Materials · case/candidate/writing-preferences.md

# Jordan Hale: writing preferences for applications

1. Describe an undertaking so a capable reader outside the field can follow it: what was built or studied, what decision it required, and why that decision mattered. Naming a project is not describing it.
2. Do not state fit ("I am a strong fit", "my background aligns"). Produce it by connecting the work to the employer's problem.
3. Keep numbers out of letters unless the reader needs the magnitude to understand the point. A count that only signals volume does not belong.
4. Do not list projects one sentence each. Choose the work that answers this employer and explain it.
5. State gaps the reader will notice, once, without apology. Do not raise gaps the documents give no reason to raise.
6. No em dashes and no semicolons. No contractions. American spelling.
7. No promotional language: passionate, excited, leverage, cutting-edge, innovative, at the intersection of, and similar.
8. Status must be exact: published, under review, working paper, invited, self-produced.
9. Résumé: at most two pages, sentence-case headings, one serif typeface, black text, dates as month and year ranges a parsing system can read.
10. Cover letter: one page, addressed to the hiring team, no restated résumé.