How to Get an EA-aligned Job: My Experience

By SofiaBalderson @ 2021-12-03T16:08 (+152)

In his speech at EAG London 2021 Benjamin Todd,  the Founder and CEO of 80,000 hours, said that EA organisations tend to have talent bottlenecks in some roles, but that doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily easier to find a job. Unless you are very lucky, you’re likely to go through multiple application rounds and spend at least a couple of months before you get an offer you’re happy with. However, for some reason, the moment we get a job we forget just how hard it was to land one. When we decide to look for another role a couple of years later, it takes us by surprise. No wonder – job search is a skill that everyone should improve and keep up-to-date, as practices change every year.

I've recently been through a job search process which, admittedly, was a lot harder than I thought it would be. 3,5 years ago, I was super lucky to get my Veganuary job – it was the first and the only application I made as at that point I wasn’t planning on changing jobs. I naively thought that this time I’d too just walk straight into my next awesome role, but the reality was very different. It wasn’t only hard because I applied and got refused. I found myself having to reassess completely what I actually wanted from my next role and being lost in all the jobs that were being offered. I also wasn’t sure I actually wanted to leave my current job, which added extra complexity to the decision.

For your reference, I applied for about 10 jobs with targeted personalised applications and got responses, interviews and trial tasks for 5 of them. The whole process took about 5 months of relatively active search (with a couple of weeks off here and there) and I got my first and only offer in the fifth month - to be the Managing Director of Rethink Priorities’ first incubated charity, Insect Welfare Project (provisional name). I’m super pleased with this offer and can’t wait to get started in January. I think the resources and techniques I used contributed greatly to my getting it.

In this blog, I’ve written about all the resources I’ve used and any crucial information I’ve learnt while job searching. Partly in the hope that it will help someone, partly also for myself to remember what I went through. I’m going to be leading an organisation, so it would be great to keep in mind just how hard this is from a job applicant perspective. As it’s more like a library of steps and resources, it’s quite a long post - feel free to skip to the sections most relevant to you!

 

1.     You need to figure out what kind of role you actually want to do

There is no point in applying for jobs if you don’t actually know what you want from a job. For example, I applied for a couple of first-level management position that fit my description really well. However, the reason I started thinking about a new job was because I wanted to be challenged and have more responsibility. If you fit 100% of the job description and literally doing the same or a slightly different job, you may find yourself being bored within 6 months (unless you want a stable job with slow progression).

Resources I recommend:

 

2.    You need to have the right attitude

Once you’ve roughly figured out what you want to do, you need to get into the right mindset as it’s something that shines through in all your applications. So, before you start looking, it’s really important to understand a couple of things:

Job search is normally a very lengthy process and it is emotionally draining. Applications take a long time to prepare; interviews can be nerve-wracking and waiting for an answer is probably the worst part of it all (followed closely by job rejection). I always say that job searching is a full-time job in itself! There are ways to make it a bit easier, but just get ready for it to be difficult and then you won’t be shocked at how hard it is.

You don’t know your value on the job market before you apply for a couple of roles. Don’t assume you’re the best, but also don’t assume you’re the worst. You’ll have to work in the dark when it comes to applications, and a sense of ambition mixed with genuine curiosity and humility is a great attitude to have. It’s important not to feel entitled to roles just because you’ve got a great degree or experience – remember that there are other people there on the market looking at the same time as you. The best tip I was given recently by my mother-in-law is “Let them decide if you’re qualified or not”. 

Rather than trying to convince the employer that you have to be chosen, you can flip it and concentrate on helping their employer to find the right fit for the position. If you have ever hired people you will know how hard it is to find the right person and many people are afraid of making hiring mistakes. Try and think of the main concerns of the potential employer about your candidacy and use your application to reassure them that the risk of these concerns is low. 

Don’t take the job search personally – your value as a professional is not a reflection of your value as a human being. Also, just because you got a rejection doesn’t mean you are not good as a professional – it just means that the hiring manager thought someone else was a better fit. There may have been multiple people who could have done the job successfully, and because there was only a limited number of roles, you weren’t chosen.

Rejections are just a redirection – if I didn’t get all the job rejections I got in my life, I wouldn’t be where I am now. They sting when you get them, but in the end, you can’t know if that was a “dream job” without actually doing it. I always think to myself “this wasn’t meant for me” and “that means something else that’s better is coming”. More on this in point 10 below. 
 

