Caroline Ferner: EA Career Planning at Harvard

Effective Altruism (EA) outreach is extremely important, as educating more people about the principles could provide large amounts of utility. In my opinion, the most vital component of this outreach is EA’s career resources. Spreading EA’s perspective on choosing one’s career is invaluable and should currently be considered a neglected component of the mission. While EA chapters globally should prioritize spreading their career expertise, Harvard EA has a significant responsibility within this initiative.

I would argue almost all members of the Harvard community begin their time at the university with the intention to make a positive impact on the world. Do I think that most members of the community lose this desire by the time they graduate? Not at all. Moving beyond simply good intentions, Harvard students occupy immense positions of privilege. These positions present great reason for both their ability and responsibility to meaningfully – effectively – contribute to the world around them.

I think that we are often too quick to pass judgement and place boxes around certain categories of individuals, especially in the world of EA. This in turn alienates many of the very people who may benefit most from the principles of Effective Altruism. I believe these ideas are especially relevant in the Harvard bubble, one in which the ideas of ‘selling out’ to finance or consulting fields are often displayed paradoxically to careers with non-profit organizations. This is not an argument against entrance into careers with non-profits or other impact driven work. Instead, it is an argument for a more inclusive understanding of who we expect to make a difference. I wonder if these preconceived notions of what jobs are stereotypically good for the world leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy for the individuals who pursue alternative careers more commonly associated with financial gain. EA would argue that it shouldn’t, and that each of us has a responsibility to humanity.

For example, EA emphasizes that some career paths with the highest overall impact include lucrative job opportunities such as research into AI safety, software engineering, and earning to give in other high-paying roles like trading. Their justification for this is that many of these jobs impact neglected topics with high potential rewards if successful, or best help other individuals lead impactful initiatives through financing or support.

Spreading the career resources of EA to anyone and everyone, without an expectation based on preconceived, societal notions of one’s career decision-making schema is vital. More optimistically viewing the intentions of others will allow us to involve many more in the mission to “do good, better” and more effectively improve our world.

A few places to start: OCS and other career services organizations could have pamphlets from 80,000 hours and other resources that helped students think about both their short and long- term impact & EA focused panels at business conferences or with pre-professional organizations could also be extremely impactful.