Making training applications is an art and a science. In the current ultra-competitive market, the sooner you develop the right techniques the better.

Here’s Cliff Fluet, grad recruitment partner at Lewis Silkin, on the subject of applications: “I’ve seen too many copy-and-paste ones. If you can’t be bothered filling in a form properly, then your chances of getting a £30k-plus job are severely limited.” What he says is incontrovertible. In all our conversations with recruiters, they never fail to mention this fundamental error. Don’t ever be generic in your applications; tailor them to each firm or set of chambers – recruiters can spot a mail merge from a mile away.

We know it’s tempting to send off a generic application to as many firms as you can. It’s quicker, but you mustn’t believe the old adage that if you throw enough mud some of it will stick. In this more difficult market, we come across fewer and fewer people who have succeeded in getting a training contract this way. The people who are more likely to succeed will target a list of specific firms and take more time perfecting their applications.

Note that we are not saying that it’s a bad thing to send off piles of applications. As we have repeatedly mentioned, this is a competitive business and even good candidates may have to turn out dozens, but the more care you take with each, the sooner you will get an offer.

Do your research

Choosing a firm because it’s got a cool name and recruitment literature isn’t the best policy; neither is random selection. Before you apply, try to work out which firms would best suit you. If you’re a ‘live to work’ type, find an organisation that will give you what you crave. Likewise, if you just have to catch Hollyoaks at half six, make sure you seek out firms with shorter hours. If you want to do a certain type of law, apply to the places that specialise in the area. Carefully select your targets – they need to suit your personality and interests, otherwise you’ll have a hard time persuading them to hire you, and if you do get hired you might regret it.

• Use the Student Guide – it’s the best thing we’ve ever read. The True Picture, the Chambers Reports, the Solicitors’ Practice Areas and Practice Areas at the Bar, the comparison charts – all are designed to help you work out which employer and area of law is right for you.
• Only marginally less brilliant, our parent publication Chambers UK identifies and ranks all the best firms in over 60 areas of practice. It can be read online, for free, at www.chambersandpartners.com.
• Make use of as many other sources as possible. From legal gossip websites through to The Lawyer, Legal Week and The Law Gazette: all can be of value.
• Check the firm’s requirements. Check your qualifications and abilities. Do they match? The Applications and selections table elsewhere on this website should help with this, as will our 'Way In' articles attached to each True Picture feature online.

Stay organised

• Know the deadlines and diarise the important ones. The calendar at the front of this book should help. Most commercial firms recruit two years in advance, but it might be even earlier.
• Application forms take far, far longer to complete than you’d expect, especially when they’re done well. Submitting one two minutes late is too late.
• Some barristers’ chambers use the Pupillage Portal, some don’t. Make sure you know which is which. Check their websites. The Bar section of this guide discusses the Pupillage Portal in more detail.
• If you have to handwrite something, practise on a rough version first. If your handwriting is so atrocious that the reader will need a cipher, you’ll need to improve it.
• Answer the questions directly – no cutting and pasting or repetition.
• Usually you will be told how much you can write for each question. If you are well under, don’t just waffle, keep thinking.
• Keep copies of everything you send out because before an interview or assessment day you will need to remind yourself of what you wrote.
• Increasingly firms are making application forms available only to those who perform well enough in online tests, sometimes verbal reasoning, sometimes numerical. There are books and websites with sample tests and helpful hints on how to perform well. Get in some practice ahead of time.

Good form

Here are a few tips on completing application forms and CVs:

• Avoid chronological gaps in your experience. If you’ve taken time off, put it down and be prepared to explain why.
• Ignore the fancy stuff and get to the details. Don’t waste time with photos or unusual fonts.
• Bullet points and bold text can make things more eye-catching.
• Don’t just say what you did at uni – mention sports teams, work experience and volunteering. Show that you’ve not simply gone through the motions at uni.
• A mistake on a CV can be damning. Technology is there to serve us and make things easier. You have spellcheck: use it. Ask a friend to check your CV as well because there are some areas in which we feeble humans still come up trumps.
• Don’t use glossy terms or jargon. Give concise details, expanding where appropriate – not reams and reams though. Recruiters don’t want an essay. A CV should be three pages max, ideally just two.
• Don’t just say things; back them up. You can’t just claim to be obsessed with debt and equity capital markets; you’re going to have to prove your passion with examples. Speak to lawyers whenever you can – it all helps to show that you understand the reality of practice. Likewise, make sure you demonstrate your qualities rather than just stating them.
• You can use any kind of work to prove you have commercial awareness. Even if it was in a pub you can still talk about being aware of costs, budgeting and the marketing the pub did. Think about the simple things you can extrapolate from.
• As well as commercial awareness and a love of the law, applications should demonstrate teamwork and problem-solving skills.

Don’t undersell yourself

If you looked at the training contract applications of a handful of different students you’d see that some include more information about their achievements than others. Usually those with less content have omitted to include things because they simply don’t appreciate their significance.

• Qualifications, gap-year experiences, 17 A*s at A level, endless vac schemes – these things are obvious essentials. Applications should demonstrate teamwork and problem-solving skills as well as a commercial outlook and commitment to becoming a lawyer.
• Explain to the reader what you learned from your experiences rather than just listing them.
• Write a list of all the jobs you’ve ever had and consider the list as a whole. You may be able to demonstrate that you’re a real grafter who’s managed to help pay their way through uni. It won’t always be appropriate to list all your part-time employment so you might need to group some jobs into a more general category. Unless the list is extensive, indicate the key aspects of your role in each position but make sure it doesn’t appear daunting for the reader as they plough through many forms or CVs in one sitting.
• If you studied a musical instrument to a high level then say so. It shows you can commit to something and work diligently to achieve it. The same goes for other pastimes or pursuits – eg life-guarding, scuba diving, artistic endeavours.
• Sports are great application fodder. Again, the commitment factor will come through, and if it’s a team sport you play then what better confirmation is there of your being a team player?
• Were you ever selected, or better still elected, to a position of responsibility? To be chosen by your peers as a student representative, for example, suggests that people admire you and have confidence in your abilities. It also shows you are naturally the sort of person who likes to take on a challenge. As to how far back in time you reach for such nuggets of gold, well, this depends on your current situation. If you are still at university, or have very recently graduated, then something from your later school days should still be suitable. If it was some time since you left uni then you need to find some more recent examples. Never forget to mention if you were a head boy or girl, the captain of a team or held a position of responsibility in a society.

Unless otherwise stated, always include a covering letter with your CV. It’s a golden opportunity to show off your writing skills, explain your motives and show how suited you are to your target firm or set. A good covering letter will highlight the best aspects of your application. If you have any weaknesses (say a poorer than anticipated degree result), it’s a place to mention extenuating circumstances.

And finally…

If all this advice seems totally obvious, that’s because it is. You wouldn’t think anyone makes elementary mistakes any more, but every year recruiters still find themselves reading CVs that look like they’ve been written by Baldrick. Poor layout, atrocious grammar, banal comments… all this from university graduates. Just think: by the simple act of not making any stupid errors, you’re blowing a significant number of your potential competitors out of the water. Conversely, if you accidentally write down it’s when you meant its or there when you mean their– even just the one time – then no matter what your other qualities, in the eyes of recruiters you’ve just lumped yourself in with all the other Baldricks.