Word counter for selection criteria

1. Answer in your first sentence. Say plainly that you meet the criterion, then prove it.
2. Use one strong example, told in STAR order: the situation, your task, what you did and the result.
3. Cut words that add no facts. "I was responsible for leading" becomes "I led".
4. Keep the numbers. "Cut waiting times from 20 minutes to 4" says a lot in a few words.
5. Leave a few words spare. Forms don't all count the same way, so don't write right up to the limit.

Anything between two spaces is a word, as online forms and Word count them. "Team-based" is one word, "40%" is one word, and a dash on its own counts as one too. Counting this way keeps you under the limit wherever you paste your text.

Characters include spaces and line breaks, as a form's character limit does. Pages are an estimate: about 520 words fill a page in a clean layout. The time to say it assumes a calm pace of about 130 words a minute.

Seal the Offer counts the words in your documents the same way, so a number you see here is the number you'll see in the app.

Selection criteria are the skills, knowledge and experience a job needs, listed in the ad or the position description. Government and university jobs often ask you to answer each one in writing.

The ad may set a limit for each answer, such as 250 words, or for the whole statement, such as two pages or an 800-word pitch. Whatever the form, the reader wants proof: what you did, how you did it, and what changed because of it.

Our guide to selection criteria and cover letters shows how to answer each one, with an example.