3. You need to show that you're EA-aligned 

The most important quality EA employers are looking for is being mission-aligned and passionate about the cause. Hiring managers often tell me "It's so much easier to hire someone from the movement as they already understand everything" or "They speak the same language". Even if you've never had an EA job, you can always talk about your motivation in your CV, Cover letter, all comms with the hiring manager, all your social media pages (most importantly LinkedIn). Write a really good bio about the impact you want to make in the world and talk about it throughout your application, including interviews. It's worth reading up on core concepts of EA, such as cost-effectiveness and impact evaluation (you can start with the EA Handbook). Some additional ideas include writing a blog post on this forum or doing some volunteering for an EA organisation.

 

4. You need to be creative about the places you look

Contrary to most first-time job searchers’ belief, there is no single place to look for a job. You can’t set all the alerts to your email address to cover everything. Here are some job boards I used (farmed animal welfare and EA jobs) and some tips on where else to look:

 

5. You need to get feedback on your CV 

Don’t just download any template and fill it out.  No matter how good you think your CV is, as the job market changes and as you grow, there are always things to improve. I recently had to review over 500 CVs on behalf of a hiring manager and only a couple of them were really clear and did the job of getting these people short-listed. I really recommend getting the book Knock-out CV and spending some quality time with your CV. Make sure you get someone’s feedback on your CV too - I would ask at least three people. Someone in recruitment/HR, someone who has experience of being a hiring manager, and someone with a successful career. If you are still at uni or have access to your uni alumni services, they are likely to offer free CV feedback sessions. 

Generally with CVs, err on the side of simplicity (don’t use design programs, a simple word doc will do), and keep your CV under 2 pages and your Cover Letter under 1. Make sure your CV uses KPIs (google examples) and has lots of white space to direct the hiring managers' attention to the right things. Remember that you should adjust your CV for each job - my top tip for this is to have a folder for each job where you’ll store a version of your CV for that application + your Cover letter (that should absolutely be tailored to each application). I now got into the habit of updating my CV every month based on the work I did in that month, as we tend to forget our achievements quickly. Thus, I almost always have a CV ready to send - it should be a living document, not just what you update before your job search (otherwise it will take you a long time and you’ll miss important information). CVs can also be used for mentorship applications!

 

6. Take interview preparation seriously, even if you think you are a great interviewee

I had the pleasure of sitting in quite a few interviews on behalf of the employer these past few years and it was interesting to see how many people don’t prepare properly. While there is no such thing as a perfect interview, there are so many big “to-dos” and “not to-dos”. It’s worth investing between 5-20 hours in general interview preparation even if you haven’t gotten an invitation yet. Usually, you will get an invitation to an interview that will happen in a couple of days, which is really not enough to prepare from scratch. My top resource recommendations are the books Why You (which contains the most common 111 questions) and The Interview Expert (mostly advice but also some question examples). I used them to get three jobs already and I will continue using them for interview questions inspiration in the future. They have no-nonsense advice on what to say, what not to say, when to ask certain questions, and how to behave generally. I would recommend reading the above books as well as any profession-specific questions online and on YouTube (which has a wealth of interview advice). Don’t just read/listen to them though - get lots of practice on answering questions. If you are not very confident about speaking in public or are particularly nervous about talking to interviewers, it’s a good idea to practice with a friend or a mentor. 

It’s worth remembering that interview preparation includes reading up on the new organisation and also on your interviewers. I interviewed people who didn’t know what the organisation was about at all. What does the organisation do, what values/mission/vision do they have, what wording do they use to describe themselves? What are their most recent or biggest achievements to date? Extra points if you identify their challenges and how you can help address them.

 

7. Your job search success will depend a lot on your network and how you can leverage it

The offer I ended up getting after this particular job search stint was for a job that I learnt about through EA networking. You really never know where that right connection is going to come from, so talk to as many people as you can. As a rule of thumb, aim to connect to someone new every week, whether it’s a meaningful intro on LinkedIn or a casual informational interview. I am quite extraverted and I love talking to people, so I do it without thinking. If connecting to people is not what you’d normally do, I’d recommend setting up a spreadsheet/project to track who you spoke to and when, and what kind of information you’ve learnt. Before you speak to anyone, develop a short pitch about yourself and what you’re looking for - people will always say things like “Have you spoken to X” or “You should check out the book Y”. Actively ask your network for any job search recommendations: are they a member of an invite-only network? Do they know anyone who’s looking for employees? If you tell them exactly what you’re looking for, they may send opportunities your way - you never know!

