How to Build Your Commercial Awareness

While it’s important to show academic success and display the right attitudes in psychometric tests, one of the most persuasive yet elusive qualities employers look for is a demonstration that you have commercial awareness. Put simply, this means that you understand the commercial setting that you will be working in – and how the advice you provide as a professional fits into this commercial environment. So how do you develop it?

Strengthen your skills

Make sure that your basic numeracy and literacy skills are up to scratch. Make sure that you have a strong grasp on these core rules as they will feed in to being able to speak confidently in your interviews about commercial information. If you are able to, see if you can gain any work experience or volunteering to further strengthen these core skills and start to understand how to work in a large organisation.

Build the basics

One significant aspect of commercial awareness that can often be overlooked, is making sure that you understand the basics of the commercial setting that you are interested in. This can be both general and specific. Generally, understand the backdrop to accountancy in the UK. Who regulates it? What are the qualifications? Who are the main participants in the market? More specifically, learn a little about the industries that your hopeful employers work with so you can speak confidently about them.  

Read

One of the easiest ways to begin to develop your commercial understanding is to read the business press and pay attention to what is going on in the commercial world. A lot of universities will have heavily subsidised or free subscriptions to the Financial Times or the Economist – both of which are excellent resources. Don’t attempt to read every single story out there, as there is a huge amount in the press. Focus more on picking a few stories that interest you and follow how they develop so that you have a deeper understanding.