Enter a High-Impact Career
If you want to have a large impact, your career might be the best opportunity to do this given the huge amount of time you are likely to spend on it over your lifetime (40 years x 50 weeks x 40 hours = 80,000 hours).
Most people do not rigourously analyse the different paths they could take. Theoretically, if 800 hours of research might make your career 1% more impactful, it could be worth it.
While we encourage you to think carefully about your career, at the same time, we caution against unnecessary career anxiety (remembering Matt 6:25-34).
JD or Asia from our team would gladly speak with you to help soundboard any career decisions you are considering, as would many others in our global community. Also, we are also happy to provide an introduction to anyone in our network you might benefit from speaking to.
Working out what to do
Good career decisions will be a good balance of…
Specialist career capital — how much does it advance you towards your top long-term options?
Transferable career capital and back-up options — does it open up other promising options?
Information value — does it let you test out a potentially excellent but uncertain long-term option?
Personal fit — where do you have the highest chances of excelling? (& relative fit if coordinating with a community)
Immediate impact — will it let you contribute to a pressing problem right away?
Personal priorities — does it fit with the rest of your life and risk tolerance?
— from 80k’s two minute summary of their work
Careers Organisations
One of the first organisations founded within the EA movement is dedicated to helping people improve their careers. 80,000 hours has systematically analyzed various cause areas and roles. 80k’s preferred paths are especially geared towards promoting long-term flourishing, though Christians newer to EA might appreciate 80k’s older career advice.
Christians for Impact is a free career advisory that helps ambitious, analytically-minded Christians discern meaningful and impactful careers. We recommend their problem profiles on key global issues, their podcast and free 1-on-1 mentorship.
Christians for Impact is our top recommendation for Christians keen to discern an impactful career while also engaging with scripture, prayer and scholarly research.
Magnify Mentoring supports, inspires, and connects a global community of people who are motivated to have a positive impact with their careers and lives. They have grown to a global network of over 500 community members, spanning thirty-five countries, and all inhabited continents.You can find out more about their successes, challenges, and opportunities for impact in their CEO Kathryn’s talk at EAGX Asia Pacific, here.
Support from EACH
Within our community, we have people in a wide range of careers who can advise you on your fit for similar roles or make introductions to other useful people to speak to. If you would like to be put in contact with other community members who might be able to advise you on your next career move we would love to chat with you. Feel free to reach out to us through our website.