By Lily Edwards
‘Commercial Awareness’… Do you see it in job descriptions, hear it in interviews, know you
should have it but often struggle to show how you have it and where you got it from? Well,
you’re not alone! Building and showing commercial awareness is a common area which law
students struggle with, so we have compiled some tips to help.
Our top tips for commercial awareness
Understand exactly what commercial awareness is
In order to demonstrate that you have commercial awareness, you need to know exactly
what it is. Commercial awareness is all about having knowledge of how the business works,
not just internally but from a wider perspective of the industry which can be influenced by
many factors such as political, economic, technological etc. It is therefore no surprise that it
is such an important skill required by employers, as it shows that you really know the
industry that you are applying for, as to have commercial awareness means you have a good
understanding of not only the firm, but the industry itself which has many transferrable
attributes.
Research… Then research some more!
One of the easiest and most efficient ways to build your own commercial awareness is to
research the forms you are interested in. Even if you are interested in only one firm,
research more as it is crucial you look into a few as this helps you get a better understanding
of the industry as a whole. When researching, try and gain an idea of what the values and
priorities are of each firm. These will usually be outlined in the ‘about’ section of the
website, but you should go further than this and read any news articles and reports about
the firms. This will help you understand what the strengths of the firm are. The next step is
to think about what the weaknesses of the firms are. IT is unlikely that these will. Be listed
on the website, so you need tp put your thinking hat on! What are issues that could
threaten the firm? This is an important question to ask, as it could come up in interviews to
assess your commercial awareness.
Read the news
Commercial awareness is not limited to the law firms you are interested in, or even the just
the legal industry. As mentioned, it is impacted by a multitude of factors such as economic,
political and even technological. The best way to keep in the loop with these issues is to
read the news every day, and ask yourself how this affects specific firms, and the industry at
large. For example, what is the impact of the recession on the legal industry? What about
for city firms compared to high street firms? By getting into a habit of this, you will begin to
build your commercial awareness without thinking about it and will be able to use things
you’ve picked up from the news in interviews for example.
Hands on experience
This one is more difficult to obtain but is invaluable: work experience. Working in the
industry is one of the most efficient ways to gain an understanding of the industry, its
strengths and weaknesses and how these impact day to day workings of a business. If you
are lucky enough to have work experience, one of the best tips is to ask questions: why that
happens the way it does, how was that specific outcome reached etc. That, along with your
other methods such as reading and researching will allow you to think about how you would
act in these situations – and that is the key to having commercial awareness: being are
cognizant of what is happening within the business and understanding what the best
outcome would be.