 

8. If you can’t get a paid role, consider doing skilled volunteering temporarily

(I wrote a blog about it here too where I talk about it in more detail). It’s really good for connection building, not just getting better at what you do + of course, you are helping the movement. I've found that organisations I volunteered at gave back a lot, in terms of helping me to connect to people in the movement and I even got a reference for my next job from one of them! You can even get hired as a permanent employee. 

 

 9. Track your progress, not just offers

Whatever you do, make sure you have a spreadsheet, a Notion or an Asana project where you track all your conversations and the results. I have a spreadsheet in Notion where I tracked all the jobs I applied for (and wanted to apply for) and what happened. It's really hard to track everything without a system. In addition, without this data, you may feel that there is no progress while you’ve already done a lot. Remember that while an offer is your goal and is most likely the end of the journey, it’s not the only metric. Some ideas for your own metrics: Note how many people you spoke with this month, how many interesting suitable opportunities you’ve found, any interview prep work you’ve done. 

 

10. Protect your mental well-being 

Job search is mentally really hard to deal with: the prep, the waiting, the rejections. What helped me a lot: 

 

11. Please apply for jobs even if you're not sure you're qualified

I can’t stress this point enough - even if you’re in the least intrigued by the job, please apply for it. Don’t think that just because you don’t meet 50% of the criteria you won’t qualify. Sometimes hiring managers change their idea of the role and hire different people with different skills. Don’t reject yourself before they reject you. Some people tell me “but I’m not sure I can do the trial task required” - you can just figure it out by googling (that’s what I’ve done and that’s what everyone does). If you meet 100% of the criteria, that means that you’ll unlikely have room for growth. In your application, don’t say “I can’t do this” or “I know I don’t have this experience” - talk about what you will do to compensate for it instead. For example, in my Insect Charity application, to compensate for the lack of experience in managing an organisation, I’ve put “I’m highly skilled at project management and this will come useful in managing this organisation, as every project needs planning, control and execution”.
 

12. An offer is not the only positive outcome of job applications

Don’t just view job hunting as a means to an end - they are also good for connection building. People will notice your CV and eventually will put you on the map. They may even recommend you to apply for another role in a similar organisation. I know a couple of people who were a runner-up and got a job at the same organisation later when the new person left or a new position was created. No one is going to laugh at you because you applied - hiring managers don't have the time for that. Even if you’ve applied for a senior role that, in their opinion, you’re not qualified for, they may offer you a more junior role, or they may even adjust the role to fit you. If you get rejected, write a nice message to the hiring manager thanking them for the opportunity to apply or, if you had an interview, to speak to them. Say that you hope your paths will cross again somehow. Interestingly, I got some good connections out of this job hunting, as everyone knows everyone in our movement, so this will help me in my next job.

 

13. Always be a couple of steps ahead in your application prep

I find that even though the job application process is really long, it progresses quickly once something happens. You can get an invitation to send your CV or to interview and only have a couple of days to prepare. When you get an offer, usually the organisation expects an answer in the next couple of days. So it’s a good idea to prepare for all these steps ahead of time so that you can act quickly. Start preparing for interview questions before you get offered interviews. Only very few organisations will send questions in advance. However, most won’t, so you can prepare common questions like “Tell me about yourself” and “Where do you see yourself in 5 years” well in advance. So when you get an interview invite, all you have to do is look up organisation-specific info and prepare for specific questions.

 

14. Cultivate your references regardless of whether you’re looking for a job or not

Usually, when you get a reference request (either before or after the final interview), it’s well past the time of getting in touch with people you haven’t spoken to for a year or longer. Create a spreadsheet listing all the people you can ask to be a reference for you. Reach out when you begin your job search, check-in, tell them about your plans and ask if the person would serve as a reference for the kind of roles you’re applying for (ideally of course you should be in touch periodically, not just when you’re job searching). Always have significantly more than just 2-3 people, as they may be unavailable or refuse to give a reference for a particular role. Being strategic about your references will pay off - don’t ask someone who has never seen you in a management role to give you a reference for a leadership position. You want all your references to be absolutely glowing rather than just standard (it’s about what they don’t say). It’s good practice to speak to your references before they provide the information to your potential employer and check what they are planning on saying. It’s not that you want them to alter the information, in fact, you want them to be as authentic as possible, but some people just haven’t seen you in the roles that you may need to perform next. The stakes are too high to just provide their email addresses without checking this. 

