Why these jobs?
How a job ends up on this board, and where we might be wrong.
Look outside the Netherlands first
If you are genuinely optimising your career for impact, the strongest opportunities are usually not in the Netherlands. Much of the work on these problems is concentrated in London, the Bay Area, Washington and Nairobi. These three boards cover it better than we do, and you should look at them first.
- 80,000 HoursThe largest list of roles at organisations working on these problems, with detailed career research alongside it.
- Probably GoodRoles and career advice, with more weight on global health and animal welfare.
- EA OpportunitiesAlso internships, fellowships, research programmes and shorter projects — useful if a permanent job is not the right next step.
Not everyone can move. A partner with a job here, children in school, caring responsibilities, a residence permit — or you simply do not want to leave. That is a reasonable trade-off, not a lack of commitment. This board is built for that situation: the best options we can find in the Netherlands. We would rather say so up front than let you work it out later.
Three questions, and a fourth
For the question of which problems deserve attention we use the same framework as the rest of this site.
Importance
Hoe groot is het probleem — hoeveel leed of verlies gaat ermee gepaard?
Tractability
Kun je er iets aan doen? Levert extra inzet meetbaar resultaat op?
Neglectedness
Hoeveel mensen en geld gaan er al naartoe? Waar is de eerstvolgende euro het meest waard?
Leverage
Hoeveel verandert er door déze functie, meer dan door het werk van één persoon?
This is what this board adds to the framework.
Why is climate not here?
Not because we think climate change does not matter. It is not here because in the Netherlands it is not neglected: a great deal of money, talent and political attention already goes to it. That is good news. The problems on this board do not have that attention, which is exactly why we single them out.
Which climate work is genuinely underrated remains a good question — and a separate one. Effective Environmentalism takes it seriously and has research and a community around it. That is a better place to start than a handful of employers here would have been.
How big is this board?
Right now 1 open jobs at 7 organisations. We keep the list short on purpose.
Curious?
If you want to know how we arrive at this list, we run a short intro course and a newsletter. Neither costs anything.