I think there are probably a few things that some EA orgs could improve and I hope to write a post about it soon. In the meantime, it might be useful to explain where some of these high numbers come from:
1. Un-timed work test (e.g. OpenPhil research analyst):
I think most EA orgs underestimate how much time a work test takes. Take for example the conversation notes test of OpenPhil’s application procedure. In the email instructions to the test, you will find the following line: “Historically, we think people have spent 2-8 hours on this assignment. ” But there is no indication of how much time you should/are allowed to spend. And since everyone knows that the process is really competitive, and your results keep on improving if you invest more time, many people invest a lot of time. I spent 16 hours on the task. I asked three other people how much time they had spent, and it was 8 h, 16 h, and 24 h.
2. Research proposals (e.g. FHI research scholar programme, OpenPhil biosecurity early career researcher grant):
Writing a research proposal just takes a lot of time. I spent 30 hours on my proposal for FHI. I know of 4 other people who applied. These are the times they spent on the proposal (full-time): one day, one week, one week, several weeks.
3. Trying to be really well prepared (my own fault, no one forced me to do that):
Knowing that the positions are competitive, I would often spend several hours preparing for (later-stage) interviews. E.g. when applying for the CEA local group specialist role, I spend 4-5 hours reading and thinking about CEA’s strategy in movement building.
4. Travel time:
As stated in the post, I counted travel time at 50%. And Oxford is really far off :-)
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So depending on how exactly Wave’s application process looks like, I might potentially have spent more than 10 hours on it as well :-)
Thanks for your comments. I already have a draft for a follow-up post on how I think the EA community could improve. Hopefully I will have time to write it up soon. Your points all seem to be good suggestions (with the caveat Denise mentions) .