Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a credit analyst and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

A credit analyst analyzes financial statements and current credit information of firms or individuals to assess the level of risk involved in lending money. He/she prepares documents using the credit information to be used in the decision-making process.

Other specific tasks include evaluation of customer records and formulate payment plans using savings data, earnings, purchase activity, and payment history. He/she also communicates with the credit associations and other relevant parties to facilitate credit information exchange. In addition, he/she handles loan applications and forwards them to loan committees for further review and approval. He/she may also be asked to compare the credit histories of corporations with others in the same industry. Lastly, he/she assists customers in resolving issues.

Core Skills Required to be a Credit Analyst

Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.

Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.

A credit analyst should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Judgment Skills:

Judgment is the ability to make a decision or form an opinion wisely especially in matters affecting action, good sense and discretion.

A Credit Analyst must be a person of good judgment with the ability to make the right decision at the right time and for right reasons especially in prioritizing the work correctly to focus on a few important things and ensure excellent results are delivered.

Knowledge of Job:

Knowledge of Job is essential to every employee who needs to have a clear understanding of how their jobs fit into the overall organization to eliminate carelessness and laxity.

A Credit Analyst must be able to evaluate this criterion when selecting an employee and know the common descriptions of a person with either right or inadequate knowledge of the job early enough to either keep them or let them go.

Planning and Scheduling:

Planning and Scheduling are the act of establishing a plan for a set of tasks that needs to be completed and including when they should be done.

A Credit Analyst needs creativity in balancing both planning and scheduling by clearing defining what and how activities will be carried out by when and who in particular to ensure there are a clear flow and accountability to every staff.

Adaptability:

Adaptability is the ability to cope with and adapt to unexpected situations in any environment and staying connected with a great attitude.

A Credit Analyst must shape the workplace with leadership skills that allow employees to adapt to the provided atmosphere and be able to give their best in the workplace while growing in their ability to become the best employees.

Competitiveness:

Competitiveness is the skill of being able to compete as a team or a company with other enterprises in the same line of entrepreneurship and emerging as the winner.

A Credit Analyst needs creativity in setting the pace for the organization on the policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of their enterprise against their competitors leading to the growth of the business and the income.

Self Awareness:

Self Awareness is the ability to have a sound understanding of who you are as a person and how to relate to the world in which you live by understanding your strengths and weaknesses and how to manage them in the workplace.

A Credit Analyst must creatively know how to administer the workforce diversity by understanding the culture identity, biases, and stereotypes and become more aware on how he reflects his thoughts, feelings, and behavior towards the staff.

Practical Thinking:

Practical Thinking is the skill to think creatively about projects or work that requires your full attention to be completed and to bring great results.

A Credit Analyst must ensure the decisions he makes are well sought after using professional characteristics for employees with high-level responsibilities to feel included and to allow growth for everyone in a constantly changing world that requires creativity.

Resource Use:

Resource Use is the ability to utilize the office supplies effectively while avoiding any wastage and ensuring everything is used correctly.

A Credit Analyst needs to educate his employees on the rising threat of global warming and the business's risk of high expenses to avoid wastage of any kind from copiers, computers, old filing processes and data backing disks that are sometimes misused by the employees.

Intercultural Competence:

Intercultural Competence is the knowledge and skills to successfully interact with people from other ethnic, religious, cultural, national and geographic groups.

A Credit Analyst should have a high degree of intercultural competence that enables him to have successful interactions with people from different groups as well as train his employees to be sensitive to the cultural differences and be willing to modify their behavior as a sign of respect for each other.

Writing Reports and Proposals:

Writing Reports and Proposals is the ability to record business reports and plans for the company or project following the policies and procedures of the company.

A Credit Analyst should, therefore, emphasize the need and accuracy of these reports and plans to ensure they are delivered promptly, and the details within are accurate adhering to the company's policies and regulations without compromise.

Hard Skills Required to be a Credit Analyst

Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.

Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.

A credit analyst should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

Credit Analyst: Hard skills list

Accounting
Accounts Receivable
Analytical
Algebra
Analyze credit data
Accounts Receivable Collections
Accounting Principles and Terminology
Automatic Data Processing (ADP) software
Bookkeeping
Budgeting
cash and asset inventories
Calculus
Capital Budgeting
Capital Markets
Credit Application Processing
Communication
Computing
Computers
Compute and Record Fiscal Data
Compute Equity
Credit Investigations (Conduct Credit Investigations)
Credit Reports
Customer Service
Database Programs
Design Tables Depicting Data
Economics
Evaluate Degree of Financial Risk
Fiscal Policy
Financial Analysis
Financial Data
Financial Derivatives
Financial Investment Analysis
Finance Quantitative Analysis
Financial Risk Analysis
Financial Statement Analysis
Financial/Statistical software
Financial Management Principles and Theories
Financial analysis (perform general financial analysis)
Financial Reports (compile data for financial reports)
General
Loan Applications (review)
Option Analysis
Profits and Loss Statements
Management Accounts
Mathematics
Money Markets
Monetary Policy
Monitor credit extension decisions
MS Excel (Spreadsheet)
Payroll
Profit And Loss Statements
Ratio Analysis
Risk Assessment
Statistics
Obtain information from clients, customers, patients or others
Process records and maintain forms and files

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