Commercial Awareness

"Too many candidates are applying to jobs but clearly have no knowledge of how the industry or the company works"

Brian Hood, Head of Campus Recruitment at Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking

What do recruiters want?

Many recruiters complain about the lack of business or commercial awareness in applicants, even though they are impressed with the candidates other skills.  This can often be a deciding factor at selection.  But what are they looking for?

• “You should bring to your role a genuine interest in business…”
• “Someone who can put the customer at the heart of everything they do”
• “Want to deliver business results”
• “Have the confidence to challenge existing business practices and improve market share”
• “Motivated to be better than our competitors”
• “We want graduates with entrepreneurial spirit . . .”
• “You’ll possess strong influencing and business skills…”

These quotes are all taken from adverts in graduate magazines.  As you can see, they don’t use the words ‘commercial awareness’, but all these recruiters are after the same thing.  They want candidates who can prove that they have the skills and the personal qualities which will enable them to contribute to the overall success of the organisation; candidates who have an understanding of the market place in which their business or service operates.  This is equally important whether the organisation operates in the public or private sector.
This might involve proving that you:

• understand the organisation’s mission and aims
• are aware of the political and economic issues affecting the organisation
• are aware of the major competitors
• understand the sectors the organisation operates within
• understand the commercial priorities of the organisation

What are these skills and personal qualities?

They are varied, depending on the organisation and the sector.  However, typically they include:
An interest in business – do you, for example, know the difference between a private limited company and a public limited company?  Do you read the financial news section of your newspaper? Having an interest in business and commerce is essential to many recruiters.
Customer care skills – understanding the needs and concerns of the customer and having the essential communication skills of listening, questioning, verifying and explaining to ensure customers get excellent service is critical.  You also need to understand how customers make their choices and how organisations attract and keep new customers.
Economic and political awareness – are you aware of how the current economic and political issues, nationally and internationally, affect businesses and/or public services?
Creativity – being innovative and seeking different ways of doing things, having ideas, and being able to provide practical solutions to issues are important skills in helping an organisation to succeed.
Strategic thinking – having the clarity of vision to set realistic aims and objectives, and knowing what you need to do to achieve them are key elements to both personal and career success. 
Knowledge –good information, whether this is on finance, markets, customers, competitors, communities, technologies, or anything else relevant to the organisation and your work is essential.  Having the ability to research new information and use it, is a key element in proving commercial awareness.

How can you prove to a recruiter that you are commercially aware?

Use your work experience

At a very basic level, any recruiter will expect you to have gained an insight into any organisation you have worked or volunteered for.  You may have had a basic part-time job in an organisation but the expectation is that you will have asked questions to find out more.  So, make the most of your work experience and be ready to give examples. As an example, if you've worked at McDonalds you should be aware of what were the biggest sellers and why; which advertisements/offers produced the best results; which organisations were the biggest competitors and how did their special offers affect business; how important was customer service. Being able to talk about issues like these will prove to a recruiter that you have an interest in how business works and an understanding of the importance of commercial awareness.

Use your interests

Have you raised funds for a charity; have you bought and sold at a car boot sale; have you taken part in Young Enterprise at school; have you researched savings accounts and/or loans; have you researched a large purchase such as a computer or car - all these can show that you have commercial and business awareness.

Keep up to date

With what is happening generally in the market place!  Read the Financial Times or the business pages of the broadsheets, read the quality Sunday papers, watch the BBC’s Working Lunch programme or check out the Business and Money section of the BBC website which is a good source of business and topical news.

Read the quality press

Particularly of the specific sector you are interested in, such as the Society Guardian, or Media Guardian, or the Times Educational Supplement, and any relevant professional journals such as New Scientist, Nature, Broadcast, The Actuary etc. Find out what you journals you should be reading by coming into the Careers Service.

Get involved in student activities

Particularly those that relate to business, or take on an appropriate role within a society such as treasurer, fundraiser etc. Take part in appropriate workshops and activities, such as business games, entrepreneurial/start your own business competitions and events, and employer-led case studies/skills sessions which often have a commercial focus. Check out our events calendar for details.

Do your research!

If you are applying to a bank, for example, you need to know general information about the financial markets worldwide and you need to know specific information on where your targeted organisation fits into the market place.  Who are their major competitors, what market share do they have, do they have any unique selling-points, what are their priorities and aims?
This is just as important if you are applying to the public sector, for example, a University.  What are the University’s main strengths, what are their immediate priorities, which other Universities do they benchmark themselves against, how does the University interact with its community?
Good research demonstrates a practical grasp and understanding of the pressures organisations face and an awareness of external influences.  It also shows you have a genuine interest in the organisation. Most of this research can be done on the internet.  You should check out the organisation’s website and read their annual report, you should also look at the websites of relevant professional associations.  The BizED website is designed for business studies students and has a section which contains data, case studies and FAQs on a wide range of business organisations.

Resources

In the Careers Information Room you will find:

• Reference copies of all the quality daily newspapers
• Reference copies of specialist professional journals
• Reference books on commercial awareness and how to develop it
• Graduate recruitment directories and magazines with interesting articles on skills development, including commercial awareness
• Recruitment brochures from organisations and professional bodies
• A wide range of occupational information and resources

All these resources will help you develop commercial awareness. You can also improve your business awareness by using this section of our Destinations career planning website. The site includes a simple audit which you can complete to get you started.
In addition, these resources might help you develop your commercial awareness:
Many of the graduate recruitment magazines available in Career Development Services have good articles on employability skills.  The annual graduate employment directories also have information on commercial and industrial sectors. Come and collect the latest editions.  Alternatively, check out the editorials on the publishers websites:

• Graduate Prospects – includes a database of graduate recruiters in different business sectors
• Real World – their advice section has some good articles on skills and how to sell them.
• Inside Careers - has advice on skills related to specific graduate professions