Thanks a lot for reading and sharing your story Rowan! Love this story through volunteering, which led to a paid role, which in turn led to another paid role! 
I think that it's a really valuable takeaway, that we don't need a whole lot of opportunities, we just need one high quality opportunity, and then build from that. 
I also appreciate the point familiarity/trust vs experience/education. I think that people often believe that they have to be better than all the candidates, and there is some truth to it, but often it's about standing out, building trust and credibility over the long run.

Thanks for reading and for your comment Jamie! Exactly, in an ideal world, we’d run perfect, open hiring rounds for everything. But given how much hiring still happens informally, I think it’s worth naming this strategy publicly so more people can take advantage of it should they chose to. Even if it doesn’t lead directly to a job, it might be what gets someone noticed in a future hiring round. And as you said, it’s a win-win: impactful projects get done, and people build visibility along the way. Something I maybe didn't highlight clearly enough but is worth adding is doing side things and being more visible about it can also be very exciting and enjoyable. So a win-win-win :) 

Ahh that made my day, thank you! Wishing you all the best with the mentorship program, sounds like such a valuable initiative

Thanks a lot Sarah! Thanks for mentioning the book and your story! Linking a summary for folks' convenience. I recently read the summary of the book and really wished I read it in my early twenties. It's so useful and full of tips which are applicable to EA. 

On the side events you mentioned, such a great example! They are surprisingly simple to organise. Most conferences will either be happy for you to host their existing meetup, or welcome meetup submissions before the conference to host at the venue, or a satellite event, and you get often get free venue. I do think that facilitation requires a bit of skill, know-how and up-front organisation, but it's definitely doable, especially if you seek advice from experienced organisers beforehand. 

Thanks so much for the kind words and thoughtful comment Saul!

You're totally right — I didn’t coin the phrase surface area for serendipity, and I appreciate the nudge to be clearer about that. What I meant by “introduce” was more “bring into this post / share how I use it,” especially because some people here may not be familiar with it — but I can see how that could read as staking some originality claim I didn’t intend.

I’ve now updated the wording to “describe a concept I use,” as you suggested — thank you again!

Thanks for reading Leroy! If you're doing projects you're passionate about, it may be easier to talk about them more publicly in a way that is lower effort for you, even if it's just DMs asking for feedback/input :) Good luck with your search! 

Thanks a lot for reading and hope you find it useful Marie!

Thanks a lot for reading and commenting Seth! Responded :) And appreciate your link with extra examples. 

Thanks so much for reading and for sharing your story Gergo! I completely agree — volunteering is often underrated in EA, and your experience really shows why it can be so powerful. I wrote a post about it ages ago (my first EA Forum post!) that I didn't link here. 

That’s such a great example of how volunteering can create unexpected opportunities and connections. I love that you were able to get on a call with the director of StrongMinds so early on — it really highlights how being proactive, even in small ways, can lead to meaningful experiences.

Hey Angelina, thank you so much for the kind words and for sharing your story — it’s super inspiring! I love your tip about volunteering at EA events; I try to share those kinds of opportunities regularly in our community too.

I actually wrote a bit about this in an earlier post on volunteering — I think one of the reasons it’s such a powerful way to open doors is because it’s accessible, memorable (like in your case!), and a great way to show your character and skills in action.

It reminded me of when I volunteered at a TEDx event back in 2017 in Poland — it was such a fun and energising experience. The organiser kept thanking us, but I remember thinking I should be the one thanking them for the opportunity! One more detail I wanted to add: that organiser ended up offering to invest in my then new start-up, I never proceeded because I got into animal advocacy, but I think it was because I kept showing up consistently. 

Really appreciate you chiming in here!