During the interviewing and hiring process in finance and accounting, the hiring manager must satisfy himself of the candidate's ability to meet two criteria.  First, does the candidate's background and experience meet the requirements of the position?  Second, will his/ her personality fit within our organization?

I believe there should be a third criterion that is the most important of all - Will the candidate be a champion within the finance department?  What is a champion?  A champion is someone your business leaders will seek out when they need help.  A champion will give your company a competitive edge by raising the performance bar in their respective area.  This is a series of blogs exploring the characteristics and competencies of a financial champion.
In today's job market there is an abundance of highly qualified people to choose from for your open financial leadership role.  All have strong technical skills, analytical skills, are timely and accurate in their work, and have specific accomplishments over many years of experience.  A larger talent pool enables you to further refine the job requirements (i.e. specific industry experience, computer systems, specific activities, etc.) to help identify that perfect candidate.  Nice to have qualifications have become minimum requirements. 

There are a number of candidates to choose from, but will they be a champion?
How do you identify a financial champion?  I believe the key characteristics and competencies you should look for are:
*Integrity                                                   
*Love of People
*Confidence
*Team Player
*Excellent Communication Skills     
*Ability to Execute