Pilot Career Support Program - Seeking Mentors

Program Overview

This is a pilot program to provide career mentorship to early-stage longtermist EAs.

There are a number of project-based mentor programs (e.g., ERI summer fellowships). However, the only group providing career mentorship is Magnify which offers mentorship for women, non-binary and trans people. Given Magnify’s success at placing promising candidates in jobs, projects, and/or securing funding, we want to expand mentorship to mentors and mentees of all genders.

This proposal has been shared with a small, curated list of potential mentors and will pilot the program with a subset of mentors over the course of 2023. If the pilot is successful, we expect to scale to 30-50 mentors.

Express your interest in the program (it takes about 5-10 minutes)

Program Coordinators: Vaidehi Agarwalla and Elika Somani

Advisor: Kathryn Mecrow-Flynn (Magnify Mentoring)

We are grateful to Michael Aird, Angela Aristizábal, Chris Bakerlee, Ben Clifford, Dan Greene, and Nick Fitz for their advice and feedback.

Why participate as a mentor?

  • Find potential hires or collaborators. Candidates will be carefully recruited in a closed application process based on recommendations from movement builders and professionals. They will have a basic introductory knowledge of core EA concepts and longtermism.
  • We expect mentees’ engagement with longtermism and EA to increase and expect they will be more likely to take high-impact opportunities.

Logistics & Expectations

  • Timing: June - December 2023. We expect ~monthly meetings for 6 months as a default set-up (this is what Magnify uses) but are open to considering other options.
  • Confirmation of participation: Depending on the number of mentor sign-ups, we might select a smaller group for the pilot. We will let you know if you are part of the pilot by the end of May 2023.
  • Time commitment: Depending on your availability, we will see what makes sense. This is a pilot program, and we will aim to tailor the program to the needs of the mentors.
  • Matching Process: Pairings will be based on the needs, interests, and availability of the mentee and mentor, their goals, career paths, and what skills they are looking to develop.
  • Attitude: We expect you to be friendly and supportive to our mentees and create a positive environment for them
  • Guidance and Support: We will provide some guidance in case you need it (e.g., mentor sheets based on Magnify Mentoring’s guidance) and can connect you to more experienced mentors
  • Needs-based Stipend (for mentors): If you need it or it would help you provide more mentorship, we are seeking funding to provide stipends at $50/hour

Express your interest by Sunday, May 7th 2023

Questions?

Email Elika and Vaidehi at [email protected] (or feel free to message us wherever is convenient!)