<aside> ⚠️ Please note that this version of the syllabus is tentative and that its contents might still change before the start of the pilot. To find more information about the pilot, please go here: EA VP Career Planning Program

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Table of Contents:

Welcome to the pilot for the EA VP Career Planning Program! Throughout this program, we think we can help you to plan your career by providing structure, accountability and feedback during your career planning process. Through a combination of reading, exercises and discussions, you'll explore what a high-impact career looks like for you, and start making progress on next steps.

Program Structure

• This program consists of 5 weekly 1.5-hour group discussion sessions guided by a facilitator. There will also be an optional follow-up call 4 weeks after completion of the program.

  • We've provided some suggestions to facilitators about how to structure discussion sessions and what questions to focus on. You can find them here if you're curious:

    EA VP Career Planning Program: Discussion Guide

    Session Structure and Prompts

• Before each session, participants are expected to do 1-1.5 hours of preparation, consisting of readings and answering questions in a template.

  • Ahead of the discussion session of Week 1, please read the General Guidelines below and do the preparations for Week 1.

• Finally, in addition to making plans, we think that participants will probably start to identify robustly helpful next actions to take relatively early in the planning process. We think that a large part of the value-add of this program comes from accountability, so we'd encourage you to fill out this template as a group each week.

Career Planning Template

<aside> 📝 While working through this course, please write down your answers in your own copy of this template.

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We strongly recommend that you share the Google Doc in which you’re working with your facilitator, and ask them to give you feedback on it in between sessions, although this isn't strictly mandatory.

Week-by-Week Planning

Each week of this program consists of readings from the 80,000 Hours 8-week career planning course, as well as some exercises from the career planning template. Make sure to do this preparation before the session. Below, you’ll find a week-by-week planning of the readings (📖, estimated reading times are given) and exercises (✍️):

• Week 1
  • 📖 **Part 1: What does a fulfilling, high-impact career look like for you? (9 mins):** Lay out your definition of impact, what you value, and what is most important for your happiness, drawing on factors 80,000 Hours has identified in their research.
  • 📖 **Part 2: Clarify your views of which global problems are most pressing (12 mins):** Learn how to compare global issues in terms of the potential impact of working on them, and get ideas for problems you could help tackle.
  • ✍️ Fill in Sections 1 and 2 in the template.
  • 📚 Background readings
• Week 2
  • 📖 **Part 3: Generate ideas for longer-term paths (33 mins):** Learn four ways to come up with ideas for longer-term career paths, and how to narrow them down based on a career framework.
  • ✍️ Fill in Section 3 in the template.
  • 📚 Background readings
• Week 3
  • 📖 **Part 4: Clarify your strategic focus (7 mins):** Based on your situation, decide whether to focus more on exploring, on taking an ambitious long-term bet, or on immediate impact.
  • 📖 **Part 5: Determine your best-guess next career step (13 mins):** Learn how to generate ideas for your next steps over the coming years, both by working backwards and by working forward. Then learn to narrow those options down based on the 80,000 Hours framework and your strategy.
  • 📖 **Part 6: Plan to adapt (6 mins):** Discover ABZ plans, and how they can help when making decisions in the face of huge uncertainty.
  • ✍️ Fill in Sections 4, 5, and 6 in the template.
  • 📚 Background readings
• Week 4
  • 📖 **Part 7: Investigate key uncertainties and make a judgement call (13 mins):** Learn how to identify your key uncertainties, and get lots of ideas on how to investigate them. Then apply research on decision making to make the best possible decision.
  • ✍️ Fill in Section 7 in the template.
• Week 5

  • 📖 **Part 8: Put your plan into action (3 mins):** Some final tips on how to translate your plan into concrete next actions and make sure you follow through, as well as advice on networking and how to make successful job applications.

  • ✍️ Fill in Section 8 in the template.

  • You might be interested in the following resources about how to make sure you’ll stick to your plans and review your career planning regularly after the program ends:

    Accountability, Reviews and Feedback

  • 📚 Background readings

• Follow-up call (4 weeks after completion of the program)
  • More guidelines on this will be added later.