Over the last six months, I’ve been having more and more calls with people interested in EA and EA careers. Sometimes I’m one of their first calls because they know me from social things, and sometimes I’m an introduction someone else (eg at 80k) has made. I’ve often found that an hour, my standard length for a call, feels very short. Sometimes I just chat, sometimes I try to have more of a plan. Of course a lot depends on context, but I’m interested in having a bit of a template so that I can be maximally helpful to them in limited time (I can’t be a career coach for everyone I’m introduced to) and with the specifics that I can give (not trying to replicate / replace eg 80k advising).
Posting so that people can give advice / help me with it and/or use it if it seems helpful.
Template
What’s your relationship to EA?
I think I currently either spend no time on this or way too much time. I’m hoping this question (rather than “how did you get involved with EA?” or “what do you know about EA”) will keep it short but useful. I’m also considering asking this more as a matter of course before the call.
What are your current options / thinking?
This is a place where, for people early in their thinking (which is most of the people I talk to) I tend to recommend a 5 minute timer to generate more options, advise taking a more explore attitude
Frequently recommend looking for small experiments to find out what they might like or are good at
I tend to recommend developing a view on which of the options are best by the metrics they care about, including impact
When relevant, I want to make a habit of recommending useful reading / podcast
I want to find out what sets them apart / their skillset, but I don’t currently have a really good way of doing this if I don’t already know that doesn’t feel interview-y
The ways I think I can often be most helpful, especially for people really new to institutional EA is to tell them about landscape
giving an overview of orgs, foundations, and types of work
tell them what I know about who else is working on things they’re excited about
sometimes that some of their interests aren’t a focus of most EA work / money
asking about their views on longtermism
what people think are the main bottlenecks and do they have an interest in developing those skills
management
ops
vetting / grantmaking
If they’re talking to me specifically about community building / outreach, I give my view on the landscape there: what’s happening, what people are excited about, etc.
I also have given my thoughts on how to make 80k advising most helpful
Be honest about your biggest uncertainties and what you want help from them on
Really try to generate options
I wonder what else I can say here
It’s possible I should ask more about the cause areas they care about—that feels like it’s such a big conversation that it doesn’t fit in an hour, but maybe it’s really crucial. Don’t know! Still figuring it out.
Template for EA Calls
Over the last six months, I’ve been having more and more calls with people interested in EA and EA careers. Sometimes I’m one of their first calls because they know me from social things, and sometimes I’m an introduction someone else (eg at 80k) has made. I’ve often found that an hour, my standard length for a call, feels very short. Sometimes I just chat, sometimes I try to have more of a plan. Of course a lot depends on context, but I’m interested in having a bit of a template so that I can be maximally helpful to them in limited time (I can’t be a career coach for everyone I’m introduced to) and with the specifics that I can give (not trying to replicate / replace eg 80k advising).
Posting so that people can give advice / help me with it and/or use it if it seems helpful.
Template
What’s your relationship to EA?
I think I currently either spend no time on this or way too much time. I’m hoping this question (rather than “how did you get involved with EA?” or “what do you know about EA”) will keep it short but useful. I’m also considering asking this more as a matter of course before the call.
What are your current options / thinking?
This is a place where, for people early in their thinking (which is most of the people I talk to) I tend to recommend a 5 minute timer to generate more options, advise taking a more explore attitude
Frequently recommend looking for small experiments to find out what they might like or are good at
I tend to recommend developing a view on which of the options are best by the metrics they care about, including impact
When relevant, I want to make a habit of recommending useful reading / podcast
Sometimes trying to raise people’s ambitions (https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/dMNFCv7YpSXjsg8e6/how-to-raise-others-aspirations-in-17-easy-steps)
I want to find out what sets them apart / their skillset, but I don’t currently have a really good way of doing this if I don’t already know that doesn’t feel interview-y
The ways I think I can often be most helpful, especially for people really new to institutional EA is to tell them about landscape
giving an overview of orgs, foundations, and types of work
tell them what I know about who else is working on things they’re excited about
sometimes that some of their interests aren’t a focus of most EA work / money
asking about their views on longtermism
what people think are the main bottlenecks and do they have an interest in developing those skills
management
ops
vetting / grantmaking
If they’re talking to me specifically about community building / outreach, I give my view on the landscape there: what’s happening, what people are excited about, etc.
I also have given my thoughts on how to make 80k advising most helpful
Be honest about your biggest uncertainties and what you want help from them on
Really try to generate options
I wonder what else I can say here
It’s possible I should ask more about the cause areas they care about—that feels like it’s such a big conversation that it doesn’t fit in an hour, but maybe it’s really crucial. Don’t know! Still figuring it out.