Trust & Safety work runs on written decisions, so at some point in the hiring process someone will ask for a writing sample. That's where it gets awkward. Your best real writing is probably an analysis you can't share, about cases you can't mention, for an employer you might not even be allowed to name.
That sounds like a dead end, but it's actually an advantage. Writing built from public material is proof the reader can check for themselves, every word of it. That beats secret work they have to take your word for.
What never goes in
It's the same rule as in the layoff guide, and it applies everywhere: take nothing from work. No details from real cases, no internal rules, no screenshots, no numbers that were never made public, and nothing covered by a confidentiality agreement. Not even with names blacked out, and not even summarized.
A sample that leaks gets you ruled out, not hired. And experienced readers can spot internal material from across the room. It has a smell.
Four pieces you can write without anyone's permission
Each of these is built from things anyone can read:
- A memo on a gap in the rules. Compare a platform's published rules with what you actually see on it. It shows you can spot holes and suggest better wording.
- An argued decision. Take a public controversy and argue it through to a conclusion. It shows you can make a call and defend it.
- A read of a transparency report. Many platforms publish a report about what they removed and why; read one carefully. It shows you can make numbers make sense.
- A rule rewrite. Take a vague published rule and tighten it until it settles real cases. It shows you can write a rule a reviewer can actually use.
A rewrite, start to finish
As published "Content that harasses or degrades others is not allowed." Rewritten "Content targeting a specific person with insults about protected traits, threats, or encouragement to contact them is removed. Criticism of ideas, institutions or public conduct is not harassment under this rule. Repeated unwanted contact after a block is harassment whatever it says."
The rewrite settles cases the original only waves at. It names who's being targeted, separates people from ideas, and makes repeated contact count on its own. Protected traits are things like race, religion or disability. One page like this, plus two sentences on what the stricter rule would wrongly catch, shows a hiring manager exactly the judgment the job needs.
Keeping it honest
- Label every piece as your own analysis of public material, and date it. Rules change, and the date shows which version you were reading.
- Never suggest the platform saw it, agreed with it, or acted on it.
- Pick controversies that were widely reported, not ones you know about from the inside. Your old employer's incidents are off limits even if they made the news.
- Keep each piece to a page or two. Saying a lot in a small space is part of what you're showing off.
- Put them somewhere stable you can link to, like a personal site or a public doc. Hiring managers forward links. Nobody wants to forward a pile of attachments.
Two or three pieces is plenty. Write one, ask someone in the field to read it and be honest, then fix it before you write the next. That conversation is also, quietly, how a lot of people end up getting recommended for jobs.
Further reading
- T&S Jobs. Jobs that ask for writing, marked Direct when a person reads it