Also, it goes without saying that with the length of current reference forms you don’t want to just ask one person to be a reference for all the jobs - have at least 10 trusted contacts you can rely upon (some of them managers, some of them peer colleagues). If you don’t have them, consider starting to cultivate them now.

 

15. Always be ready to receive an offer

Partly so that you know how to react (like whether you would actually like to take the job or not) and partly not to undersell yourself. I know I said that it's good to pretend you didn't get the job, however, to actually decide if the job is right for you you need to imagine yourself doing the job and think of the logistics such as salary etc. When you get an offer you usually get under a week to accept it at most, so it's not enough time to do analyse everything. Read up on offer negotiation techniques and generally what constitutes a good offer. Sometimes you’ll get a call rather than an email - it’s probably not a good idea to accept the offer right on the spot, as the excitement can cloud your judgement (you should of course thank the employer for the offer and show excitement). No matter how pleased you are with the offer, take some time to think it through (the employer will usually have a deadline). Have a look at the salary benchmarking, benefits, calculate everything and make a list of things you’d like to discuss/negotiate. If the organisation really wants you, they are likely to give you the best offer, however, some will low-ball you and are ready for negotiation. Remember that now is the last time in the following year you can talk about your salary, once you’ve accepted, that’s it! If you're having trouble deciding between multiple options, I can recommend this blog from 80,000 hours which helped me a lot. 

 

16. Continue to upskill even after you get your dream offer

Don’t let your job hunting skills get forgotten. You never know when you’ll decide to look for another job again. I would also really like to recommend this blog - Ask a Manager - it’s about all things career + tons of advice for job seekers and hiring managers. It makes for a very entertaining read too! 


Did you find these tips useful? Anything resonated with you/was different for you? I would love to hear about your experience and hear some extra tips - I think the readers will appreciate different perspectives.

Let me know if you have any questions, I’m always happy to help fellow EAs with job applications ;) 
 

Thanks for reading again, and if you’re in the middle of a job search: you can do this! 


 

Miranda_Zhang @ 2021-12-04T01:50 (+31)

This is a really fantastic and useful post. Much as I love the EA career planning resources, I think general career advice (e.g., networking/interview prep/not checking your email!) is less amplified within EA but perhaps equally important: after deciding a path is high-impact, how are you going to land that job?

As someone who had to go through all this on my own + with the help of a non-EA friend who's very experienced, I'm glad I now have this to show other people in the future. : )

sofiabalderson @ 2021-12-04T17:39 (+7)

Hey Miranda, thanks for reading - I'm so pleased you found it useful. I too agree that we need more info on how to actually get jobs, as it's a science in itself and it's not currently taught at schools and unis as much as it should be. So unless you have relatives/friends who are really good at this and willing to help you, you are at a disadvantage. So good that your friend help you though and that you asked! Some people just wing it, thinking that it's a tick-box exercise while it's a lot more than that.

Akash @ 2021-12-06T00:26 (+16)

Thank you for this excellent post! I'm a student group organizer & I'll be recommending this to other members/organizers :) 

A few specific thoughts that came up as I read:

Rather than trying to convince the employer that you have to be chosen, you can flip it and concentrate on helping their employer to find the right fit for the position

I love this advice, and I think it can have a special implication for EAs. The question flips from "how can I get this job" to "how can I help this employer make an informed assessment of how impactful I will be at this job".

A traditional approach to job applications might be something like "I want to impress the interviewer, so I maximize my chance of getting a job offer. Then, I will select the offer that is best for me." 

An EA alternative to this might be something like "I want to be highly transparent with the interviewer, so I maximize the amount of information they have when determining who would be most impactful for this role. Then, I will compare my options and consider which one generates the most counterfactual impact [alongside other considerations like personal fit]."

Try and think of the main concerns of the potential employer about your candidacy and use your application to reassure them that the risk of these concerns is low. 

With this "transparency frame" in mind, I'm not sure how I feel about this point. I think this line suggests that people should optimize for "reassuring employers that you are a good hire." I would rather have people optimize for "being transparent and providing information that helps employers assess whether or not you are a good hire." 

As a result, I would be inclined to encourage people to explicitly state their key uncertainties about taking the role & be upfront about potential weaknesses/doubts. (Of course, this is assuming someone is reasonably well-calibrated about their skills/aptitudes. For people who underestimate themselves, this advice would backfire). 

