Business books

You should aim to develop your business, finance and (where relevant) legal knowledge so that you can demonstrate and apply strong commercial logic during case studies and commercial awareness interviews. Do not just regurgitate definitions. Demonstrate an ability to flexibly apply the concepts to the facts of the case study provided and assess in context which concepts are likely to be the most relevant and effective.

There are so many books available to help you build your knowledge of commercial, financial and legal concepts. As mentioned, this course aims to provide you with a solid grounding in the technical concepts that you may be required to understand and apply when tackling commercial awareness interviews and case studies. City Career Series has also published focused guides designed to cover the key technical concepts that tend to come up in investment banking and consulting commercial awareness interviews.

I personally used Christopher Stoakes’ book “All You Need To Know About The City” when preparing for my interviews, and I can’t recommend it enough. One of my favourite ways of learning about how businesses operate is by reading books about the history of well-known businesses and founder biographies. I particularly enjoyed “The Upstarts” by Brad Stone, which charts the entrepreneurial journeys of Uber and Air BnB, from the early days of knocking on doors and absorbing rejection after rejection, right through to them joining the realm of tech superstars. I would also recommend Brad Stone’s “The Everything Store” (which covers the founding and growth of Amazon) and “Shoe Dog” by the founder of Nike, among others.

If there is anything in these books that you don’t understand, the Investopedia online dictionary provides really great explanations of thousands of key business terms, commercial concepts and City jargon.