This puts to words so many intuitions that have crept up on me—not necessarily so much about EA as about job-hunting as a young generalist with broadly altruistic goals—over the last few years. Like you, earlier this year, I transitioned from a research role I didn’t find fulfilling into a new position that I have greatly enjoyed after a multi-year search for a more impactful and rewarding job. During my search, I also made it fairly deep in the application process for research roles at GiveWell and Open Phil and got a lot of positive feedback but was ultimately unable to land either those positions or any others in EA (this is not a criticism of those hiring teams — they were absolutely wonderful every step of the way). Anyway, it’s great to hear from others who have had similar experiences, and it’s wonderful that you’re doing so well now. I think this post is fantastic, and I plan to send it to a number of undergrads I know who are about to start out their careers. Thank you so much for sharing it!
This puts to words so many intuitions that have crept up on me—not necessarily so much about EA as about job-hunting as a young generalist with broadly altruistic goals—over the last few years. Like you, earlier this year, I transitioned from a research role I didn’t find fulfilling into a new position that I have greatly enjoyed after a multi-year search for a more impactful and rewarding job. During my search, I also made it fairly deep in the application process for research roles at GiveWell and Open Phil and got a lot of positive feedback but was ultimately unable to land either those positions or any others in EA (this is not a criticism of those hiring teams — they were absolutely wonderful every step of the way). Anyway, it’s great to hear from others who have had similar experiences, and it’s wonderful that you’re doing so well now. I think this post is fantastic, and I plan to send it to a number of undergrads I know who are about to start out their careers. Thank you so much for sharing it!