How Do I Become Commercially Aware When I Don't Know Anyone in the Corporate World?

"Commercial Awareness" is a term that is overused and under-defined within recruitment for top corporate jobs. I remember eagerly buying my first mainstream financial newspaper to develop my commercial awareness, finding a comfortable seat in a local coffee shop and opening it with intrigue and curiosity. I also remember putting down that same newspaper in about 3 minutes, having no idea why the liquidity crisis of company Blahblah caused a catastrophic dip in blah blah blah after investors blah blah. I felt excluded, and alienated by a world I didn't understand. Maybe a corporate job just wasn't for me? 

Fast-forward to 2023, and I am a trainee solicitor in a top magic circle law firm, eating commercial awareness for breakfast with a side of toast. Your dad isn't a lawyer? Your best friend isn't a CEO? DON'T WORRY - I've got your back! In this blog, I'm going to explain all I know about commercial awareness:

1. What is commercial awareness?
2. Why do you need to be commercially aware?
3. How do you develop commercial awareness?

Before we dive in, here is another shameless plug for my new training contract interview guide, available FOR FREE by completing the form linked here. 

1. What Is Commerical Awareness?

Commercial Awareness is a broad term, which encapsulates knowledge from different industries, practices, current affairs, and general business themes. Ultimately, I like the simple definition from Bright Network:

Commercial Awareness is an understanding of how industries and businesses work

I like this definition because it is broad and leaves a lot of questions. And asking good questions is the surefire route to developing great commercial awareness. 

Think about the business you aspire to work at and ask:

- How do they make a profit?

- Why do clients/customers pick them over competitors?

- What are their biggest costs and how could they reduce them? 

- How can they improve the product/service they offer? 

- Would improving that product increase their profit? How? 

- What are the dangers facing the industry they operate in?

- What about the opportunities for growth?

-etc. 

Commercial awareness is an understanding of all these things and so many more...

2. Why do You Need to be Commercially Aware?

Lawyers know the law. Accountants are great at accounting and bankers, well they bank. Everyone at Firm X or Company Y has trained in their profession and they all do it very well. That is taken for granted by clients. The value of being commercially aware comes from being able to apply your knowledge to your client's problems. 

A simple example: I read in the newspaper "Heatwave is coming this June! Highs of 35". In itself, that information is of little use to me (the fact alone is simply a random piece of knowledge without context or application). But, for a company that happens to be a major investor in suncream and sun-protection products, this information could massively impact their business. Think of all the additional profit the company could gain if they invested in marketing their products in May/June or producing more products to meet increased demand. The application of knowledge is more important than the knowledge itself. 

In a corporate role, commercial awareness adds value to clients by forewarning potential risks to their business and offering tailored solutions to their problems. If you understand your client's business and apply that knowledge to the problems they face, then you will reap the rewards of being commercially aware. 

3. How do You Develop Commercial Awareness?

There are thousands of resources out there on the internet (so I'm humbled you are choosing to read SLAB). Aside from this obviously amazing blog, some great resources are listed below: 

• [Book] All You Need to Know About The City by Christopher Stokes - a small, easy-to-read guide which defines useful terms and is a great starting point to develop awareness. I picked up my copy preowned for just £2 online.
• [Podcast] FT News Briefing - a free 10-minute daily podcast which highlights top stories and explains current affairs in business and politics. Easy listening on the tube/bus!
• [Article] Finimize - bite-size financial briefings, news and information delivered daily to your inbox. Best enjoyed with breakfast!
• [Video] Financial Times YouTube Channel - fantastic documentaries and insights on current topics presented as high-budget and engaging films.

Thanks for reading. Please do leave a comment below if you found this useful or have any ideas for future blogs! 

Christian
SLAB