Career choice

Although people spend more time on their jobs than on any other activity besides sleep—about 80,000 hours over the course of a typical life^[1] —career choice often gets little attention in discussions on how to live ethically, compared to considerations like lifestyle changes (e.g. switching to local produce) or volunteering. But choosing an impactful career may be one of the most promising options for someone who wants to improve the world.^[2] 

Career choice studies(in effective altruism) is about the ethical and practical considerations bearing on the choice ofrelevant to finding a high-impact career.

PeopleAlthough people spend more time on their jobs than on any other activity besides sleep—about 80,000 hours over the course of a typical life.life^[1] Choosing the right— career choice often gets little attention in discussions on how to live ethically, compared to considerations like lifestyle changes (e.g. switching to local produce) or volunteering. But choosing an impactful career may thus be one of the most impactful things an altruistically-motivated person can do.promising options for someone who wants to improve the world.^[2] 

Despite its high importance, impact-oriented career choice has received limited attention. One of the earliest publications on the subject was a youth essay by Karl Marx, who held that we should choose the career "which offers us the widest scope to work for mankind". Such a career, Marx claimed, would be best not only altruistically but also for the person pursuing it, since "experience acclaims as happiest the man who has made the greatest number of people happy."^[2]3] In contemporary philosophy, there is a small literature on whether it is permissible to pursue a non-altruistic rather than an altruistic career, but almost no discussion of how ethical different careers should be ethically ranked.are, or how to approach this question.^[3]4] 

The organization 80,000 Hours specializes in research about and support for impact-oriented career choice,choice and has developed a framework for comparing the social impact of different careers.

Holden Karnofsky has identified four alternative frameworks for making career choice decisions: paths to particular roles working on particular causes; aptitudes a candidate can build in a variety of roles and causes and apply to a variety of jobs; causes to which a candidate can contribute with their career; and heuristics, such as "Do work you can be great at" or "Do work that builds your career capital and gives you more options."^[4]5] 80,000 Hours uses the "paths" framework, while Karnofsky has focused mostly on the aptitude framework, though he advises candidates to consider multiple frameworks.

1. ^{^}

   MacAskill, William (2014) Replaceability, career choice, and making a difference, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, vol. 17, pp. 269–283, p. 269.

2. ^{^}

   Todd, Benjamin This is your most important decision, 80,000 Hours website.

3. ^{^}

   Marx, Karl (1835) Reflections of a young man on the choice of a profession, in Collected Works, Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975.

4. ^{^}

   MacAskill, Replaceability, career choice, and making a difference.

5. ^{^}

   Karnofsky, Holden (2021) My current impressions on career choice for longtermists, Effective Altruism Forum, June 4.

Career choice isstudies the ethical and practical considerations bearing on the choice of a crucial decision in the life of most individuals. high-impact career.

People spend more time on their jobs than on any other activity besides sleep—about 80,000 hours over the course of a typical life.^[1] Choosing the right career may thus be one of the most impactful things an altruistically-motivated person can do.

MacAskill, William (2014) Replaceability, career choice, and making a difference, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, vol. 17, pp. 269–283.

Career choice is a crucial decision in the life of most individuals. People spend more time on their jobs than on any other activity besides sleep—about 80,000 hours over the course of a typical life.^[1] Choosing the right career, therefore,career may be one of the most impactful things an altruistically-motivated person can do.

Despite its high importance, impact-oriented career choice has received very limited attention. One of the earliest publications on the subject was a youth essay by Karl Marx, who held that we should choose the career "which offers us the widest scope to work for mankind". Such a career, Marx claimed, would be best not only altruistically but also for the person pursuing it, since "experience acclaims as happiest the man who has made the greatest number of people happy."^[2] In contemporary philosophy, there is a small literature on whether it is permissible to pursue a non-altruistic rather than an altruistic career, but almost no discussion of how different careers should be ethically ranked.^[3] Most of the relevant research on career choice has been conducted outside academia, primarily by the

The organization 80,000 Hours, which specializes in research about and support for impact-oriented career choice, and has developed a framework for comparing the social impact of different careers.

