An econ PhD is one of the most attractive graduate programs: if you get through, you have a high chance of landing a good research job in academia or...

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Outline:

(00:09) Summary

(00:52) Pros

(01:33) Cons

(01:48) Key facts on fit

(02:00) Next steps

(02:23) Get free, one-on-one career advice

(02:45) Review status

(02:50) Research process

(03:02) What is this career path?

(03:47) Entry requirements

(04:44) Why should you do an economics PhD?

(04:48) Doing high impact research

(04:53) Academia

(06:06) Non-academic research

(06:51) Advocacy potential

(07:42) Other benefits

(09:03) What are the downsides of doing an economics PhD?

(09:43) Who should consider doing an economics PhD?

(10:20) Next steps

(11:05) Learn more

(12:33) Get free, one-on-one career advice

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Data science jobs involve obtaining data, cleaning it, analysing it and communicating actionable insights to decision makers in organisations. The title ‘Data scientist’ is used for a wide range of jobs, which range from entry-level positions only requiring basic knowledge of databases and Excel, all the way to high-level roles which involve inventing new algorithms, working with very large data sets and undirected research into open-ended questions.

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Outline:

(00:10) Summary

(00:39) Pros

(01:18) Cons

(01:36) Key facts on fit

(01:52) Next steps

(02:23) Sometimes recommended

(02:33) Review status

(02:38) Research process

(02:53) What is this career path?

(04:42) Personal fit

(05:12) Entry requirements

(06:07) Direct impact potential

(06:50) Earnings potential

(07:48) Bootcamp graduates

(08:13) Advocacy potential

(08:28) Career capital

(09:08) Exploration value

(09:20) Job satisfaction

(09:55) Alternatives

(10:10) Further reading

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Consulting is a promising path, offering good career capital that keeps your options open and your earnings high. However, it’s highly competitive and we have a limited understanding of its potential for direct impact.

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Outline:

(00:47) Pros

(00:55) Cons

(01:03) Key facts on fit

(01:18) Next steps

(01:35) Sometimes recommended

(01:45) Review status

(02:05) What is this career path?

(02:38) Career capital

(02:50) Common exits

(03:10) Culture

(03:43) Exploration value

(04:03) Personal fit

(04:06) Entry requirements

(04:32) What does it take to progress?

(04:56) Job satisfaction

(05:19) Direct impact potential

(05:58) Earnings potential

(06:13) Advocacy potential

(06:25) The full report

(06:30) Want to work in consulting?

(06:43) Think you should do something else?

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So many people are clearly desperate to plan out the next decade of their career, ending up anxious and overwhelmed. But this isn't the best way to approach

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We tend to imagine that organised attempts to make the world a better place are almost always successful, at least to some extent. However, this is simply not the case. GiveWell surveyed the literature on the effects of social interventions, concluding: We think that charities can easily fail to have impact, even when they're doing exactly what they say they are. In fact, our review of academic research has led us to believe that many of the problems charities aim to address are extremely difficult problems that foundations, governments and experts have struggled with for decades.

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When people think about the impact of their actions, they tend to think only of the immediate results - what we call their tangible impact. But that is only part of the story. To get the full picture, you need to compare the world you bring about with the world as it would have been without your involvement. We call this your true impact.

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Outline:

(02:11) Replaceability and Diminishing Returns

(03:36) What does the difference mean for your career?

(03:58) The importance of personal fit

(04:20) The importance of cause selection

(05:04) The importance of using positions in new ways

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Some of the steps you could take in your career open up a greater range of career options than others. The more paths a steps opens up, and the better these paths are in terms of impact, the more it "keeps your options open". For example, an undergraduate degree opens up a wide range of jobs: it is essential for around 25% of jobs, and an advantage in a huge number of others. By contrast, many vocational qualifications only prepare you for a single career and are of little use elsewhere.

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Outline:

(01:02) Why should I keep my options open?

(02:59) How can I keep my options open?

(03:32) Build flexible career capital

(04:13) Build a public platform

(04:36) Earn and save money

(05:10) Design flexible organisations

(05:31) Think tactically

(06:05) Appendix – An illustration of the importance of keeping your options open

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On this page we outline why we use a framework and how we selected the factors to go in our framework.

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Outline:

(00:25) Why use a framework at all?

(01:14) How did we choose these factors?

(01:18) What makes one factor better than another?

(03:02) How can we work out which factors are most important?

(03:46) What process did we use to create the current framework?

(05:05) Which factor is most important?

(05:22) Which factor is most important on average?

(06:10) Which factor is most important at each stage of your career?

(07:09) How have our views changed over time?

(08:43) Directions for future research

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Here we list some of our most in-depth career research reports that have not been featured on other pages.

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If you're already familiar with our framework, and want to apply it to compare several options within our how to choose process, you can use this worksheet, which collates all the key information onto one page. Comparison table We've made a table you can use to score each of your options. See a filled in example here. We've provided space for you to add your own factors, since our framework doesn't always perfectly capture the most important aspects of your situation.

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Outline:

(00:23) Comparison table

(01:16) Full list of assessment questions

(01:20) 1. Path impact potential

(02:59) 2. Personal fit

(03:38) 3. Career capital

(05:04) 4. Exploration value

(05:29) 5. Other personal factors

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