Are you commercially aware

Are you commercially aware Commercial awareness: dont start your job search without it. Whether your sights are set on the Square Mile or MediaCity, youll need a good grasp of commercial awareness to impress potential employers. A recent  CBI report  (2011) found that employers were dissatisfied with the commercial and business awareness of recent graduates dont be one of them! So what  is  it? Employers all have slightly different interpretations of commercial awareness, depending on the sector and focus of their organisation but the basic principles remain the same. Theres no catch all definition, but think of it as the ability to view organisations from a business or commerical perspective and you wont go far wrong. Which means: understanding the organisations objectives/mission/strategy recognising the internal/external challenges facing the organisation knowing who the key clients and stakeholders are (and what they want) evaluating what makes a successful business/organisation keeping up to date with trends/developments in the sector. Underpinning of all this should be a general understanding of the market and how it works. This terminology may jar a little â€" particularly if your personal values dont quite fit with the profit motive â€" but its worth remembering that  all  organisations are subject to commercial pressures. You cant choose to sidestep this issue and still compete for jobs. Laura, a Warwick grad and intern at TARGETjobs posted a great blog last week,  Commercial awareness: the graduate holy grail, confessing her initial discomfort with â€" and relative ignorance of â€" commercial awareness. This is a personal journey with a wider message and its pretty hard to argue with Lauras final conclusion that like it or not, every job role requires some commercial awareness and the sooner you get some, the better. How to develop it Theres no quick fix. Or app. But there are plenty of practical steps you can take to develop your understanding of business environments. Lets break it down a little further: Get some work experience If you havent had any  work experience  yet, now is the time to start looking. If you can secure a work placement or internship in your chosen sector, great. This will give you a valuable insight into the company or organisation and provide rich material for discussion at the application and interview stage. Dont despair if you havent got a city internship lined up. What matters to recruiters is your ability to articulate and translate your experience(s). Working as a barista in Starbucks may not win out in the glamour stakes, but youll still get a good grounding in business processes and customer service. Make your work experience count. Be reflective and observant. Ask yourself: What was the company structure like? Who were the main competitors? And clients? What worked? What didnt? Go extra curricular If youre still feeling a little squeamish about big corporates then try volunteering. It might not seem an obvious path but consider this: our project leaders in  Warwick Volunteers  have to manage a budget, project expenditure, allocate resources. I think you get the picture Get involved with student societies. Perhaps you could pitch for a position on the Exec or manage a marketing or promotional campaign? If youre a complete financial novice, then why not step outside your comfort zone and offer to become treasurer? You could always dip your toe into entrepreneurial waters and join  Enactus.  Ok, you might not become the Next Big Thing, but its a sure-fire way to boost your commercial awareness. Start reading Read quality newspapers, particularly the business pages. You probably dont need to subscribe to the Economist or FT, unless youre hoping to work in the financial sector, in which case both are essential. Most employment areas have specialist press, so make sure you know which journals and magazines to follow. If youre not sure, check our  job sector  pages. There are some fantastic careers information sites out there use them! A few of my favourites include TARGETjobs (great for  sector specific commercial awareness  tips and  employer insights), Inside Buzz (especially the  company profiles) andTheJobCrowd. If you havent heard of  BizEd, go and have a look around. Its a pretty accessible site and youll get a good handle on topical business issues. As Ive mentioned in a  previous blog post, now is the time to set up news feeds and email alerts, as this is a quick and easy way to keep up to date with current and financial affairs. Research employers Try to bring it all together and make it relevant by following the financial fortunes of a company or organisation that youre interested in. This could be the RSC, a small tech startup or a big global player like Coca-Cola. Develop your understanding further by performing a SWOT analysis: try  MarketLine Advantage. Dont forget LinkedIn and Twitter. If youre not quite ready to go public, dont worry you can adjust the privacy settings and simply use your Twitter feed as an information digest. Attend employer events on campus. Some of our graduate recruiters also run sessions on commercial awareness, so keep checking  myAdvantage  and the  website  for the schedule. I hope theres enough here to get you started, or at least get you thinking. And if youre still mystified then come and talk to us!