Qualities and Skills Needed to Become a Bank Teller

If you are thinking about becoming a teller in a bank then you will need to have certain skills. One of the skills is the ability to count and handle money. A large portion of your day will deal with counting out money to customers. You will also need to have the ability to balance a cash drawer. Even if the drawer is out of balance by one penny it will be your job to locate the discrepancy. It would be so easy to toss a penny into the cash drawer and force it to balance but this is called force balancing and you could be terminated.

Detail

As a teller you must pay attention to detail including the correct denomination that a customer gives you. One little mistake and you could be completely out of balance. Once you are out of balance you could spend hours at the end of the day looking for the error. Banks have a certain amount that you are allowed to be out of balance in a certain period of time before you are terminated.

Fraud

Tellers are trained to spot phony currency. With the state of the economy more and more people are trying scams. They are bringing bogus checks, stolen money orders and counterfeit money to the bank. As a teller you are required to do your due diligence in terms of verification. You will need customers to provide the necessary identification. Even when a customer has provided identification if a teller does not feel comfortable completing a transaction he/she can get their manager involved. It is better to be safe than sorry. Some people make a living by trying to scam financial institutions.

There are professional scammers that will try to talk to tellers while they are counting money in an effort to through them off. They hope the teller will make an error counting in their favor.

Sales

More and more banks are becoming sales oriented. Tellers in some banks will have sales goals or at the very least referral goals. They will be responsible for identifying a customers needs and then referring them to the sales floor to speak with a manager or sales associate.

Attitude

You have probably heard this before but attitude really is everything. You have customers that will not come back to a bank because of the attitude of the tellers. The tellers are your first line of defense. For the most part they set the stage and lay the foundation. If your bank sinks or swims will largely depend upon the attitude of the tellers.

World class customer service

People like to companies that provide world class customer service. No one wants to walk into a place where the representatives act as though you are disturbing them. Some customers will close their account and move everything to another bank if the customer service is not decent.

Reports

Tellers will have situations when they are required to make adjustments and do other transactions based on some reports that have generated. As a teller you should be ready to handle miscellaneous duties.

Branch operations

Tellers will also have to handle branch operations. This includes counting the money deposited in the ATM first thing in the morning. Setting up a cash drawer is another responsibility of tellers.