career.

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What Are Critical Thinking Skills?

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Forage puts students first. Our blog articles are written independently by our editorial team. They have not been paid for or sponsored by our partners. See our full  editorial guidelines .

In the workplace, we’re constantly bombarded with new information to sort through and find solutions. Employers want to hire people who are good at analyzing these facts and coming to rational conclusions — otherwise known as critical thinking skills. Critical thinking skills are a type of soft skill that describes how you process information and problem-solve . In this guide, we’ll cover critical thinking examples, how to improve your critical thinking skills, and how to include them in a job application.

Critical Thinking Skills Defined

What are critical thinking skills? Critical thinking skills help you process information and make rational decisions. 

“Critical thinking skills allow us to analyze problems from multiple angles, come up with various solutions, and make informed decisions,” says Bayu Prihandito, self-development expert and certified psychology expert. “This not only saves time and resources but also develops innovation and adaptability , skills that employers highly value.”

There’s data to back up Prihandito’s point, too. In top industries like technology and finance, critical thinking skills are even more important than some technical and digital hard skills . According to PwC , 77% of employers in financial services say that critical thinking skills are crucial for their business, compared with digital skills at 70%. Critical thinking is one of the top five skills employers in technology are looking for, too, according to Forage internal data , preceded only by communication skills , data analysis, and Python.

>>MORE: Learn the differences between hard and soft skills .

But why do so many employers want you to have these skills? Critical thinking skills make you a more effective, productive, and efficient employee.

“By questioning assumptions, evaluating evidence, and exploring alternative perspectives, individuals with strong critical thinking skills can make well-informed decisions and devise creative solutions to complex issues,” says Matthew Warzel, certified professional resume writer and former Fortune 500 recruiter . “This leads to improved problem-solving and decision-making processes, fostering organizational efficiency and productivity. Critical thinking skills also empower individuals to identify and mitigate potential risks and pitfalls, minimizing errors and enhancing overall quality in the workplace.” 

Cisco Career Readiness

Build your critical thinking skills and learn how employees approach problems, organize, prioritize, and communicate professionally.

Avg. Time: 2-2.5 hours

Skills you’ll build: Data analysis, communication, project management, project planning

Critical Thinking Skills Examples

Critical thinking examples include a wide range of skills, from the research you do to understand a problem to the collaboration skills you use to communicate with others about a solution. Other examples include:

Critical Thinking Skills Examples at Work

What does critical thinking in the workplace look like? Here are some critical thinking examples for different roles:

• A software engineer anticipating potential challenges with a new feature and making plans to mitigate them before integration 
• A marketer evaluating historical user data to identify channels to invest in 
• An investment banker performing due diligence on a potential merger
• A product manager making a hypothesis of why a product change will drive more engagement
• A sales manager considering the risks and outcomes of modifying the company’s pricing model 
• A consultant gathering initial data and information on current company processes, costs, and organization to synthesize challenges

BCG Strategy Consulting

Apply your critical thinking skills as a consultant and conduct market research, understand consumer needs, and make a recommendation to a client.

Avg. Time: 5-6 hours

Skills you’ll build: Synthesis, business communication, client communication, stakeholder management

Whether you’re in a technical field, creative one, or somewhere in between, critical thinking skills can help you be a better employee — and therefore are highly valuable to all different types of employers.

“Critical thinking is essential to success in both white and blue collar jobs,” says Dr. Nathan Mondragon, chief industrial and organizational psychologist at HireVue. “Consider the school bus driver who must maintain constant vigilance and practice some critical thinking skills in the moment during an ever changing road or traffic situation. No parent will argue against the importance of a bus driver’s ability to quickly and critically analyze a situation to make an informed, albeit, rapid decision.”

How to Improve Critical Thinking Skills

If critical thinking skills are crucial to being an effective (and hireable!) employee, how can you improve yours? 

Practice Active Reading

OK, maybe you know what active listening is, but what about active reading? Active reading is when you read challenging material and reflect on what you read. It can help you engage with information and build your critical thinking skills.

Pick an article on a topic you’re interested in. While you’re reading, write down thoughts you have about the author’s arguments and follow-up questions you have. Even better, get someone else to read the same material and start a conversation about what you wrote down!

“By reading diverse and challenging material, such as books, articles, or academic papers, students can expose themselves to different perspectives and complex ideas,” Warzel says. “Following this, students can engage in reflective writing, where they articulate their thoughts and opinions on the material, while incorporating logical reasoning and evidence to support their claims. This process helps develop clarity of thought, logical reasoning, and the ability to analyze and synthesize information effectively.”

