I think there are at least two effects where the world loses impact: (i) People in less privileged positions not applying for EA jobs; sometimes one of these would actually have been the best candidate. (ii) More speculatively (in the sense that I can’t point to a specific example, though my prior is this effect is very likely to be non-zero), people in less privileged positions might realize that it’s not possible for them to apply for many of the roles they perceived to be described as highest-impact and this might reduce their EA motivation/dedication in general, and make them feel unwelcome in the community.
I emphatically agree that them taking another potentially impactful job is positive. In fact, as I said in another comment, I wish there was more attention on and support for identifying and promoting such jobs.
I absolutely agree that losing out on less-privileged colleagues would be a detriment to EA! I just think it would be better for those individuals and the world if they start working sooner, rather than spending months applying for jobs at EA organisations.
Something that seems to be missing from this (very valuable) conversation is that many people also spend months looking for non-EA jobs that they have a personal fit for. I’m mainly aware of people with science PhDs, either applying for industry jobs or applying for professorships. It is not uncommon for this to be a months long process with multiple 10s of applications, as being reported here for EA job searching. The case of where this goes faster in industry jobs tends to be because the applicant is well established as having a key set of skills that a company needs and/or a personal network connection with people involved in hiring at the company. Some academics get lucky just applying for a few professorships, but others apply to 50+ jobs, which easily takes 100+ hours, perhaps many more. And in both cases you spend lots of time over the preceding years learning about the job search process, how to write cover letters, teaching statements, etc.
I definitely feel some of this myself, even from being “less privileged” only in the sense that my degree is from a state university. (On most dimensions I am very privileged.)
Also I’m from the Midwest, and I feel like there’s a subtle coastal > Midwest dynamic that’s at play. (Really a subset of a larger coastal > anywhere-that-isn’t-coastal dynamic)
I think there are at least two effects where the world loses impact: (i) People in less privileged positions not applying for EA jobs; sometimes one of these would actually have been the best candidate. (ii) More speculatively (in the sense that I can’t point to a specific example, though my prior is this effect is very likely to be non-zero), people in less privileged positions might realize that it’s not possible for them to apply for many of the roles they perceived to be described as highest-impact and this might reduce their EA motivation/dedication in general, and make them feel unwelcome in the community.
I emphatically agree that them taking another potentially impactful job is positive. In fact, as I said in another comment, I wish there was more attention on and support for identifying and promoting such jobs.
I absolutely agree that losing out on less-privileged colleagues would be a detriment to EA! I just think it would be better for those individuals and the world if they start working sooner, rather than spending months applying for jobs at EA organisations.
Something that seems to be missing from this (very valuable) conversation is that many people also spend months looking for non-EA jobs that they have a personal fit for. I’m mainly aware of people with science PhDs, either applying for industry jobs or applying for professorships. It is not uncommon for this to be a months long process with multiple 10s of applications, as being reported here for EA job searching. The case of where this goes faster in industry jobs tends to be because the applicant is well established as having a key set of skills that a company needs and/or a personal network connection with people involved in hiring at the company. Some academics get lucky just applying for a few professorships, but others apply to 50+ jobs, which easily takes 100+ hours, perhaps many more. And in both cases you spend lots of time over the preceding years learning about the job search process, how to write cover letters, teaching statements, etc.
I definitely feel some of this myself, even from being “less privileged” only in the sense that my degree is from a state university. (On most dimensions I am very privileged.)
Also I’m from the Midwest, and I feel like there’s a subtle coastal > Midwest dynamic that’s at play. (Really a subset of a larger coastal > anywhere-that-isn’t-coastal dynamic)