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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 similar 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 know

too, and might say: “Everyone on planet Earth has told me that you are the only
firm worth applying to, “but when one asked who recommended the firm, they

cannot answer.