Draft Amnesty note: 
This is a post I have been sporadically tinkering with over the last couple of months. I am unsure if my three top tips would be of interest/helpful to job-seekers, which is part of the reason why I have only written a short overview for each tip so far. If nothing else, I think posting this draft will provide me with some accountability to finish it off in the future.

I know there is lots of career advice on this forum. In fact, this legend took the time to amalgamate it all for us! 

This post is just a quick summary of my personal experience as someone who spent around 3 months searching for Operations roles at EA-aligned organisations.

For those with no time to waste, here are the three most important lessons I took from this experience:

• Don't be too intimidated by titles or responsibilities
• Don't just rely on job boards
• Don't always stick to work test guidance

For anyone who wants a light-hearted break from their relentless job-hunt, you may enjoy reading this post in full. Ultimately, I hope this post can bring a smile to someone going through a similar situation.

As always, context matters, so this advice will not be helpful to everyone in every situation. Feel free to challenge my advice in the comments if you wish!

Feeling a mild sense of rejection

"Hey, do you have time for a quick huddle at 1:40?"

I had just about finished eating my dry falafel sandwich when I noticed the slack message from my CEO.

"Of course!", I replied. 

As I finished my lunch and washed up, I started to guess what they might want to discuss. Unscheduled calls were nothing out of the ordinary, but considering they had a client call at 1:45pm, I had a feeling it would be a quick request. 

I strolled back to my bedroom desk at 1:38pm and messaged them back... 

"Hey, ready when you are!"

My CEO's face appeared with a kind smile- "Hey, how are you doing?"

"Good thanks, just had a bit of a dry falafel sandwich for lunch, but otherwise all good! How are you?"- My small talk was impeccable as usual.

Their smile faded as their facial expression became more sombre.

"I'm afraid this isn't a nice call..."

I had been concerned about the volatility of our small company  since I joined around two years ago. As our team's only operations specialist, and the newest team member, I understood why I was the first to be made redundant. Nevertheless, I was still shocked to hear the news. Even though my CEO assured me that my performance played no role in their decision, I couldn't help but feel a mild sense of rejection.

As I processed the decision over the next couple of days, I acknowledged that this could be a great opportunity to do what I had dreamt of for the last five years- Find a role at an EA-aligned organisation. 

Although I would not consider myself a dedicated effective altruist, I had been strongly influenced by the movement, with open resources on 80K Hours playing a significant role in my decision to pursue a career in operations. While I was gaining career capital, I started taking small actions that made me feel like I was having an impact; Donating 1% of my salary, using company volunteer days to support EA-aligned charities, eating plant-based etc.

So, I created a Notion database, found a list of the latest EA Job Boards, and got to work.

Feeling mildly anxious

Having applied to operations roles at EA organisations in the past, I knew this would be a challenge. However, I had significantly strengthened my skillset over the last few years, and felt that a junior to mid-level position was within my reach. I would just need to try and find the right opportunity.

I quickly realised I had underestimated the level of competition I would be facing and the mental toll of constant rejection. Before I had even sent off my first application, I silently acknowledged to myself that in order to secure a role, I might need to power through 20 or so rejections first. This assumption was purely based on my personal experience job searching in the past, and as you may be thinking, was fairly optimistic. By the time I had secured a job offer, I had completed 40 substantial applications (and many other quick CV applications).

For me, the worst part about this process was not getting rejected- it was the anxiety I felt whilst waiting to hear back. On a good day, after sending out a couple of applications, I would feel a moderate sense of achievement and forget about my job search for the evening. On a bad day, I would compulsively check my Gmail inbox every 30 minutes, as if having the app open would help manifest a response.

Various disappointing interactions with organisations contributed towards this anxious mindset. Here are a few frustrating highlights:

• One role had an application deadline in the middle of October, with an anticipated start date of 1st December. Despite following up with the organisation directly, I only received a rejection email at the end of November, 54 days after submitting my application. Despite being grateful for the time and energy I invested into my application, they did not acknowledge how long they had taken to respond to rejected applicants.
• After receiving one rejection email, I received an apologetic follow-up letting me know this was an error and I was in fact being progressed to the next round, which consisted of a multiple-choice comprehension quiz. Having scored 10 out of 10 on the quiz, I felt pretty hopeful about making it to the next round. I received a new rejection email the next day which, based on previous experience, I thought I should verify. The Director kindly confirmed that this decision was fully intentional.
• One organisation invited me to complete a second-stage work test, setting a deadline of two weeks. After two days had passed, they spotted a mistake in their work test instructions and extended the deadline by a few days, which I appreciated. Nevertheless, at time of writing 35 days had passed since the deadline, and I am yet to hear back.

I would like to emphasise that these types of unsatisfactory interactions were not exclusive to EA-aligned organisations. I applied for many roles at organisations outside of the EA space where I thought I would be able to improve my positive impact, and overall, my experience applying to these organisations was even worse:

• A significant portion of them did not even bother to send rejection emails
• Many posted job vacancies without clear deadlines or salaries
• None of them offered to pay applicants for completing work tests

Don't be too intimidated by titles or responsibilities

Planning to share story of how I got to the final application stage of a senior operations role that I almost decided not to apply for. The job title (Operations Lead) and senior responsibilities initially put me off applying, but in the end I decided it would be good practice if nothing else. 

Caveat: Still worth prioritising applications you feel you have a better chance of securing/will allow you to maximise your impact more (depending on personal context)

Don't just rely on job boards

Planning to echo the claim that many job vacancies do not make it to job boards, so it is worth listing your details on the High Impact database (and other databases) and also building connections with/reaching out to individuals at organisations of interest. The job I eventually secured was never posted on any job boards, it was the result of a cold-reach out from an organisation who saw my details on the High Impact database.

Caveat: Job boards were still primary way I found new vacancies and are good way to hear about organisations

Don't always stick to work test guidance

Planning to share story I heard from very senior operations professional at an EA-aligned org, which was essentially about how an applicant went above and beyond the time limit/output expectations of a work test, impressing the senior professional so much that they progressed them to the next stage. I believe following this advice helped me secure a role.

Caveat: Obviously this will not be suitable for every job application and may be frowned upon by some reviewers. There is a difference between timed work tests that say you "must spend a maximum of 2 hours" vs. untimed work tests that "recommend you spend around 2 hours". If you do go above and beyond expectations, be transparent about how much time you spent.