“We need more people working on these neglected issues” doesn’t necessarily mean that orgs have the management capacity to absorb more people.
Imagine I’m running a vegan restaurant. I’ve started serving my customers jackfruit tacos. They really like the tacos. So I run a giant advertising campaign all over the city telling people about my tacos. Come the weekend, my restaurant is flooded with customers. But after the first 50 customers, I run out of jackfruit, and the rest of the customers don’t get to try the tacos. How do you think those customers would feel about my restaurant?
How would you feel, if you drove across town to try some jackfruit tacos which you learned about in an advertisement, and the restaurant was all out? You’d probably feel a sense of disappointment, and conclude that the restaurant is not very well run. If I told you “well the advertisement was technically right, the tacos are truly delicious” you’d probably be even more annoyed.
If you advertise EA as a place where talented people are needed in order to make the world a better place, and talented people arrive in EA, and they don’t feel at all needed… they might not come back. Even if it’s true in some technical sense that more people are needed in the abstract. Same way you might not come back to my vegan restaurant, even if it’s technically true that the tacos are delicious. Replies like this miss the point, and give you a reputation for callous mismanagement. Eventually you burn through your entire potential customer base.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to stop advertising. Just give people an accurate idea of what to expect, instead of hiding behind “it was technically correct”. If the advertisement says “Jackfruit tacos available for first 50 customers”, you won’t be as annoyed if they are all out by the time you arrive.
Also, people have to deal with the whole application process that repeats over and over. To extend your analogy: the customers who drove across town are also being asked to describe, in slightly different words each time, why they like tacos.
This particular metaphor really resonated with me for whatever reason.
I’m trying to career switch. I have small children in the family to care for. My current role is very demanding. I have pretty limited resources to put towards job hunting right now. I did not go to a top college. I’m not an elite applicant, though I’ve done well for myself in my circumstances, and a lot of my failure to do better is due to prioritizing volunteer and other work.
To put it crassly, if EA orgs can fully satisfy their staffing needs using recent, EA-aligned graduates of elite colleges, there is no point in me even applying.
The way it feels (when I’m feeling down) is that EA is not really intended for someone like me. The jobs are not there, and while I believe in and practice earning to give, you sometimes get the impression reading the boards that if you aren’t a high enough earner, maybe even that isn’t really worthwhile, since in an objective sense, it isn’t high impact.
And that’s fine. Maybe EA can get all it needs from those talent pools, and maybe the urgency of the moment is such that even the money I can give is not that important. Obviously, its feasible that’s the case. But then, I’d like to know that, you know?
But after the first 50 customers, I run out of jackfruit, and the rest of the customers don’t get to try the tacos. How do you think those customers would feel about my restaurant?
Quite possibly they infer this must be the most exciting new product, feel FOMO, and arrive even earlier the next day? Restaurant behaviour is weird—see for example how long lines are seen as a sign of success rather than mispricing.
Imagine I’m running a vegan restaurant. I’ve started serving my customers jackfruit tacos. They really like the tacos. So I run a giant advertising campaign all over the city telling people about my tacos. Come the weekend, my restaurant is flooded with customers. But after the first 50 customers, I run out of jackfruit, and the rest of the customers don’t get to try the tacos. How do you think those customers would feel about my restaurant?
How would you feel, if you drove across town to try some jackfruit tacos which you learned about in an advertisement, and the restaurant was all out? You’d probably feel a sense of disappointment, and conclude that the restaurant is not very well run. If I told you “well the advertisement was technically right, the tacos are truly delicious” you’d probably be even more annoyed.
If you advertise EA as a place where talented people are needed in order to make the world a better place, and talented people arrive in EA, and they don’t feel at all needed… they might not come back. Even if it’s true in some technical sense that more people are needed in the abstract. Same way you might not come back to my vegan restaurant, even if it’s technically true that the tacos are delicious. Replies like this miss the point, and give you a reputation for callous mismanagement. Eventually you burn through your entire potential customer base.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to stop advertising. Just give people an accurate idea of what to expect, instead of hiding behind “it was technically correct”. If the advertisement says “Jackfruit tacos available for first 50 customers”, you won’t be as annoyed if they are all out by the time you arrive.
Also, people have to deal with the whole application process that repeats over and over. To extend your analogy: the customers who drove across town are also being asked to describe, in slightly different words each time, why they like tacos.
This particular metaphor really resonated with me for whatever reason.
I’m trying to career switch. I have small children in the family to care for. My current role is very demanding. I have pretty limited resources to put towards job hunting right now. I did not go to a top college. I’m not an elite applicant, though I’ve done well for myself in my circumstances, and a lot of my failure to do better is due to prioritizing volunteer and other work.
To put it crassly, if EA orgs can fully satisfy their staffing needs using recent, EA-aligned graduates of elite colleges, there is no point in me even applying.
The way it feels (when I’m feeling down) is that EA is not really intended for someone like me. The jobs are not there, and while I believe in and practice earning to give, you sometimes get the impression reading the boards that if you aren’t a high enough earner, maybe even that isn’t really worthwhile, since in an objective sense, it isn’t high impact.
And that’s fine. Maybe EA can get all it needs from those talent pools, and maybe the urgency of the moment is such that even the money I can give is not that important. Obviously, its feasible that’s the case. But then, I’d like to know that, you know?
Quite possibly they infer this must be the most exciting new product, feel FOMO, and arrive even earlier the next day? Restaurant behaviour is weird—see for example how long lines are seen as a sign of success rather than mispricing.