“Commercial awareness is essential.” Commercial what?
More and more job ads seem to be demanding that applicants are commercially aware. But if it’s so important, why do so many job hunters seem to lack it or not even know what it is? As a graduate, it’s crucial to make sure that you stand out as the cream of the crop whilst hunting for employment; boosting and demonstrating your commercial awareness is a great way to do this.
What is commercial awareness?
If you don’t know the answer to this question, don’t be too hard on yourself because, in fairness, it’s pretty hard to define. To put it simply, being commercially aware means that you have a good foundational knowledge of and interest in the working world of business.
Having a good understanding of external factors that may have an impact on the success of a business (such as the economic climate, the importance of customer retention, how to make profit and things that can cause loss of profit, etc.) is definitely something you want to have in your commercial awareness arsenal, too.
Why YOU should have it
It’s competitive out there! There are hundreds of graduates after the same jobs, and having that prized 2:1 simply isn’t enough on its own anymore. If you have some workplace experience, all the better, but there will still be other candidates with the same, if not more experience. Demonstrating your commercial awareness to a prospective employer will help you to come across as professionally-minded, passionate about the industry, intelligent and committed. As a graduate, this may be your first step into the working arena, being commercially aware shows employers that you’re ready.
Quite rightly, recruiters want to know that you’re the right person for the job, so they will test you in all kinds of ways. One way they may do this during interviews is to ask questions that subtly test whether or not you are commercially aware, so make sure that you are.
How to demonstrate commercial awareness at an interview
This is the tricky part – we can assure you that the interviewer won’t ask you outright to show them how commercially aware you are. They may not even ask a question that directly tests it, so you need to be smart with your responses and try to subtly include facts, figures or opinions that show the interviewer that you’re all clued up. This relates to the business world in general, but also to the company in question. Before your interview, make sure that you are up to speed on the business, their products, rivals and industry.
We’re not saying to you need to rush out and buy textbooks on Business, Politics and Economics, though! Simply keeping yourself up to speed with current affairs and doing thorough research of the company in question will be enough.
How to get it
Here’s the secret: it’s pretty easy to get yourself commercially aware. At the end of the day, it’s a form of general knowledge, so all you need to do is make sure that you’re exposed to sources that will give you a good understanding of what’s going on in the working world.
It won’t take up a massive amount of your time either, every now and then, pull yourself away from Facebook, stop reading about what the Kardashians have been up to and pause the millionth video recipe you’ve watched today (you know you’ll never cook it!). Instead, watch the news, browse through some business websites, read up on industry news and even television shows like The Apprentice and Dragons Den can teach you some good lessons!
It’s not too scary is it? So don’t be put off by those job adverts that are looking for commercially aware individuals. A little research and investing a bit of time expanding your knowledge is all it takes to put a tick next to another one of those role requirements!