I also think this is easier said than done-- optimizing for transparency inherently means that you might reduce your odds of getting the job. I'd guess that the tradeoff generally isn't super high, though, and it's also quite plausible to me that EA employers would be enthusiastic about people who are upfront with their weaknesses/doubts. It could also help them recommend the applicant for a role that's more suited to their particular aptitudes.

What do you think? (I could be very wrong about this, and I've never been in a hiring role!)

sofiabalderson @ 2021-12-06T17:04 (+13)

Hey Akash,  thanks so much for reading and also for your thoughts. I love that you connected the "helping" bit with EA principles - I don't think I thought of that!  So this is a really valuable point. After all, we are trying to make an impact with our jobs and by applying for a job, we are trying to solve a problem for the organisation and the cause area in general. Also many thanks for sharing this with your network, I hope it will help more people!

I agree with you about transparency, we definitely shouldn't say anything that's not true about our candidacy and shouldn't hire any facts that make us a bad fit. And you are also right in saying that this can backfire, especially for non-EA ogs and for people with impostor syndrome (most of us haha). I can think of underepresented groups not getting roles as, generally, men are more likely to be overconfident about their ability. 

I would say that the key here is to treat each application individually, try to see exactly what the hiring manager is looking for, and start by presenting yourself in the best possible light. Put your best foot forward!

If you're absolutely sure that you don't have a particular skill, I think it's possible to be transparent and also talk about any skill/aptitude gap in a positive way. I think a lot of EA orgs will hire for potential and attitude, so phrasing things like "I haven't done this yet, however, I'd really like to learn in/I have learnt things really quickly in the past/done something very similar". That is if you genuinely like to do it.

Another way to talk positively about skill gaps is flipping it and finding why not having this skill will give you an advantage (fresh eyes, ability to form the way you operate in this org etc.). 

So what I'm trying to say is, having been on the hiring manager's side,"I can't do this"  shows that the person doesn't want to learn or isn't right for the job. I would much rather hear "I've never done it but I'm just so excited to learn". 

Additionally, many orgs now offer trial tasks, so before you say "I am not good at strategy", if it's a core skill and it is tested, I would first see if you can do the trial task. Sometimes we appear to be good at something we've never done! So I wouldn't speak so soon until you try it :)

CristinaSchmidtIbáñez @ 2021-12-04T16:05 (+6)

Hey Sofia, wonderful job writing this so thoroughly! I'm sure many will benefit  from it !  Wish this post had existed before I went through my own job search experience (yikes!) I really hope that the community has (hopefully sooner than later) application peer support groups where people like you can give this kind of advice on a 1-on-1 basis and that people can easily access the support they need :)

sofiabalderson @ 2021-12-04T17:43 (+6)

Hey Cristina, thanks a lot for your kind comment - I really appreciate it! I too wish someone held my hand through my first job application experience, I didn't know any of this haha. Unfortunately, I had to learn all of this through mistakes, so I hope people reading this will avoid some of them! I  also hope that more people will get the support they need, peer support groups are a very good idea! We should suggest it to AAC or 80,000 Hours!

CristinaSchmidtIbáñez @ 2021-12-05T16:05 (+7)

AAC does offer (or at least they did offer something similar after I went through their Introductory Course) :) in the form of matchmaking with one your peers of the cohort. I assume 80,000 Hours offers similar support with their 1-1 advice. Also people with WANBAM mentors or other mentors get similar support.

Although my thinking is more around "widely available application support for EAs" (regardless of participation in a program etc) I would imagine a pilot being run with a simple survey and then asking people to participate (both in "mentor"/"mentee" roles). The mentees being people planning an application phase at a given time and having mentor support for that process (+ any other available support: mentors for more strategic considerations, coach, therapist, friends, family, etc.) I'd love to see someone run that. Full disclosure: I'm not doing it myself because of limited capacity, therefore -> would love to see someone else give it a go!

evanprice @ 2022-05-09T19:14 (+2)

Hey Sofia
I was just preparing for an interview and thought I'd search the forum in case anyone had written up anything useful...and there was your really extensive, considered and helpful post!!


Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up, it's really helpful and much appreciated!

sofiabalderson @ 2022-05-09T20:10 (+7)

Hey Evan, thanks a lot for the feedback, I'm glad it's been useful! Interviews are tough to get right, but it is possible :) Good luck!

