Hey Ben! I was really excited to see this post, being a part of the African diaspora myself!
Some quick thoughts: - It seems like you are thinking about targeting the African diaspora, but with the expectation that people will want to move back to Africa to take up these roles. I'm not sure that is a fair assumption: sometimes people move away to pursue opportunities, or to send money back home to family, and their goals may not line up with moving back anytime soon. But the same people may still want to give back. So potentially looking at bringing together opportunities to do work in Africa but that can be done from outside Africa could be a more useful angle for the diaspora. Some of these opportunities already crop up on eg the Probably Good and 80,000 Hours jobs boards, but this could be expanded with greater knowledge of the African landscape.
- It seems to me that there is definitely room for advice that is more focused towards an African context. 80,000 Hours suggests that teaching or being a doctor is not particularly high impact - but in a context where there are high rates of illiteracy and not enough rural doctors, my expectation is that this advice should change. I would say this is for people based in Africa itself, rather than the diaspora.
- I think there's a good opportunity to have an Africa-focused platform that could focus on both diaspora and in-Africa opportunities (see also the comment by abubakar below), and potentially to create a network of people, eg Slack, discussion groups, etc, to help to build links between people with this shared interest.
- I'm not sure how accurate it is that people only want to give back to their own country. I think that could be worth testing out with a survey or pilot. It might be that there's a stronger motivation for people's own country, my impression is (from only a handful of data points in my own network!) that it's more of a drive to help the African continent, that comes from knowing something of the context.
I'm interested in your perspective on how the hiring process for EA organisations differs from other organisations - and perhaps advice for what to expect and try to showcase from one's background for people who are transitioning from something more mainstream.
I've noticed the initial format seems different from what I have been used to: for example, being asked how you would donate your money and why. My first instinct was to be taken aback - but I get the feeling this has more to do with values alignment?
How much weight do you put on having engaged with EA ideas?
What things do people coming from non-EA organisations consistently get wrong or underestimate about EA hiring?
I have a more general question on CVs: I've always held to the school of thought that you should highlight the things that are most relevant for what you're applying for, and basically leave other stuff out - or refer to eg LinkedIn. I've done quite a lot across different areas, and this now leaves me readjusting my CV constantly! I'm also not necessarily sure I'm cutting the 'right' stuff - how do I know if the hiring team are actually interested in something I've done but they haven't put it in the job ad as a requirement... A friend recently told me they were advised to condense the white space on their CV and add more content to it. What are your thoughts on this?
'I think the importance of character is seriously neglected in EA circles. Perhaps one reason is that unlike many other areas, we don’t have comparative advantage when it comes to identifying virtues. This means that we should draw on the accumulated wisdom as a starting point.'
I know I've seen it somewhere, but I can't find it: is there a link to what all the emoji mean? The diamonds, the pause button, others I'm not aware of...
Hey Ben! I was really excited to see this post, being a part of the African diaspora myself!
Some quick thoughts:
- It seems like you are thinking about targeting the African diaspora, but with the expectation that people will want to move back to Africa to take up these roles. I'm not sure that is a fair assumption: sometimes people move away to pursue opportunities, or to send money back home to family, and their goals may not line up with moving back anytime soon. But the same people may still want to give back. So potentially looking at bringing together opportunities to do work in Africa but that can be done from outside Africa could be a more useful angle for the diaspora. Some of these opportunities already crop up on eg the Probably Good and 80,000 Hours jobs boards, but this could be expanded with greater knowledge of the African landscape.
- It seems to me that there is definitely room for advice that is more focused towards an African context. 80,000 Hours suggests that teaching or being a doctor is not particularly high impact - but in a context where there are high rates of illiteracy and not enough rural doctors, my expectation is that this advice should change. I would say this is for people based in Africa itself, rather than the diaspora.
- I think there's a good opportunity to have an Africa-focused platform that could focus on both diaspora and in-Africa opportunities (see also the comment by abubakar below), and potentially to create a network of people, eg Slack, discussion groups, etc, to help to build links between people with this shared interest.
- I'm not sure how accurate it is that people only want to give back to their own country. I think that could be worth testing out with a survey or pilot. It might be that there's a stronger motivation for people's own country, my impression is (from only a handful of data points in my own network!) that it's more of a drive to help the African continent, that comes from knowing something of the context.
I'm interested in your perspective on how the hiring process for EA organisations differs from other organisations - and perhaps advice for what to expect and try to showcase from one's background for people who are transitioning from something more mainstream.
I have a more general question on CVs:
I've always held to the school of thought that you should highlight the things that are most relevant for what you're applying for, and basically leave other stuff out - or refer to eg LinkedIn. I've done quite a lot across different areas, and this now leaves me readjusting my CV constantly! I'm also not necessarily sure I'm cutting the 'right' stuff - how do I know if the hiring team are actually interested in something I've done but they haven't put it in the job ad as a requirement... A friend recently told me they were advised to condense the white space on their CV and add more content to it. What are your thoughts on this?
I am interested to know more about this:
'I think the importance of character is seriously neglected in EA circles. Perhaps one reason is that unlike many other areas, we don’t have comparative advantage when it comes to identifying virtues. This means that we should draw on the accumulated wisdom as a starting point.'
I found this helpful, especially as applied to decision-making that isn't bound by an external factor.
Thank you!
I know I've seen it somewhere, but I can't find it: is there a link to what all the emoji mean?
The diamonds, the pause button, others I'm not aware of...
I'm keen to hear more about the community-building for mid-late career professionals and the mid-late career transitions series.
Do you have a link to recommended 101-level programs?