EA - Reflections on some experiences in EA by NatKiilu

The Nonlinear Library

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Reflections on some experiences in EA, published by NatKiilu on July 16, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum. All of these thoughts and suggestions are based on my entirely subjective experiences (as a young early-career African woman based in Africa) engaging with the community since 2021. I decided to share these thoughts because I hope they might help someone in a similar situation. Work tests I love work tests. I truly enjoy them and would like to give kudos to EA organizations that include and pay for work tests in their hiring processes! Applying for jobs and fellowships can be very stressful for me. I always second-guess my competence and struggle to answer common prompts like 'Why do you want this job?', 'What are you proud of?', and 'What are your long-term career plans?' Although I know the answers, writing them professionally without sounding insincere is difficult, especially for roles I am keen on. Since I started doing work tests, my dread around these questions has diminished. I suspect that this is because work tests feel like a mutual process where I get to evaluate how much I like the role and its duties while the recruiter assesses whether I meet their needs. In contrast, traditional applications feel like a popularity contest where I must be as likeable as possible to the recruiter. In the past 10 months, I have completed about 4-5 work tests for different roles in different EA organizations. Work tests help me learn, and I love to learn. It doesn't matter what the topic is; I find the learning aspect fulfilling. Through different work tests, I have learned more about geography and neighborhoods, creating weighting models, ascribing probabilities to outcomes, and other topics I only knew about cursorily. Work tests build my confidence in my competence and deservingness for the roles I apply to. I typically struggle with imposter syndrome, which is amplified in spaces where I am a minority because of my personal characteristics. (This is a common feeling among minorities in predominantly white and male spaces, even when there haven't been overtly exclusionary or demeaning experiences.) Work tests have been a cheap way to test my competence and thus build confidence. Work tests allow me to enjoy the process because my success in getting the role is not hinged on just one application form and one interview. In traditional setups, I either feel like great, I answered the questions well, and proceeded to the next stage without knowing if I could do or enjoy the work, or I feel like I am a horrible and incompetent person who should have done everything very differently (haha). Work tests are often between the initial screening form and the final interview stages, which allows me to use them as learning opportunities and reflect on whether I would truly enjoy the role. I get so immersed in the tasks that the fixation on finding the one right way, which often plagues other application processes, disappears. Paid work tests give me a sense of security. Completing applications and preparing for interviews can be time-intensive and costly. When applying for roles while working on other projects, I need to deprioritize other projects to ensure I am adequately rested mentally and physically for the application process, it helps to know there's some compensation for it. Receiving payment also gives me a sense of being valued by the recruiting organization which further bolsters my enthusiasm for the work. Plus, the extra money comes in handy! My advice: don't be afraid of work tests (I was quite anxious, the first time I had to do one too). Work tests are the closest I have ever come to feeling a sense of control when making applications, and there is no way to lose with them. You will always learn something, no matter the outcome! While I haven't been fully s...