application-answerslisted

# Application answers ## Two files, and they are not interchangeable This skill covers two artifacts. They read alike and they live apart. - **`cover-letter.md`** — a cover letter, a "why this company" note, an introduction, anything you are writing because it would help rather than because it was asked for. If in doubt, it is this one. - **`application-answers.md`** — answers to questions the employer actually asked, written beneath each question, in the file that already holds them. That file only exists because the user pasted the employer's questions into it. If it is not there, no questions were asked, and writing a cover letter into it puts the letter somewhere nobody will look for it. Never create it. ## Research before writing a word Find what this company actually screens for. Recruiter interviews, hiring guides, founder posts about culture. Specific signals, not "show passion". Then map the candidate's real experience onto those signals. ## The swap test Replace the company name with a direct competitor. Does the answer still work? If yes, it is not an answer, it is a template. Rewrite until it contains something **only true about this company**, framed through something the candidate has actually done. ## While writing - Do not recite the company's achievements back at them. They know. Frame their decisions through what the candidate has learned from their own work. - No Hollywood lines. Write like a smart person typing an important email. - Run