TLDR: July 21-27 will be a themed week on the EA Forum for posting career-related quick takes and posts. We'll also have career advisors available throughout the week to answer questions.
Last time we ran a career conversations week, it led to some great posts, including:
- Mistakes, flukes, and good calls I made in my multiple careers - Catherine Low
- Who Is a Good Fit for a Career in Nonprofit Entrepreneurship? - Charity Entrepreneurship
- Monetary and social incentives in longtermist careers - Vaidehi Agarwalla
It’s about time we did this again!
Alongside many great posts (which you are encouraged to write), we’ll also have a pinned “Ask Me Anything” post with career advisors throughout the week, as well as a couple of career-related debates.
Add this and future events to your Google calendar
Goals
As a community, we hold collective knowledge about careers that we haven’t shared. For example, I don’t know what it takes to be a charity entrepreneur, what the day-to-day life of a grant-maker is like, or what the best opportunities are for an undergraduate interested in AI safety today. But some of you do.
This week is not a job fair or a week focused on sharing job ads (though that isn’t unwelcome). This is a week for sharing knowledge about careers, and putting us all in a better place to make career decisions. It’s also a week for welcoming people new to effective altruism, and helping them make the first steps into a more impactful career.
How to take part
The following ideas for posts are not exhaustive. If you’ve got a career-related idea, now’s a great time to share it!
People of all career stages are encouraged to post during the week. For example, I’d love to see:
- More “writing about my job” posts (like this one or this one). Descriptions of what a job is actually like are under-supplied and hard to discover for yourself. These posts are helpful, and they give you something to send to your relatives when they ask what you do (again).
- Paths after university. Entering the workforce after graduation can be particularly challenging. It’d be great to hear more about how people have (successfully or not) sought out impactful work after university.
- Descriptions of a multi-decade career. EA skews pretty young, so if your career can be measured in decades rather than years, you probably have a lot to share!
As always, we welcome meta-conversations. For example:
- Do we need more people working in [infosecurity/ technical AI governance/ global health]?
- Advice on career planning, job interviews, growing a network, etc…
- Thoughts on effective hiring practices, how much and when we should value EA context in hiring for EA orgs, how best to advertise jobs, etc…
Finally, you don’t need to post to contribute. You can:
- Write a quick take on the best career advice you’ve received, or career advice you’ve given more than once.
- Comment if you have something to add — for example, if a “Writing about my job” post is on a similar job to yours, augment it with your experience.
Next steps
If you already have an idea for a post, feel free to write it in the comments below for accountability. Also, if you want someone to write on a topic, say so! You might be the nudge they need.
If you run an EA group, consider hosting an event where your group can write on these topics, either individually or in a format like this, but with “How EA ____ plans to improve the world with their careers” as the prompt.
If you’re interested in a co-writing session next week, please respond to my comment below, and I’ll let you know when we organise it.
And, as always, message me if you want feedback on a post, whether it's a full draft, or just an idea.
Do you get asked the first two a lot?