Commercial and business service occupations face a number of challenges like demographic change, calls for flexibilization and, especially in Germany, debates about their core profiles. Within a project on similarities and differences between commercial and business service occupations effects of these challenges are analyzed. A threefold approach of theoretical literature studies, a content analysis of initial and advanced training curricula and a survey of over two thousand employees in commercial and business service occupations leads to the development of a framework to describe and systematize these occupations’ contents. These contents can be discerned through different requirements regarding communicative interfaces, use of planning, organizing, regulating, documenting and balancing instruments and systems. A system of categories structuring subject matters and competencies in commercial vocational trainings was developed and with analyzing the quantitative data activities, skills and self concepts in commercial and business service occupations are identified. Employees working in commercial and business service occupations show clear trends regarding self- concepts or aims of their work. But as for single tasks and skills it becomes clear there are differences between several groups of service occupations. Commercial and business service occupations can be discerned by their basic mercantile contents and the aims governing the work