Could you clarify a little bit regarding the “5+ years of professional experience?” This might play into imposter syndrome and the idea of ‘giving permission,’ but I’m not sure if you mean “has five years of work experience” or “has five years in a clear career path.”
For example, my own work experience is a bit haphazard, and I’ve dabbled in a few fields, but I haven’t really had a career per se; I’ve just worked different jobs. I know a man who finished his masters degree about 7 years ago whom I view as generally competent and promising, and he is very interested in contributing to making the world a better place (along EA lines)[1], but hasn’t had a clear career path. I’m contrasting this to my imagination of someone who studies X in college, then works a junior-level role doing X, then a mid-level role doing X, then a manager related to X, and so on.
He does communications. (Not PR or journalism, but verbal). I thought it would be great for him to coach/train people before EAGs or similar big public presentations. If you are making a speech to potential funders, imagine how many more donations you would get from a speech that is 5% or 10% better.
If anyone reading wants to hire somebody who is skilled and knowledgeable about reading body language, modulating tone of voice, and similar ‘public speaking’ type topics, let me know and I’ll put you in touch.
Many people do not have a “clear career path.” I think there might be a higher proportion of EAs who are very curious intellectually and have experimented with a variety of paths. I am 34 and I personally feel like I had many lives (advocate, refugee lawyer, lecturer, researcher…) that I am pressured to fit into a single narrative on the job market. When it comes to career transitions, it is important to be flexible and past career transitions can be a positive sign of that. So 5 years of work are 5 years of work. How wide or narrow these experiences are will play a role in determining what interventions are needed and what direction a person can take to an impactful career.
We have many people in our program with 10+ years of experience. Some of them have variety in their career histories and others have been on a singular path. Both of these are valuable and can serve different purposes.
In terms of PhDs, we generally do not count those years toward work experience. We make exceptions and look at each individual profile as a whole, but in broad terms, we look at someone’s competence, motivation, commitment to effective causes and existential risks prevention, as well as specific signals (e.g., for agency, flexibility…).
Could you clarify a little bit regarding the “5+ years of professional experience?” This might play into imposter syndrome and the idea of ‘giving permission,’ but I’m not sure if you mean “has five years of work experience” or “has five years in a clear career path.”
For example, my own work experience is a bit haphazard, and I’ve dabbled in a few fields, but I haven’t really had a career per se; I’ve just worked different jobs. I know a man who finished his masters degree about 7 years ago whom I view as generally competent and promising, and he is very interested in contributing to making the world a better place (along EA lines)[1], but hasn’t had a clear career path. I’m contrasting this to my imagination of someone who studies X in college, then works a junior-level role doing X, then a mid-level role doing X, then a manager related to X, and so on.
He does communications. (Not PR or journalism, but verbal). I thought it would be great for him to coach/train people before EAGs or similar big public presentations. If you are making a speech to potential funders, imagine how many more donations you would get from a speech that is 5% or 10% better.
If anyone reading wants to hire somebody who is skilled and knowledgeable about reading body language, modulating tone of voice, and similar ‘public speaking’ type topics, let me know and I’ll put you in touch.
Thank you for the question, Joseph.
Many people do not have a “clear career path.” I think there might be a higher proportion of EAs who are very curious intellectually and have experimented with a variety of paths. I am 34 and I personally feel like I had many lives (advocate, refugee lawyer, lecturer, researcher…) that I am pressured to fit into a single narrative on the job market. When it comes to career transitions, it is important to be flexible and past career transitions can be a positive sign of that. So 5 years of work are 5 years of work. How wide or narrow these experiences are will play a role in determining what interventions are needed and what direction a person can take to an impactful career.
We have many people in our program with 10+ years of experience. Some of them have variety in their career histories and others have been on a singular path. Both of these are valuable and can serve different purposes.
In terms of PhDs, we generally do not count those years toward work experience.
We make exceptions and look at each individual profile as a whole, but in broad terms, we look at someone’s competence, motivation, commitment to effective causes and existential risks prevention, as well as specific signals (e.g., for agency, flexibility…).
Agreed, and does e.g. a PhD program / grad school count towards years of experience?