During the recruitment process, employers will be assessing your understanding of their business, it is important that you do the appropriate research.
Recruiters will be looking for candidates who have commercial awareness, that is an understanding of their company - its products or services, customer base and an awareness of business trends in the sector.
To be able to relate to real things that are happening during an interview means that you have the grounded foundational knowledge of the company to answer the question appropriately. Katya Savelieva, sales and marketing graduate trainee, Mondelez International
To be able to relate to real things that are happening during an interview means that you have the grounded foundational knowledge of the company to answer the question appropriately.
In this video hear from Katya, a graduate trainee at Mondelez, as she tells you what is meant by the term commercial awareness and how it can help you success at interview.
In this podcast Sarah Allen, Senior Careers Adviser, gives her expert advice on how you can develop and demonstrate your commercial awareness when you have an interview coming up.
You'll need to know the following.
Start with the company's website and social channels (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) but ensure you have a broader and unbiased picture of the company and sector by using a variety of sources.
For the latest news on companies or sectors, use the search facility to identify relevant articles from:
You can also read specialist journals or magazines. Some examples are:
For sector information - changes to the environment the company operates in locally, nationally and globally use:
Our Career paths pages - Sector skills councils and professional bodies
Prospects - Find out about the sector the company works in
e-Library Gateway - Print and e-resources available in the University's libraries
Glassdoor is a great resource to use when researching employers and jobs in your area. The active community of reviewers provides their opinion of:
Visit the Glassdoor website
Another site that offers independent employer reviews is:
targetjobs Insight Buzz
University of NottinghamPortland Building, Level DUniversity Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD
telephone: +44 (0) 115 951 3680 fax: +44 (0) 115 951 3679 email: careers-team@nottingham.ac.uk