Haz @ 2021-12-11T19:36 (+2)

Thanks, Sofia. I really value your experience and insights here, and I'll be checking back to reference your article and book recommendations!

Tristan Williams @ 2023-04-17T21:55 (+1)

Hey! I've been digging through your posts, and I quite appreciate that you've taken the time to write all this advice, because I know it's easy to land the job you want and then forget to come back to help guide those still on the path who haven't found their own end yet. 

Question here though: how do you cultivate references when you don't have any explicit history in that sort of job? To give a bit more here, I'm a generalist who thought I might be able to leverage the variety of experience when applying for a variety of EA aligned jobs, but listing any single person from this generalist experience rarely lines precisely up with the more specific aspects of x job I'm applying to, so I find myself unable to produce any great references when needed. 

I suppose maybe this interfaces with another big question I've had reading your various forum posts: it seems like you're assuming some degree of background work experience (I think somewhere you said you'd been working for 10 years already when you began this process?) so how much of this will I be able to do if I have little to no work experience (just out of college)? I know part of the answer here will be job dependent (I'm most interested in EA Community Building and General Longtermism Research) but I also just kind of feel like this amorphous concept of EA jobs is this impenetrable fortress that I'm not going to be able to make any headway towards without getting a non-EA job first and gaining some specific, relevant experience.  

SofiaBalderson @ 2023-04-22T11:39 (+4)

Hey Tristan, thanks for this! Glad you’ve found the posts useful:)

  1. To your point about references: ideally references should be just a tick box exercise of fact checking and should testify to your character and ability to do great work. Which means that all your good references should do for all future jobs (keep in mind that most employers want two most recent places of work). Some organisations still ask questions about your ability to do that particular job which I don’t agree with as all jobs are different. To help with that I’d advise to cultivate references who believe in you and will testify to your ability to do completely new tasks. This is easier if you demonstrate in the job that you can handle new things and be good at them quickly. I personally really struggled with going from management to leadership, and if not for people who believed in me, encouraged me and saw my potential, I’d probably still be in my old role.
  2. I think that while EA jobs and adjacent roles are preferable, remember that they are not the only options. My first three roles weren’t EA - very entry level work, but without it I’d never have gotten my subsequent animal roles. Id certainly continue job hunting in EA if I were you but I’d also be open to non EA roles simply to get experience. In the end EA roles are mostly usual roles like HR, Ops, Strategy etc, all these skills you can get outside and then come back when a role comes up. The movement is very competitive, not going to lie, but it’s definitely possible to get a role, especially if you spend time building your network from now on, and maybe have a volunteer side project. Let me know if you have any more questions, I feel like I should try and write a more suitable post for entry level folks:)
Tristan Williams @ 2023-05-07T17:00 (+1)
  1. Thank you, that's a pretty helpful framing that I think I've probably heard before but haven't internalized quite this way until now. In sum, references are generally a testament to character and general skills, not specific aptitudes for given work.
  2. I do have question in response, but perhaps I'll instead just speak in favor of making a post geared towards what you think entry level EA aligned people should do for work. Or perhaps a "things I wish I'd known starting out" or "if I could do it all again this is what I'd do" sort of deal. Your content has been great so far, and don't feel like you need to rewrite anything with just a slightly changed veneer to be adaptable, but if you do feel like there's enough you might want to say along these lines, I'd love to read a post from you on it! :)
Lama @ 2022-07-15T10:43 (+1)

I love this! Thank you for all the amazing super helpful information! I am currently in my job search and aiming to scale my career in science communication. I found this article while searching for how to show that I am an EA and start applying for organizations. However, I am still unsure if I need to mention that directly in my CV or expand on it in my cover letters?

Would really appreciate your insights!

SofiaBalderson @ 2022-07-26T19:44 (+1)

Hey, many thanks for your comment, I'm very pleased you found the blog useful :) I'm writing another one based on my most recent job search which I'll link here soon!

As to your question, I think you should absolutely mention that you're an EA, but I would probably not say "I am an EA" but do it by linking to your forum posts, or any EA courses you've done, events/retreats you've been to, any EA jobs you had. In your skills section, you can highlight the skills that EAs value, or just use some EA language and style of writing in all of your CV.

I am a huge fan of a CV headline (like a line in LinkedIn that tells you who you are) - you can put "Looking to make an impact at an EA org" or something right below your name. There is always space for a 4-line summary, you can also write about your motivation to work in EA there.

Hope this helps and best of luck with your search!