There are fantastic opportunities to improve the world through one’s career. If you think strategically about which problem and which role to choose, you can make a big difference. At the same time, we know that making a career choice that helps others is complex. There is a lot to think about and the ambition to find the option that makes the biggest difference can feel overwhelming. Furthermore, it can be difficult to know how to balance the desire to do good with other goals that are important to one. We recommend viewing your career choice as an ongoing process. You probably won’t find the right one right away, but you can use your hypotheses to pinpoint a direction and adjust your path as you gain new information.
In summary, you should think about the following if you want to do as much good as possible with your career.
Selecting problem
Choose a problem that is
Large in scale
Solvable
Neglected
Chose an impactful profession
Identify what is impeding progress on the problem today and what roles effectively can address those bottlenecks. The categories below can be a good starting point:
Research
Communicating ideas
Building organizations
Government and policy
Earning to give
Your personal fit
Being good at what you do means both that you can make a bigger difference and enjoy your job better. Reflect on what professions in which you could excel the most.
A job that you enjoy
The following factors are important for you to enjoy your job:
Engaging tasks
You help others
You are good at what you do
Supportive colleagues
Absence of major negative factors
The work fits with the rest of your life
Create hypotheses & test them
It’s hard to just think of which roles you would be suitable for and thrive most in. Therefore, create hypotheses about which alternatives seem promising in the long term and test them as “cheaply” as possible to get more information.
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How to plan your career – article by 80,000 Hours