Holden Karnofsky has identified four alternative frameworks for making career choice decisions: paths to particular roles working on particular causes; aptitudes a candidate can build in a variety of roles and causes and apply to a variety of jobs; causes to which a candidate can contribute with their career; and heuristics, such as "Do work you can be great at" or "Do work that builds your career capital and gives you more options."^[4] 80,000 Hours uses the paths"paths" framework, while Karnofsky himself has focused mostly on the aptitude framework, though he advises candidates to consider multiple frameworks.

career framework | job profile | career advising | personal fit | job listing (open)  | constraints on effective altruism | donation choice | research training programs | scalably using labour | working at EA vs non-EA orgs

Career choice is a crucial decision in the life of most individuals. People spend more time on their jobs than on any other activity besides sleep—about 80,000 hours over the course of a typical life (MacAskill 2014: 269).life.^[1] Choosing the right career, therefore, may be one of the most impactful things an altruistically-motivated person can do.

Despite its high importance, career choice has received very limited attention. One of the earliest publications on the subject was a youth essay by Karl Marx, who held that we should choose the career "which offers us the widest scope to work for mankind". Such a career, Marx claimed, would be best not only altruistically but also for the person pursuing it, since "experience acclaims as happiest the man who has made the greatest number of people happy." (Marx 1835)^[2] In contemporary philosophy, there is a small literature on whether it is permissible to pursue a non-altruistic rather than an altruistic career, but almost no discussion of how different careers should be ethically ranked (MacAskill 2014).ranked.^[3] Most of the relevant research on career choice has been conducted outside academia, primarily by the organization 80,000 Hours, which has developed a framework for comparing the social impact of different careers.

Holden Karnofsky has identified four alternative frameworks for making career choice decisions: paths to particular roles working on particular causes; aptitudes a candidate can build in a variety of roles and causes and apply to a variety of jobs; causes to which a candidate can contribute with their career; and heuristics, such as "Do work you can be great at" or "Do work that builds your career capital and gives you more options." (Karnofsky 2021)^[4] 80,000 Hours uses the paths framework, while Karnofsky himself has focused mostly on the aptitude framework, though he advises candidates to consider multiple frameworks.

BibliographyFurther reading

Karnofsky, Holden (2021) My current impressions on career choice for longtermists, Effective Altruism Forum, June 4.

MacAskill, William (2014) Replaceability, career choice, and making a difference, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, vol. 17, pp. 269–283.

Marx, Karl (1835) Reflections of a young man on the choice of a profession, in Collected Works, Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975.

1. ^{^}

   MacAskill, William (2014) Replaceability, career choice, and making a difference, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, vol. 17, pp. 269–283, p. 269.

2. ^{^}

   Marx, Karl (1835) Reflections of a young man on the choice of a profession, in Collected Works, Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975.

3. ^{^}

   MacAskill, Replaceability, career choice, and making a difference.

4. ^{^}

   Karnofsky, Holden (2021) My current impressions on career choice for longtermists, Effective Altruism Forum, June 4.

career framework | constraints on effective altruism | donation choice | research training programs | scalably using labour | talent vs. funding constraints | working at EA vs non-EA orgs

Cholbi, Michael (2020) The ethics of choosing careers and jobs, in Bob Fischer (ed.) College Ethics: a Reader on Moral Issues That Affect You, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 878–889.
Argues against the "maximalist" view that we are morally required to choose the careers that do the most good.

Some authors argue that there is no moral requirement to pursue the most impactful career. Such a requirement would be excessively demanding. The choice of a career may be comparable in its centrality to a person's life as the choice of a marriage partner. But few believe a person is morally required to choose an impact-maximizing marriage. By analogy, it may be concluded that there is no moral requirement to choose an impact-maximizing career (Cholbi 2020).