I’m Michelle Hutchinson, head of advising at 80,000 Hours, AMA

I found Will’s and Buck’s AMAs really interesting. I’m hoping others follow suit, so I thought I’d do one too.

What I work on:

I’m head of advising (what we used to call ‘coaching’) for 80,000 Hours. That means I chat to people who are in the process of making impact-focused career decisions and help them with those decisions. I also hire people to the team, and manage them—currently we have one other adviser, and we have another joining us next year. Alongside my usual calls, I answer career related questions in other formats, for example on the 80,000 Hours podcast (the episode will come out next year).

My background:

I joined 80,000 Hours from the Global Priorities Institute, which I set up with Hilary Greaves. Before that I ran Giving What We Can and did the operational set up of the Centre for Effective Altruism. I have a philosophy PhD on prioritising in global health. I wrote about how I initially got involved with effective altruism here.

I’ll be answering in a personal capacity so I won’t comment much on 80,000 Hours overall strategy except as it relates to the advising team. I’m very happy to answer questions related to career decisions, and to work I’ve done in the past.

Right now I’m on maternity leave with my first baby, so how fast I respond will depend on how he behaves himself.