Graduate Careers with Hannah Salton
Graduate Careers with Hannah Salton provides actionable tips for aspiring solicitors navigating competitive legal roles.
Build Confidence and Presence In Interview Scenarios
For many, the hardest part of the SQE journey isn’t the exams, it’s breaking into the legal profession. Finding QWE or securing a training contract often feels opaque and discouraging. Roles are highly competitive, feedback is rare, and candidates are left guessing whether it’s their CV, experience, or interview performance holding them back.
The right career coach can be transformative. A good coach brings clarity to a confusing process, helps you position your experience in a way firms actually value, and gives you honest, tailored guidance on what to improve and where to focus, turning uncertainty into a structured, realistic path into the profession.
This week we are joined by Hannah Salton.
Hannah Salton shares what really separates standout legal applications from the pile. From avoiding generic, AI flattened CVs to clearly articulating your USP and motivation, she breaks down what recruiters actually value, including commercial awareness, resilience, and confidence in interviews. If you’re applying for training contracts or early legal roles, this is practical, no fluff advice on how to stand out for the right reasons.
Question 1
What are the top three things you see most candidates getting wrong on their CVs when applying a role?
In short: typos, lack of humanness, and lack of motivation or a clear USP.
Having worked in recruitment for eight years, I’ve seen a lot of job applications! The first and most basic issue is getting the fundamentals right, spelling, grammar, and even the firm name. You’d be surprised how often candidates copy and paste applications and submit them with the wrong name!
Nowadays, with AI tools, spelling mistakes are less common. However, what we’re increasingly seeing is AI flattening personality and removing a candidate’s unique selling points. The antidote to overly generic, AI driven applications is being more human. That means:
- Knowing yourself really well
- Clearly communicating your USP, and
- Understanding and articulating your genuine motivation for wanting to work for that firm and in that role.
All of these are incredibly important!
Question 2
What are the key transferable skills recruiters actually value (beyond academics)?
Alongside the usual suspects, such as strong attention to detail, recruiters place a lot of value on commercial common sense. Closely linked to this is an entrepreneurial mindset. This could show up in many ways, for example setting up a side hustle, leading a society, or taking initiative in extracurricular activities.
Another increasingly important skill is an understanding of technology. This doesn’t mean you need to code, but having a general awareness of the opportunities, risks, and challenges associated with AI, and how it may impact the legal industry, is hugely valuable.
Finally, resilience matters. Legal careers can be demanding. This doesn’t mean you need to be perfect, but you need to demonstrate that you are able to learn from mistakes, take constructive feedback on board, and demonstrate good self awareness.
Question 3
Do you recommend applying to many firms broadly or focusing on a smaller, targeted list (and why)?
As with most things, it’s about balance. Applying to only one or two firms is risky, but bulk applying everywhere is not effective either.
A focused target list works best. The firms don’t all need to be identical, you can apply to different types of firms, provided you’re crystal clear on your motivation for each one. Have a strategy, plan your applications carefully, and don’t rush them. Tailored applications that clearly communicate your USP and motivation are far more impactful than high-volume, generic submissions.
Question 4
What differentiates a “good” application from a “standout” application in the eyes of recruiters?
Humanness, a clear USP, and well articulated motivation.
There’s no single “right” answer on how to answer motivation questions such as “why do you want to work at our firm?”. Trying to give a perfect or textbook response often makes your answer less convincing. The goal is to understand your motivation, so you avoid sounding scripted, or saying what you think recruiters want to hear.
A helpful way to approach these questions is to start by identifying two or three genuine, well considered reasons for your interest. Rather than listing everything, focus on what truly matters to you. For each reason, briefly introduce it at a high level (for example, culture, international reach, or type of work), then make it specific with a concrete example, and finally explain why it matters to you personally by linking it to your experience, values, or interests. This structure helps you stay focused, authentic, and memorable.
The level of detail will vary depending on the context, shorter for application forms or video interviews, and more in depth for face to face interviews. Whatever the format, the key is to research properly, reflect honestly, and practice speaking your answers aloud, showcasing your natural energy and enthusiasm. Aim to sound thoughtful and engaged, not scripted. Authentic, motivation, clearly articulated, will always come across more strongly than a scripted, generic answer.
Question 5
How can I build confidence and presence in interview scenarios, especially if I’m early in my legal career?
A lack of confidence is really common! The good news is, confidence is a skill that you can develop through working on yourself. Push yourself outside your comfort zone through networking. Networking is essential for your career, even though it doesn’t come naturally to most people. The key is practice, showing up as yourself, and focusing on genuine conversations rather than showing off.
Confidence also comes from self awareness. The better you understand your strengths, values, weaknesses, and preferences, the more naturally confident and present you’ll appear in interviews.
Where to find Hannah and learn more
If you’re early in your career and feeling a bit unsure about applications or next steps, Hannah’s book Graduate Careers Uncovered shares honest, practical insights from her time working in recruitment, without the jargon or hype.
You can also find more information about Hannah’s coaching work at www.hannahsalton.co.uk.
She regularly shares thoughts on careers, applications, and confidence-building on LinkedIn. If you do connect, a short personalised note always goes a long way.
