Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents
Buy and sell securities or commodities in investment and trading firms, or provide financial services to businesses and individuals. May advise customers about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, commodities, and market conditions.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Active Learning
- Persuasion
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Economics and Accounting
- English Language
- Mathematics
- Sales and Marketing
- Computers and Electronics
- Administration and Management
- Law and Government
What the work involves
- Negotiate prices or contracts for securities or commodities sales or purchases.
- Prepare and send requests for price quotations to all companies in a particular market.
- Price securities or commodities based on market conditions.
- Purchase or sell financial derivatives for customers.
- Make bids or offers to buy or sell securities.
- Monitor markets or positions.
- Agree on buying or selling prices at optimal levels for clients.
- Keep accurate records of transactions.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (55.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (32.5%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (22.2%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 76% of occupations compared | 78% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 83% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 63% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 68% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 50% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 55% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 52% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 66% of occupations compared | 27% of surveyed respondents chose “Very serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 3.28%
- Contact with others about half the time: 3.04%
- Contact with others most of the time: 15.33%
- Constant contact with others: 78.35%
n = 94, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 3.54%
- Fairly important: 5.09%
- Important: 11.25%
- Very important: 20.04%
- Extremely important: 60.07%
n = 94, Incumbent 08/2022
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 3.54%
- Fairly important: 9.97%
- Important: 11.44%
- Very important: 22.33%
- Extremely important: 52.73%
n = 94, Incumbent 08/2022
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 13.78%
- Some freedom: 39.32%
- A lot of freedom: 46.9%
n = 94, Incumbent 08/2022
Time pressure
- Never: 0.74%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 9.17%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 23.24%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 36.83%
- Every day: 30.02%
n = 93, Incumbent 08/2022
Conflict situations
- Never: 8.56%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 34.7%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 25.22%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 21.57%
- Every day: 9.94%
n = 94, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0.42%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 41.39%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 38.23%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 16.69%
- Every day: 3.27%
n = 94, Incumbent 08/2022
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 13%
- Fairly serious: 14.44%
- Serious: 22.46%
- Very serious: 27.05%
- Extremely serious: 23.04%
n = 94, Incumbent 08/2022
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O*NET-SOC 41-3031.00 · SOC 41-3031 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8