Good questions! I’ll split some thoughts into a few separate comments for readability.
Writing on the Forum
I second Peter’s statement that
one of the best ways for a would-be researcher to distinguish themselves is writing a thoughtful and engaging EA Forum post. I’ve seen a lot of great hires distinguish themselves like this.
(Though in some cases it might make sense to publish the post to LessWrong instead or in addition.)
This statement definitely seems true in my own case (though I imagine for some people other approaches would be more effective):
I got a offer for an EA research job before I began writing for the EA Forum. But I was very much lacking in the actual background/credentials the org said they were looking for, so I’m almost certain I wouldn’t have gotten that offer if the application process hadn’t included a work test that let me show I was a good fit despite that relevant lack of background/credentials. (I was also lucky that the org let me do the work test rather than screening me out before that.) And the work test was basically “Write an EA Forum post on [specific topic]”, and what I wrote for it did indeed end up as one of my first EA Forum/LessWrong posts.
And then this year I’ve gotten offers from ~35% of what I’ve applied to, as compared to ~7% last year, and I’d guess that the biggest factors in the difference were:
I now had an EA research role on my CV, signalling I might be a fit for other such roles
Going from 1FTE non-EA stuff (teaching) in 2019 to only ~0.3FTE non-EA stuff (a grantwriting role I did for a climate change company on the side of my ~0.7FTE EA work till around August) allowed me a lot of time to build relevant skills and knowledge
In 2020 I wrote a bunch of (mostly decently/well received) EA Forum or LessWrong posts, helping to signal my skills and knowledge, and also just “get my name out there”
“getting my name out there” was not part of my original goal, but did end up happening, and to quite a surprising degree.
Writing EA Forum and LessWrong posts helped force and motivate me to build relevant skills and knowledge
Comments and feedback from others on my EA Forum and LessWrong posts sometimes helped me build relevant skills and knowledge, or build my ideas of what was worth thinking and writing about
Factors 1 and 2 didn’t depend on me writing things on the EA Forum or LessWrong. But factors 3-5 did. So it seems that writing for the Forum and LessWrong really helped me out here. It also seems plausible that, if I’d started writing for the Forum/LW before I got my first EA job offer, that might’ve led to me getting an offer sooner than I in fact did.
(But I’m not sure how generalisable any of these takeaways are—maybe this approach suited me especially well for some reason.)
Hi Arushi,
Good questions! I’ll split some thoughts into a few separate comments for readability.
Writing on the Forum
I second Peter’s statement that
(Though in some cases it might make sense to publish the post to LessWrong instead or in addition.)
This statement definitely seems true in my own case (though I imagine for some people other approaches would be more effective):
I got a offer for an EA research job before I began writing for the EA Forum. But I was very much lacking in the actual background/credentials the org said they were looking for, so I’m almost certain I wouldn’t have gotten that offer if the application process hadn’t included a work test that let me show I was a good fit despite that relevant lack of background/credentials. (I was also lucky that the org let me do the work test rather than screening me out before that.) And the work test was basically “Write an EA Forum post on [specific topic]”, and what I wrote for it did indeed end up as one of my first EA Forum/LessWrong posts.
And then this year I’ve gotten offers from ~35% of what I’ve applied to, as compared to ~7% last year, and I’d guess that the biggest factors in the difference were:
I now had an EA research role on my CV, signalling I might be a fit for other such roles
Going from 1FTE non-EA stuff (teaching) in 2019 to only ~0.3FTE non-EA stuff (a grantwriting role I did for a climate change company on the side of my ~0.7FTE EA work till around August) allowed me a lot of time to build relevant skills and knowledge
In 2020 I wrote a bunch of (mostly decently/well received) EA Forum or LessWrong posts, helping to signal my skills and knowledge, and also just “get my name out there”
“getting my name out there” was not part of my original goal, but did end up happening, and to quite a surprising degree.
Writing EA Forum and LessWrong posts helped force and motivate me to build relevant skills and knowledge
Comments and feedback from others on my EA Forum and LessWrong posts sometimes helped me build relevant skills and knowledge, or build my ideas of what was worth thinking and writing about
See also this other comment of mine from this AMA
Factors 1 and 2 didn’t depend on me writing things on the EA Forum or LessWrong. But factors 3-5 did. So it seems that writing for the Forum and LessWrong really helped me out here. It also seems plausible that, if I’d started writing for the Forum/LW before I got my first EA job offer, that might’ve led to me getting an offer sooner than I in fact did.
(But I’m not sure how generalisable any of these takeaways are—maybe this approach suited me especially well for some reason.)
On this, I’d also recommend Aaron Gertler’s talks Why you (yes, you) should post on the EA Forum and How you can make an impact on the EA Forum.