Hey Sofia, wonderful job writing this so thoroughly! I’m sure many will benefit from it ! Wish this post had existed before I went through my own job search experience (yikes!) I really hope that the community has (hopefully sooner than later) application peer support groups where people like you can give this kind of advice on a 1-on-1 basis and that people can easily access the support they need :)
Hey Cristina, thanks a lot for your kind comment—I really appreciate it! I too wish someone held my hand through my first job application experience, I didn’t know any of this haha. Unfortunately, I had to learn all of this through mistakes, so I hope people reading this will avoid some of them! I also hope that more people will get the support they need, peer support groups are a very good idea! We should suggest it to AAC or 80,000 Hours!
AAC does offer (or at least they did offer something similar after I went through their Introductory Course) :) in the form of matchmaking with one your peers of the cohort. I assume 80,000 Hours offers similar support with their 1-1 advice. Also people with WANBAM mentors or other mentors get similar support.
Although my thinking is more around “widely available application support for EAs” (regardless of participation in a program etc)
I would imagine a pilot being run with a simple survey and then asking people to participate (both in “mentor”/”mentee” roles). The mentees being people planning an application phase at a given time and having mentor support for that process (+ any other available support: mentors for more strategic considerations, coach, therapist, friends, family, etc.)
I’d love to see someone run that. Full disclosure: I’m not doing it myself because of limited capacity, therefore → would love to see someone else give it a go!
Hey Sofia, wonderful job writing this so thoroughly! I’m sure many will benefit from it ! Wish this post had existed before I went through my own job search experience (yikes!) I really hope that the community has (hopefully sooner than later) application peer support groups where people like you can give this kind of advice on a 1-on-1 basis and that people can easily access the support they need :)
Hey Cristina, thanks a lot for your kind comment—I really appreciate it! I too wish someone held my hand through my first job application experience, I didn’t know any of this haha. Unfortunately, I had to learn all of this through mistakes, so I hope people reading this will avoid some of them! I also hope that more people will get the support they need, peer support groups are a very good idea! We should suggest it to AAC or 80,000 Hours!
AAC does offer (or at least they did offer something similar after I went through their Introductory Course) :) in the form of matchmaking with one your peers of the cohort. I assume 80,000 Hours offers similar support with their 1-1 advice. Also people with WANBAM mentors or other mentors get similar support.
Although my thinking is more around “widely available application support for EAs” (regardless of participation in a program etc) I would imagine a pilot being run with a simple survey and then asking people to participate (both in “mentor”/”mentee” roles). The mentees being people planning an application phase at a given time and having mentor support for that process (+ any other available support: mentors for more strategic considerations, coach, therapist, friends, family, etc.) I’d love to see someone run that. Full disclosure: I’m not doing it myself because of limited capacity, therefore → would love to see someone else give it a go!