Executive summary: In this personal reflection for Career Conversations Week, the author shares how they transitioned from grassroots vegan activism to becoming Managing Director at Hive, emphasizing that while their journey involved luck and privilege, deliberately creating opportunities, building community, and sharing their work played key roles in getting noticed and eventually hired.
Key points:
Pivoting from activism to impact-focused career planning: Exposure to social psychology, effective advocacy literature, and local EA events led the author to question the effectiveness of their prior activism and reframe their career around maximizing impact.
Creating self-directed opportunities: With few formal roles available, the author initiated talks, projects, and community-building efforts (e.g., founding Effective Animal Advocacy Austria), emphasizing that impactful contributions don’t require originality, formal structures, or perfection.
The role of time and privilege: The author acknowledges that being able to spend ~10 hours/week exploring EA-aligned work was a significant advantage, and encourages others with similar privilege to use it wisely.
Importance of visibility and community: Sharing updates, asking for feedback, and being active on Hive Slack led to meaningful connections, including the one that would ultimately result in a job offer.
Serendipity, not strategy: The author stresses that none of their actions were part of a calculated plan to get hired—opportunities arose unexpectedly through visibility, early involvement, and trusted recommendations.
Staying sane and mission-driven: Framing their work as intrinsically meaningful, rather than instrumental for landing a job, helped the author maintain motivation and avoid burnout despite uncertain outcomes.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: In this personal reflection for Career Conversations Week, the author shares how they transitioned from grassroots vegan activism to becoming Managing Director at Hive, emphasizing that while their journey involved luck and privilege, deliberately creating opportunities, building community, and sharing their work played key roles in getting noticed and eventually hired.
Key points:
Pivoting from activism to impact-focused career planning: Exposure to social psychology, effective advocacy literature, and local EA events led the author to question the effectiveness of their prior activism and reframe their career around maximizing impact.
Creating self-directed opportunities: With few formal roles available, the author initiated talks, projects, and community-building efforts (e.g., founding Effective Animal Advocacy Austria), emphasizing that impactful contributions don’t require originality, formal structures, or perfection.
The role of time and privilege: The author acknowledges that being able to spend ~10 hours/week exploring EA-aligned work was a significant advantage, and encourages others with similar privilege to use it wisely.
Importance of visibility and community: Sharing updates, asking for feedback, and being active on Hive Slack led to meaningful connections, including the one that would ultimately result in a job offer.
Serendipity, not strategy: The author stresses that none of their actions were part of a calculated plan to get hired—opportunities arose unexpectedly through visibility, early involvement, and trusted recommendations.
Staying sane and mission-driven: Framing their work as intrinsically meaningful, rather than instrumental for landing a job, helped the author maintain motivation and avoid burnout despite uncertain outcomes.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.