Trying to “cram” commercial awareness right before an interview isn’t an ideal approach, as you’ll likely only pick up a shallow understanding of the commercial topics that you read about. If your understanding is shallow, you’ll also likely have little interest in what you’re reading about and discussing, which won’t come across well during an interview. 

Think about the first few pages of a dense novel. It’s harder to maintain your interest at the start, as you don’t yet understand the context or the history of the characters. It’s the history and the development that draw you in, meaning stories tend to become far more gripping once you start to understand how the sections you are reading fit into the broader context of the book. 

It’s the same with commercial awareness. News stories and commercial concepts are not generally interesting in isolation, but once you start to understand how it all fits together - and the impact this can have on firms, clients and industries - you’ll likely find it all a lot more interesting and become more confident talking about it in interviews.

It’s better to get into the habit of building your commercial awareness on a regular basis, and even 5 minutes per day can make all the difference. You’ll be surprised at how much more interested you become in business news and commercial concepts more generally once you have started to understand the bigger picture. To that end, I’m now going to cover a collection of recommended resources that you can use to help build your commercial awareness.