The exercise might seem a little like homework at first, but that’s why professors have you answer comprehension questions and participate in discussions for school — they want you to think critically about the material. 

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Play With Puzzles …

Building your critical thinking skills doesn’t just have to be reading a bunch of articles. It can be fun, too! Regularly engage with puzzles like logic puzzles, riddles, and word games. These puzzles practice your reasoning skills while keeping you intellectually stimulated.

… and People, Too

Critical thinking isn’t done in a bubble. You’ll need to collaborate with others, especially in the workplace, to understand past projects, roadblocks, what resources they have, and their opinions. Participating in group activities like debates, academic clubs, and academic discussions can help you practice listening to and processing different viewpoints.

Stay Curious

Good critical thinkers are open to a range of answers and ideas. They want to take in all of the evidence to understand why something is (or isn’t) happening.They also know going into a problem with an open mind is the best way to solve it. 

You can practice this open-mindedness by staying curious. 

“Adopt a curiosity mindset, learn how to ask good questions, and practice unraveling something from end to beginning and vice versa,” says Arissan Nicole, resume and career coach and workplace expert. “Critical thinking is about being reflective, not reactive. Put yourself in situations that are uncomfortable and challenge you, be around people that have different viewpoints and life experiences and just listen.”

How to Demonstrate Critical Thinking Skills in a Job Application

We know employers value critical thinking skills, but you don’t just want to add “critical thinking” in the skills section of your resume. Instead, your goal should be to show employers that you have these skills.

On Your Resume

On your resume , highlight experiences where you used critical thinking skills.

“Include relevant experiences or projects that demonstrate your ability to analyze information, solve problems, or make informed decisions,” Warzel says. “For example, you can highlight academic coursework that involved research, critical analysis, or complex problem-solving. Additionally, you can mention extracurricular activities or volunteer work where you had to think critically or exercise your problem-solving abilities.”

In the Interview

In the interview , elaborate on your experiences using the STAR method to frame your answers. The STAR method helps you clearly and concisely describe the situation, what you did, and what results you found.

Beyond speaking to your experience, you can also show your critical thinking skills in how you answer questions. This is especially true for more technical interviews where the interviewer might ask you to solve problems.

For example, let’s say you’re interviewing for a data analyst position. The interviewer might ask you a hypothetical question about how you’d figure out why company sales dipped last quarter. Even if you don’t have an answer right away (or a full one!), speak your thought process out loud. Consider:

• Where do you start?
• What resources do you rely on?
• Who do you collaborate with?
• What steps do you take to uncover an answer?
• How do you communicate results?

“Emphasize your ability to think logically, consider multiple perspectives, and draw conclusions based on evidence and reasoning,” Warzel says. 

This is the time to get specific about exactly what steps you’d take to solve a problem. While on a resume you might keep it short, the interview is the time to elaborate and show off your thought process — and hopefully show why you’re the best candidate for the role!

Ready to start building your critical thinking skills? Try a free Forage job simulation .

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6 negotiation skills to level up your work life, how to build conflict resolution skills: case studies and examples, what is github uses and getting started, upskill with forage.

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Critical Thinking through Financial Literacy

Apply critical thinking to make sound financial decisions.

Financial literacy is about more than just setting a budget – it’s about deploying critical-thinking skills to make the financial decisions that are best for you. Learn from FoolProof Foundation how to approach these decisions with a healthy skepticism that will protect you from manipulative marketers and scam artists.

In this self-paced class, students will get an introduction to financial literacy. They will learn to recognize the tactics that advertisers and marketers use to try to manipulate consumers. Students will learn how to avoid impulse buying and how to form their own opinions about products and services through independent research. As they explore financial decision-making, students will sharpen their critical-thinking skills and discover how to deploy these skills in day-to-day life.

What You Will Learn

Sharpen your critical-thinking skills and learn how to use these skills to make sensible financial decisions.

• Develop a basic understanding of financial literacy.
• Learn tips for avoiding impulse buying.
• Find out how to recognize and evaluate marketing and media spin tactics.
• Understand how to form your own opinion through independent research.
• Be prepared to deploy critical thinking in everyday life.

Note:  This course is not for credit. Upon successful enrollment of a section, students will receive a confirmation email from our Student Services team. This email will include a link to an authorization form that is required to be completed within 72-hours of enrollment.  In response to COVID-19 health guidelines, we have restructured our in-person Junior Academy workshops as online courses. Contact us at  [email protected]  if you have questions.  

Course Number:  EDUC-80037 Credit:  0.00 unit(s)

There are no sections of this course currently scheduled. Please contact the Pre-College Programs department at 858-534-0804 or [email protected] for information about when this course will be offered again.

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