Credit Management Job Skills
By Michael C. Dennis, MBA, CBF

There is an old adage, "Opportunity only knocks once. I think this a more complete statement... "Opportunity only knocks once and it often knocks very quietly. Opportunity often disguises itself as more responsibility, longer hours, and bigger challenges, and for these reasons opportunities are often missed."

Keeping a good job is hard work. Finding a good job when you are unemployed is even harder. In theory, any job that increases your income is probably worth considering. In reality, if you don't enjoy what you do and the people you work with money will probably become less important. In the credit profession, there are a number of skills and attributes that are highly prized by companies looking for credit professionals including these:

• Problem solving skills

• Creativity

• Technical skills in areas such as customer financial statement analysis and interpretation

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

• The ability to manage and motivate subordinates

• A track record of documented successes and achievements

• The skills needed to increase the credit department's effectiveness without increasing costs

• A commitment to continuing professional development

• The maturity required to recognize that the credit department is a part of not apart from the rest of the company and must be committed to helping the company achieve its sales and profit goals

• The flexibility necessary to adapt quickly to changing business conditions as well as to changing priorities

Awareness of the attributes that employers look is critical to keeping a job. If you think that you might be deficient in any of the areas listed above, this is the time to make any necessary adjustments.