Frances’ quick take here made me think about what skills are particularly important in my own line of work, communications. 80,000 Hours has a skill profile for communicating ideas that covers some crucial considerations when assessing fit for communications work; these are additional skills or aptitudes that I often think about when considering fit for communications work in the EA ecosystem in particular:
Translating between groups: Especially in an EA context, communications work can entail the translation of complex, nuanced ideas from one group of people into something more legible for a different group or audience. Being able to speak the language of different niche groups—like researchers or philosophers—and then being able to translate that into a different kind of language or format proves useful, especially when communicating with audiences that are less familiar with EA. This is when having a background or understanding of different audiences or groups can come in handy for communications work.
Stewardship mentality: As a communicator, you don’t always represent your own ideas or original work. Often you’re representing the work or ideas of others, which requires a sense of stewardship in service of representing that work or those ideas accurately and with nuance. This can look like double-checking stats or numbers before sharing a social media post or doing further research to make sure you understand a claim or piece of research you’re discussing.
Excitement about being in a support role: Some communicators, like social media personalities or popular bloggers, don’t necessarily require this aptitude; but full-time communications roles at many organizations in the EA ecosystem require this, in my opinion. Similar to having a stewardship mentality, I find it helps if you have excitement about supporting the object-level work of others. Feeling jazzed about the message or impact of a particular organization or cause area probably means you’ll do a better job communicating about it or supporting the communication efforts of others. Many types of communications work don’t receive direct, public credit—editing, ghostwriting, coordinating, filming, etc.—but they can be just as rewarding depending on your personality.
Frances’ quick take here made me think about what skills are particularly important in my own line of work, communications. 80,000 Hours has a skill profile for communicating ideas that covers some crucial considerations when assessing fit for communications work; these are additional skills or aptitudes that I often think about when considering fit for communications work in the EA ecosystem in particular:
Translating between groups: Especially in an EA context, communications work can entail the translation of complex, nuanced ideas from one group of people into something more legible for a different group or audience. Being able to speak the language of different niche groups—like researchers or philosophers—and then being able to translate that into a different kind of language or format proves useful, especially when communicating with audiences that are less familiar with EA. This is when having a background or understanding of different audiences or groups can come in handy for communications work.
Stewardship mentality: As a communicator, you don’t always represent your own ideas or original work. Often you’re representing the work or ideas of others, which requires a sense of stewardship in service of representing that work or those ideas accurately and with nuance. This can look like double-checking stats or numbers before sharing a social media post or doing further research to make sure you understand a claim or piece of research you’re discussing.
Excitement about being in a support role: Some communicators, like social media personalities or popular bloggers, don’t necessarily require this aptitude; but full-time communications roles at many organizations in the EA ecosystem require this, in my opinion. Similar to having a stewardship mentality, I find it helps if you have excitement about supporting the object-level work of others. Feeling jazzed about the message or impact of a particular organization or cause area probably means you’ll do a better job communicating about it or supporting the communication efforts of others. Many types of communications work don’t receive direct, public credit—editing, ghostwriting, coordinating, filming, etc.—but they can be just as rewarding depending on your personality.