Good questions! Iāll split some thoughts into a few separate comments for readability.
Writing on the Forum
I second Peterās statement that
one of the best ways for a would-be researcher to distinguish themselves is writing a thoughtful and engaging EA Forum post. Iāve 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/ācredentials the org said they were looking for, so Iām almost certain I wouldnāt have gotten that offer if the application process hadnāt included a work test that let me show I was a good fit despite that relevant lack of background/ācredentials. (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 āWrite an EA Forum post on [specific topic]ā, and what I wrote for it did indeed end up as one of my first EA Forum/āLessWrong posts.
And then this year Iāve gotten offers from ~35% of what Iāve applied to, as compared to ~7% last year, and Iād 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/āwell received) EA Forum or LessWrong posts, helping to signal my skills and knowledge, and also just āget my name out thereā
āgetting my name out thereā 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 didnāt 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 Iād started writing for the Forum/āLW before I got my first EA job offer, that mightāve led to me getting an offer sooner than I in fact did.
(But Iām not sure how generalisable any of these takeaways areāmaybe this approach suited me especially well for some reason.)
Hi Arushi,
Good questions! Iāll split some thoughts into a few separate comments for readability.
Writing on the Forum
I second Peterās 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/ācredentials the org said they were looking for, so Iām almost certain I wouldnāt have gotten that offer if the application process hadnāt included a work test that let me show I was a good fit despite that relevant lack of background/ācredentials. (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 āWrite an EA Forum post on [specific topic]ā, and what I wrote for it did indeed end up as one of my first EA Forum/āLessWrong posts.
And then this year Iāve gotten offers from ~35% of what Iāve applied to, as compared to ~7% last year, and Iād 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/āwell received) EA Forum or LessWrong posts, helping to signal my skills and knowledge, and also just āget my name out thereā
āgetting my name out thereā 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 didnāt 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 Iād started writing for the Forum/āLW before I got my first EA job offer, that mightāve led to me getting an offer sooner than I in fact did.
(But Iām not sure how generalisable any of these takeaways areāmaybe this approach suited me especially well for some reason.)
On this, Iād also recommend Aaron Gertlerās talks Why you (yes, you) should post on the EA Forum and How you can make an impact on the EA Forum.