It’s great to hear that being on the front foot and reaching out to people with specific offers has worked for you.
I actually want to push back on your advice for many readers here. I think for many people who aren’t getting jobs, the reason is not because the jobs are too competitive, but that they’re not meeting the bar for that role. This seems more common for EAs with little professional experience, as many employers want applicants who have already been trained. In AI Safety, it also seems like for some parts of the problem, an exceptional level of talent or skill is needed to meaningfully contribute.
In addition to applying for more jobs or reaching out to people directly, I’d also recommend:
broadening your search to a wider array of roles.
apply to impactful work that is not on the 80k job board. most impactful jobs arent run at orgs where most people are ea.
get a few years of training under your belt and come back to these jobs, with I think a much higher chance of success. (see my post here)
I realise short timelines makes this all much harder, but I do think many people early in their career do their best work in the environment of an organisation, team, manager, etc.
It’s great to hear that being on the front foot and reaching out to people with specific offers has worked for you.
I actually want to push back on your advice for many readers here. I think for many people who aren’t getting jobs, the reason is not because the jobs are too competitive, but that they’re not meeting the bar for that role. This seems more common for EAs with little professional experience, as many employers want applicants who have already been trained. In AI Safety, it also seems like for some parts of the problem, an exceptional level of talent or skill is needed to meaningfully contribute.
In addition to applying for more jobs or reaching out to people directly, I’d also recommend:
broadening your search to a wider array of roles.
apply to impactful work that is not on the 80k job board. most impactful jobs arent run at orgs where most people are ea.
get a few years of training under your belt and come back to these jobs, with I think a much higher chance of success. (see my post here)
I realise short timelines makes this all much harder, but I do think many people early in their career do their best work in the environment of an organisation, team, manager, etc.