Introduction

Logistical Notes

• Vaidehi will communicate over the private channel in the EA Groups Slack.
• Please share assignments in your shared group folder 1 week before the next session.
• Please give as much feedback to Vaidehi as possible, especially over the course of the workshop itself so that we can iterate and improve. Use this form to submit feedback.

Syllabus Notes

• This syllabus aims to be comprehensive and act as a reference library. Throughout, I’ve marked readings that I believe to be more foundational with a (*), as well as more advanced with a (^).
• I would encourage you to explore the other materials, but if you’re short on time just focus on the foundational readings, and know that you can always come back to the other readings. If you’re still not sure what readings to cover, just reach out or leave a comment.
• Note that the session outlines are tentative and will likely vary a lot by group.

Time estimates per session

• Reading: 1-2 hours
• Assignments/exercises: 0.5-1 hour
• Reading others' plans & giving feedback: 0.5-1 hour
• Total Time: 2-4 hours

Things this workshop won’t cover in depth

• The actual careers advice itself or analysis of different paths
• How to do local careers research (see this guide)

Contact Information: Vaidehi Agarwalla (vaidehiagarwalla@gmail.com)

Session 1: Strategy Reflection & Goal Setting

The aim of this session is to:

• Be clear about what you hope to gain from this workshop.
• All participants have the opportunity to get on the same page about common EA resources. It’s worth skimming or re-reading and noting down any uncertainties or hesitations you have. There may also be parts of these guides you’ve forgotten or haven’t thought about in a while.
• Get to know everyone else & their local groups

Reading

1.0 Goal Setting & Strategy Planning

Exercises

Pre-workshop Survey

Group Strategy Reflection Exercise.

Please create a copy and add it to your group’s folder so everyone can access it. Your group number is the same as your Slack channel.

• Part I: Goal setting. Look at the syllabus & plan and see what you think your top priorities for each session will be, and if there are any topics that you want to address that aren’t covered.
• Part II: Your group’s current situation and background, including your strengths/weaknesses and areas for improvement.
• Identify your known weak points when it comes to foundational EA knowledge and address those now, rather than after the workshop.
• Part III: Career Strategy
• Identify your key uncertainties & come up with an action plan to resolve or reduce them.

Session

• 5 minutes: Introduction
• 10 minutes: Discussing goals for the workshop, reviewing each participant’sand/or group’s goals. Leaving some time for generating additional goals.
• 40 minutes: Discuss each participants’ group strategy, key uncertainties and next steps to resolve the uncertainties.
• 5 minutes: Wrap Up & Feedback on Session 1

Session 2: Intro to Career 1-1s

The goal of the first session is to be aligned on what career 1-1s are and how they are structured. We will also draft the first strategy plans for incorporating career advice & career 1-1s into a group’s overarching strategy.

Readings: Session 2: Career 1-1s

Exercise

• Now that you have a more in-depth knowledge of career 1-1s, how does that change your overall strategy ?
• Update Part III of the Group Strategy Reflection Exercise (use your own copy)
• What are your key takeaways and questions from these readings? See the reading doc for guiding questions. You will be asked to share your open questions on Slack, and these will be used to set the agenda for the meeting.

Session

• 30 minutes: Discussions about the big open questions
• 15 Minutes: Each group’s plans in light of the discussion
• 10 minutes: How to investigate key uncertainties and what cheap tests to do

Session 3: Career 1-1 Frameworks & Techniques

Now that we have had an overview of career 1-1s, and have set the overarching strategy, we are ready to dive into the logistics of actually running a career 1-1 call.

Readings: 3.0 Career 1-1 Frameworks & Techniques

Exercise

• You will share this plan with your focus group members who will provide written feedback, then revise the plan and share it again with your assigned peer in a 1-1 session.

Session

• We will discuss any uncertainties participants may have about different strategies or frameworks.
• We will also focus a lot on the early learning & iteration process, which will be put into practice in the following session.

Session 4: Pipeline & Impact Tracking

The goal of this session will be to plan and track your 1-1s pipeline. Now that we’ve covered what career 1-1s could be, this would give you a better sense of the kind of people who could benefit most from a career 1-1.  A number of considerations have been listed below that can help guide you in creating your plan.

Readings: 4.0 Pipeline & Impact Tracking

Exercises

• Create your plan to track your 1-1s
• Find someone to do a practice career 1-1 with from your community

Session

• During this session we will discuss the issues with developing or maintaining a pipeline.
• Roughly 30 minutes per section of the reading
• 10 minutes on how to investigate key uncertainties and what cheap tests to do

Session 5: 1-1s Practice

The goal of this section is to get some hands-on practice doing 1-1s. Participants will observe 1 experienced organiser do a career 1-1, then observe 2 fellow participants and conduct 1 career 1-1 themselves.

Readings

• Reread the sections in the guides on how to interact with people & techniques from Sessions 2 and 3.
• Do any of the hosts have specific feedback they want to share with participants?

Exercise

Each person will observe or conduct a total of 3 interviews. Ideally, participants will be able to watch each other’s calls live. However, keeping in mind potential scheduling conflicts, we will get consent to record and share the interviews if needed.

1. Observe an experienced organiser doing a career 1-1
2. Conduct a career 1-1 yourself and receive feedback from a fellow participant observer & the advisee. You will also complete a self-evaluation.
3. Observe two fellow participants conduct a career 1-1 and provide them with in-depth feedback.
4. Meet with your group and mentors after everyone has conducted their 1-1s to debrief, exchange notes, and compare experiences based on your peer and self-evaluations.

Session

• Group discussion around norms, attitudes and soft skills during 1-1s based on the previous weeks’ practice sessions
• Wrap up the workshop & feedback