“Rejecting” would be a bit unusual, but of course you should honestly advise a well qualified candidate if you think their other career option is higher impact. I think it would be ideal if everyone gives others their honest advice about how to do the most good, roughly regardless of circumstance.
I’ve only seen a small slice of things, but my general sense is that people in the EA community do in fact live up to this ideal, regularly turning down and redirecting talent as well as funding and other resources towards the thing that they believe does the most good.
Also, although it might ultimately add up to the same thing, I think it brings more clarity to think along the lines of “counterfactual impact” (estimating how much unilateral impact an individual’s alternative career choices have) rather than “comparative advantage” which is difficult to assess without detailed awareness of the multiple other actors you are comparing to.
“Rejecting” would be a bit unusual, but of course you should honestly advise a well qualified candidate if you think their other career option is higher impact. I think it would be ideal if everyone gives others their honest advice about how to do the most good, roughly regardless of circumstance.
I’ve only seen a small slice of things, but my general sense is that people in the EA community do in fact live up to this ideal, regularly turning down and redirecting talent as well as funding and other resources towards the thing that they believe does the most good.
Also, although it might ultimately add up to the same thing, I think it brings more clarity to think along the lines of “counterfactual impact” (estimating how much unilateral impact an individual’s alternative career choices have) rather than “comparative advantage” which is difficult to assess without detailed awareness of the multiple other actors you are comparing to.