Commercial+Awareness

On this page I would like to create a collection of websites recommended and selected by my students and me for the development of commercial awareness.
 * What is commercial awareness?**
 * **Commercial awareness could be summed up as an interest in business and an understanding of the wider environment in which an organisation operates**: its customers, competitors and suppliers.
 * It might also encompass understanding of the economics of the business and understanding the **business benefits and commercial realities** from both the organisation's and the customer's perspectives.
 * Generally it includes **awareness of the need for efficiency, cost-effectiveness, customer care and a knowledge of the market place in which the company operates** (current economic climate and major competitors, for example)

What is commercial awareness, why it is important and how graduates can demonstrate it during a job interview is explained on [|University of Kent website]: An article on commercial awarness from Target Jobs
 * Commercial Awareness** has been ranked in the first position on the "Top Ten" Skills Shortages List among graduates as mentioned by the employers. (Source: [])

=LAW PORTALS= [] (advice website for lawyers-to-be) Commercial awareness for lawyers from Herbert Smith [] (website on American Law) What is [|Business Law]? In Brief (free legal information about UK)

=NEWS PORTALS= [|www.thetimesinplainenglish.com] (The Times in plain English) [|www.thenews.pl] (news from Poland in English) [|www.bbc.co.uk] (one of the best known sites about the general news from the world, but it also gives news about the United Kingdom in many categories e.g. business, health, environment, technology) [] (law and order news from the UK) www.cnn.com (American information website. It's devided into parts. Each part contains information about some part of the world: US, Europe, Asia, Latin America etc. You can find them all kinds of news; from politics, through culture, to sports) @http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ (news from US, but you can also find information from all over the world. It's most important advantage is that news are sorted into several categories like business or politics. Articles are written curiously and help you develop your commercial awarness) www.wn.com (contains not only articles written by it's journalists. We can also find links to news selected from other web pages and compare information from different sources. The graphics and layout of this website allows you make it clear and simply in use) @http://www.forbes.com/ (the latest news about global economy, real estate ect. but also about lifestyle, new tech and many more) RIA Novosti Pavda.ru RT is the first Russian 24/7 English-language news channel which brings the Russian view on global news. Russian Newspapers, Magazines, and News Sites in English The Moscow News The St. Petersburg Times =BLOGS= [] (news from Polish papers translated into English) [] (a US blog about legal matters both serious and more entertaining) [] (a blog of a British expat living in Poland) [] (a blog for Polish, but not only, students of law)

=PLAIN ENGLISH WRITING= [] (Plain English Campaign website with plenty of tips on how to write in plain English) [] (Three-part tutorial on plain English correspondence) Exercises from "Legal Writing in Plain English" by Bryan Garner (a collection of exercises developing plain English writing skills for basic, intermediate and advanced levels) More links on plain English writing

=JOB APPLICATION= Downloadable CVs and covering letters from Target Jobs Job interview tips from Brian Krueger.

=TV CHANNELS=
 * Euronews** (news from Europe in several different languages: [])
 * Deutsche Welle** ([])

=Videos= US Law videos ([]) UK Law videos ([])

=Legal English= English versions of various Polish Acts and Codes ([]) An overview of Polish Law ([]) Translation of Title XXIII of the Polish Civil Code into English Translation of articles 306-352 of the Polish Civil Code into English Legal English with [|Linguarama]

Giving Presentations
[|tips for public speaking]