8 WEEK CAREER PLANNING COURSE FOR SOCIAL IMPACT
If you want a career that’s both fulfilling and impactful, but are feeling unsure what to do, the charity Effective Altruism has created a weekly course that we will go through to help you make a plan.
By the end of the course you will have a much clearer picture of what you want to do in your career and plan. Each week, using materials from the course, you will read an article and answer some questions, which will start clarifying your longer-term goals, and work towards actionable next steps. We will then discuss the content and questions together in the sessions, clarifying your goals and uncertainties.
When you complete the whole thing, you’ll have considered the most important questions about your career, made a career plan you can feel confident in, and given yourself the best possible chance of finding work that’s satisfying and makes a real difference.
The course will help you apply everything Effective Altruism has learned about career planning, drawing from academic research on decision making and our experience giving career advice to over 1,000 people. It’s designed to be helpful no matter which issues you want to work on or what your skills are, and whether you’re still a student or have been in a job for years.
Outline of Course
Part 1
What does a fulfilling, high-impact career look like for you? Lay out your definition of impact, what you value, and what is most important for your happiness, drawing on factors we’ve identified in our research.
Part 2
Clarify your views of which global problems are most pressing Learn how to compare global issues in terms of the potential impact of working on them, and get ideas for problems you could help tackle.
Part 3
Generate ideas for longer-term paths Learn four ways to come up with ideas for longer-term career paths, and how to narrow them down based on our career framework.
Part 4
Clarify your strategic focus Based on your situation, we’ll help you decide whether to focus more on exploring, on taking an ambitious long-term bet, or on immediate impact.
Part 5
Determine your best-guess next career step Learn how to generate ideas for your next steps over the coming years, both by working backwards and by working forward. Then learn to narrow those options down based on our framework and your strategy.
Part 6
Plan to adapt We explain ABZ plans, and how they can help when making decisions in the face of huge uncertainty.
Part 7
Investigate key uncertainties and make a judgement call Learn how to identify your key uncertainties, and get lots of ideas on how to investigate them. Then apply research on decision making to make the best possible decision.
Part 8
Put your plan into action Some final tips on how to translate your plan into concrete next actions and make sure you follow through, as well as advice on networking and how to make successful job applications.