KMF
Bio
I founded and work at Magnify Mentoring.
How I can help others
I am happy to help newcomers to EA :) Just drop me an email at kathryn@magnifymentoring.org.
Posts 10
Comments93
Topic contributions6
I am listening to this- I agree it's really interesting. Does anyone know whether there been an "investigation" (can't think of a better word here) into the account of the CFAR workshop they attended? CFAR is still operating, that said, I don't see much EA funding going to it at least recently. Thanks!
"2023: Magnify Mentoring expands to serve people from underrepresented groups generally. “It includes, but is not limited to, people from low to middle income countries, people of color, people from low-income households, etc.” - The intention here was to pilot a round for people from underrepresented groups not captured by gender. We haven't reached consensus as to whether we will continue. It depends mostly on the impact asssessment of the round (which concludes this month). While it is accurate to say Magnify initially focused on improving diversity and inclusivity in the EA community, the organization's strategy is now focused on supporting the careers and wellbeing broadly of people who are working in evidence-based initiaves with or without an EA link. I mention this mostly because I don't want people to self-select out of applying for mentorship or mentoring with us.
A quick annoucement that Magnify mentee applications are now open!
Magnify mentee applications are currently open!
We would love to hear from you if you are a woman, non-binary person, or trans person of any gender who is enthusiastic about pursuing a high-impact career using evidence-based approaches. Please apply here by the 18th March.
Past mentees have been most successful when they have a clear sense of what they would like to achieve through the 6-month mentorship program. We look to match pairings based on the needs and availability of the mentee and mentor, their goals, career paths, and what skills they are looking to develop.
On average, mentees and mentors meet once a month for 60-90 minutes with a series of optional prompt questions prepared by our team. In the post-round feedback form, the average for “I recommend being a Magnify mentee” was 9.28/10 in Round 3 and 9.4/10 in Round 4. You can see testimonies from some of our mentees here, here and here. Some reported outcomes for mentees were:
- Advice, guidance, and resources on achieving goals.
- Connection and support in pursuing opportunities (jobs, funding).
- Confidence-building.
- Specific guidance (How to network? How to write a good resume?).
- Joining a welcoming community for support through challenges.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Kathryn at <kathryn@magnifymentoring.org>.
Hi all! A heads up that it is that time again - Magnify mentee applications are open :) More below. Thank you so much :)
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"Magnify Mentoring applications are now open for women, non-binary, and trans people of all genders who are looking to pursue high impact careers. You can apply here. Applications will close on the 10th July 2024.
Past mentees have been particularly successful when they have a sense of what they would like to achieve through mentorship. The matching process normally takes us between 4-6 weeks. We look to match pairings based on the needs and availability of the mentee and mentor, their goals, career paths, and what skills they are looking to develop.
On average, mentees and mentors meet once a month for 60-90 minutes with a series of optional prompt questions prepared by our team. In the post-round feedback form, the average for “I recommend being a Magnify mentee” was 9.28/10 in Round 3 and 9.4/10 in Round 4. You can see testimonies from some of our mentees here, here and here..
Some reported outcomes for mentees were:
- Advice, guidance, and resources on achieving goals.
- Connection and support in pursuing opportunities (jobs, funding).
- Confidence-building.
- Specific guidance (How to network? How to write a good resume?).
- Joining a welcoming community for support through challenges"
Firm separation sounds great to me. I just also want to voice something like "Many people in the community have firmly taken strong stances" but regardless of what we say or do get lumped in with a load of stuff that we've pretty clearly said we find abhorrent and have firmly exiled from our community spaces (Im thinking of the case of Vassar here but also Im pretty sure they don't want to be in EA spaces anyway because they aren't EA!).
Huw: To what extent is this EA verses rationality? Above you keep saying, "EA needs to" but these are ultimately rationalist conferences. For example, I'm not sure what more we can do to loudly signal Vassar isn't EA. He's banned from literally everything and has been for coming up to 10 years. I am pretty sure that extends to multiple people listed here. I am just not sure how public those decisions are so I will stop listing but (shoots karma into space) I wouldn't go near half of these people with a 60 foot long stick.
Personal opinion only: From watching a number of community builders end up in difficult situations over the years, I would strongly recommend anyone looking at EA community building as a career path carefully think about adequate compensation. When you are new to a series of ideas, especially those interacting with a sense of purpose, it is very easy to get excited, commit to a ton of work (often unpaid) with the assumption funders will see your work's value when it's off the ground and fund it. If you will work for free (for example, candidate referrals) there are many organizations that will take you up on the offer and "volunteer gigs" quickly become actual work with little/no compensation to match. Unfortunately, I have to say I have seen this particularly with people from Low to Middle Income Countries - you will end up with a lot of requests for referrels and/or people being referred to you by bigger organizations for "career chats" because those organizations don't have anyone in the region so it gives a sense of funding endorsement/ implicit promise of funding when it might actually not be there. Further, you are very vulnerable both CV-wise and future grant-wise to the impacts of "brand shocks" and the perceived value of the EA brand generally. I strongly recommend caution.