diff --git a/questions/applied.yaml b/questions/applied.yaml
index b2033e2..44f7524 100644
--- a/questions/applied.yaml
+++ b/questions/applied.yaml
@@ -2,14 +2,23 @@ id: /applied
 route: ^/applied
 name: What happens now that you've applied?
 description: >
-  Someone here will read this personally and write back. A match earns
-  a personal invitation, extended by hand.
+  We're not filling a seat — we're looking for exactly what you bring
+  that we don't already have. Someone here will read this personally
+  and write back.
 alternatives:
   - name: Thanks — it's in front of us
     description: ""
     features:
-      - name: A person reads it
-        description: Every decision is made by someone who was actually there.
+      - name: We need your specific angle
+        description: >
+          Not a generic fit — the particular thing you're good at, the
+          problem you'd actually notice, the take nobody else here
+          has. That's what we're reading for.
+      - name: Work happens through dialogue, not tickets
+        description: >
+          What you bring shapes what gets built, in an ongoing back
+          -and-forth — not a queue of pre-decided tasks handed down to
+          execute.
       - name: You receive a personal invitation
         description: >
           A match earns you a real key — access, a measure of