The art of job application

Illegible writing and long letters won't get you an interview

Caroline Turner

1. Now is the time when law students eagerly await the post for news of whether they have got a training contract for 1997.

To have a contract it is necessary to write an application letter properly and be successful at an interview. Rather late, I wrote 28 applications for contracts. Most firms stopped accepting applica­tions by September, so I could write only to those few whose deadlines had not passed, or whom I hoped to persuade to make an exception.

Obtaining an interview, particularly with a small firm, is a feat in itself when it is common to have hundreds of applications for one or two jobs. Fashionable small firms get as many, or more, applications than the major City firms. For example, Stephens In­nocent, which takes on only one trainee per year, has had about 2,000 applications, the same number as Clifford Chance, the larg­est firm, with 120 places on offer.

2. Nicola Solomon, a partner at Stephens Innocent, says that the high numbers applying does not surprise her because the firm is high profile and works in a sought-after area — media law and civil liberties. But how do the smaller firms, without the large per­sonnel departments, sift through mounds of applications?

Ms Solomon says she rejects anyone who says they have "in­ter-personal skills", illegible writing and letters longer than one page. She looks for people with media or civil liberties experience rather than those straight out of college.

3. Ian Bloom, of Bloom Camillin, which had 400 applications for two places, looks for something distinctive in the application, which must be well written. The worst ones might say: "Do not bin this, I am desperate for a job." Others are too knowing, and might say: "Everyone on planet Earth has told me that you are the only firm worth applying to," but when asked who recommended the firm, they cannot answer.

4. Some recruitment administrators say they look for good ac­ademic qualifications and responsibility, such as running the Uni­versity Law Society or being captain of a team. It could be any­thing from a sports team to a choir. Conversely, a person's hobbies may indicate that he or she is a loner, not a leader. Tricia Brett, a recruitment administrator, says: "We do not want just a member of society, but a person who does some work for it."

5. The long, complex application forms favoured by some of the larger firms do not deter many applicants despite the big blank spaces left for questions such as: "Why do you want to work for us?" and "What are your greatest achievements to date?". "What experience was the most rewarding and why?"

Some interviewers make the applicants state their "principal interest and leisure activities" and how they contribute to and ben­efit from them.

6. My interest included theater, cinema, books and travel. I supposed my contribution was paying for the tickets or book, and my benefit was enjoining the show, holiday or read. It seemed a silly question, but now I realize they were looking for active peo­ple.

In reply to my 28 applications, I have had seven acknowledg­ments, four letters saying I am too late, five rejections and two invitations for interviewers — one for a major firm and one for a small, specialist firm.

Despite the overload of would-be lawyers, competition be­tween firms for the best graduates is still as keen as ever. There never seems to be enough really good people.