Forum Discussion
What Skills Matter in an AI-Driven Financial Services Industry?
I've been giving a lot of thought to how the increasing presence of artificial intelligence will affect how we hire and develop talent in the financial services industry. Would love to hear what everyone else is thinking.
As AI gets better at handling routine tasks and data analysis, the kind of work we typically give to new hires to cut their teeth on, it raises some important questions.
For starters, what kind of roles and responsibilities should we be hiring for now? Should we be focusing more on bringing in people with strong interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking abilities? People who are able to form genuine relationships with clients and come up with original solutions to difficult problems?
What do you think are the key roles we should be hiring for now? I'm eager to hear your ideas on how businesses can attract, nurture, and retain top talent in this new era.
- conrad
Advisely Index Top 10
roccomusumeci the answer to your question imo is a resounding YES, the gap that exists in most new hires exists in the softer skills from experience, and I believe this is not addressed sufficiently through the courses that are being completed.
- deborah.kent
Thanks for posting this roccomusumeci AI is a very hot topic at the moment conversations around what does an advice practice look like in the future, I still believe you will need staff with emotional intelligence as well as having the right skill set to use AI being able to understand what it is capable of and what is its limitations. It will be a great tool for efficiency however I dont believe it will replace people. Great comments on this thread
- rainier.reyes
Advisely Team
Awesome question roccomusumeci !
conrad, this reminds me a lot of your story here when you said that you're focusing on the things you bring to the table that an AI can't. Would love to hear what you think.
Alisdair.Barr, what are some trends you're seeing in the advice recruitment space when talking about AI? Are you seeing a shift towards emphasising soft skills to new entrants?
Would love to hear what everyone else thinks as well!
- conrad
this is exactly what I was referring to. concerning attracting that type of talent - it's hard, your business needs to be the lure, so to speak, so it aligns with those types of people. I still think too many businesses are stuck in the old paradigm of what advise businesses look and feel like.
- Alisdair.Barr
Advisely Partner
This has been a hot topic at our latest #Brimstone series, skills of the future and what the current cohort of students should be focusing on. Curiosity and communication skills along with attention to detail and demonstrated work ethic are consistently the skills that considered essential as technology continues to improve the efficiency and quality of advice delivery. I would suggest focusing on these skills would be valuable.
Agree with the previous comments. It's also helpful to think about how the next generation will natively use these tools to augment their work, and how you can reposition these soft skills with this in mind. For example:
- Critical thinking now includes identifying problems that AI might miss and understanding the limitations of automation.
- Creativity is supercharged when it can leverage AI outputs to generate even more innovation.
- Collaboration includes knowing how to bridge the gap between human and machine teammates.
- Communication involves explaining complex ideas clearly, both to human colleagues and to systems that learn through language.
It's a fascinating shift in thinking, but remember that human creativity + the precision of AI is key. Don't lose sight of either when hiring.
This graphic is a bit old, but it shows the shift in generative AI uptake in younger demographic:
- primrose.foster
Thanks for sharing StuartRiddle! This is very interesting.
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