Great post, Sofia. It’s super what you’ve achieved with Hive especially as you didn’t even have the support of an incubator. Though I must admit I felt personally attacked by the line ‘have you or someone you know burnt out after spending a year chasing a dream impact-focused job?’ Hahaha.
PS—and have you got that $100mil in the bank yet? ’Cause I could see it happening!
Thanks for reading, Siobhan! Appreciate your kind words.
RE Haha, I think many people may feel the same as you. I remember when I started job hunting after 3 years at Veganuary and felt that with my experience and qualification any org will want to hire me (I was very unaware of how competitive the job market was, even though ironically I got that Veganuary job out of over 300 people!), and found it shocking to keep getting rejected after going through to the last stage in a few roles, and to only get one offer after 6 months of hard core job hunting. I think had my timeline been a bit more realistic, I would have been a lot more patient, and it would have been a more pleasant experience. I also think that the longer your timeline is, the more choosey you can be, and you can afford to wait for an opportunity that really aligns with your values and personal fit.
RE 100M: How about 100M worth of impact for farmed animals? :)
I think you’d prefer the former. We’re all human! They’re not mutually exclusive, though.
I’m not sure re: timeline. The problem is, if you’re on the shelf too long then hiring managers might ask ‘why is that’? I worked through my entire maternity period to avoid having that gap, only to end up in one anyway. Who picked you up after your post-Veganuary hunt, or is that when you started Hive?
As a hiring manager myself, I can tell you that we want to hire the best person for the job (someone who can solve our problem most effectively), and their current situation, as well as their work history, may not play as big a role. I focus a lot on current skills and abilities, and my experience with this person during volunteering/interactions/work trials. I don’t think that someone looking for an impactful job for a long time would make a difference to me, as I see how competitive things can get. I guess it may be interesting to me to see what the person has done in the meantime (e.g. learning/volunteering/other jobs) and what they’ve learned. But I still don’t think I’d focus on this over role fit. You can read more about that job hunt in this post :) https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rvCwxS6m8KeGiLte9/how-to-get-an-ea-aligned-job-my-experience
Of course! What someone brings to the role in the here and now should be about 90% of the consideration, with the remaining 10% for track record, only insofar as it demonstrates mission-alignment/commitment.
Nobody’s entitled to a job just because they’ve been trying for a long time. I hope I haven’t accidentally implied otherwise (gulp). I mention the maternity thing in response to your point about longer timeline --> more choosiness, which flies in the face of the traditional advice re: ‘don’t let there be a gap in your CV.’
Great post, Sofia. It’s super what you’ve achieved with Hive especially as you didn’t even have the support of an incubator. Though I must admit I felt personally attacked by the line ‘have you or someone you know burnt out after spending a year chasing a dream impact-focused job?’ Hahaha.
PS—and have you got that $100mil in the bank yet? ’Cause I could see it happening!
Thanks for reading, Siobhan! Appreciate your kind words.
RE Haha, I think many people may feel the same as you. I remember when I started job hunting after 3 years at Veganuary and felt that with my experience and qualification any org will want to hire me (I was very unaware of how competitive the job market was, even though ironically I got that Veganuary job out of over 300 people!), and found it shocking to keep getting rejected after going through to the last stage in a few roles, and to only get one offer after 6 months of hard core job hunting. I think had my timeline been a bit more realistic, I would have been a lot more patient, and it would have been a more pleasant experience. I also think that the longer your timeline is, the more choosey you can be, and you can afford to wait for an opportunity that really aligns with your values and personal fit.
RE 100M: How about 100M worth of impact for farmed animals? :)
I think you’d prefer the former. We’re all human! They’re not mutually exclusive, though.
I’m not sure re: timeline. The problem is, if you’re on the shelf too long then hiring managers might ask ‘why is that’? I worked through my entire maternity period to avoid having that gap, only to end up in one anyway. Who picked you up after your post-Veganuary hunt, or is that when you started Hive?
As a hiring manager myself, I can tell you that we want to hire the best person for the job (someone who can solve our problem most effectively), and their current situation, as well as their work history, may not play as big a role. I focus a lot on current skills and abilities, and my experience with this person during volunteering/interactions/work trials.
I don’t think that someone looking for an impactful job for a long time would make a difference to me, as I see how competitive things can get. I guess it may be interesting to me to see what the person has done in the meantime (e.g. learning/volunteering/other jobs) and what they’ve learned. But I still don’t think I’d focus on this over role fit.
You can read more about that job hunt in this post :) https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/rvCwxS6m8KeGiLte9/how-to-get-an-ea-aligned-job-my-experience
Of course! What someone brings to the role in the here and now should be about 90% of the consideration, with the remaining 10% for track record, only insofar as it demonstrates mission-alignment/commitment.
Nobody’s entitled to a job just because they’ve been trying for a long time. I hope I haven’t accidentally implied otherwise (gulp). I mention the maternity thing in response to your point about longer timeline --> more choosiness, which flies in the face of the traditional advice re: ‘don’t let there be a gap in your CV.’
I’ll have a read shortly, thanks.