Making a career choice
Over a typical career span of 40 years, working 40 hours per week for 50 weeks each year, you’ll accumulate about 80,000 working hours. That’s an immense amount of time. This means your career isn’t just a key factor in your personal happiness—it’s also probably your greatest chance to make a positive impact on the world.
How to Build an Impactful Career
Some careers enable you to do vastly more good than others — sometimes up to 100 times more. Here’s how you can navigate towards one:
Work on a Pressing Problem
Focus on a problem that is significant in scale, tractable, and neglected. The larger and more solvable the issue, the more people you can help. If few others are addressing it, your contribution can make an even greater difference.
Find the Most Effective Way to Contribute
Determine what barriers are slowing progress on this problem and identify the roles that can best overcome them. Does the issue need more research, funding, entrepreneurial solutions, or policy changes? Choose a path that effectively addresses these needs.
Leverage Your Personal Fit
You're likely to have the most impact when you excel in your role. Top performers often drive a disproportionate share of progress. Reflect on which high-impact roles align with your skills, interests, and strengths to find where you can contribute most effectively.
Start Planning Your High-Impact Career
Choosing a career that makes a significant difference can be challenging. Fortunately, you don’t have to navigate this path alone. Here are some resources to help you get started:
EA Sweden Career Guide
We’ve developed a comprehensive career guide tailored to the Swedish context, drawing on the latest research and inspired by the work of 80,000 Hours. This guide will help you prioritize among problems, choose an effective solution or occupational role, and combine these with what is important to you and aligns with your strengths to successfully navigate your career.
80,000 Hours Resources
80,000 Hours is an non-profit organization that has spent more than a decade researching how you can best use your career to solve the world's biggest problems. They have a constantly updating and developing career guide , a podcast and a job board where they publish impactful upskilling opportunities and professional vacancies.
Career Counseling
Your career choice is likely your primary opportunity to make a significant difference. At the same time, there is a lot to consider — making a strategic choice of a problem and profession requires knowledge of a range of fields and an understanding of what is needed to make progress in them.
It can also be difficult to know where your own strengths fit in. That’s why two people working together effectively can achieve more than they could individually. Through free personal coaching and counseling, we have helped over 400 individuals in Sweden identify exactly where they can contribute the most.
We provide you with tools, resources, and support, and through our network in Sweden and internationally, we offer valuable opportunities for upskilling and advancement on your journey.
Career Coaching Alumni
Marcus Williams
Machine Learning Researcher
Marcus, a Machine Learning Researcher, transitioned from researching ways to cure aging to focusing on AI alignment, convinced that Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) could either lead to human extinction or solve the world’s biggest challenges. Marcus’ story is inspiring for those considering a more unconventional and independent career path.
Marcus Williams
Machine Learning Researcher
Vivianne Manlai
Student & Policy Research Fellow
Vivianne, a dual-degree student in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Stockholm University and Engineering Physics at KTH, has taken significant steps toward an impactful career in AI policy at an international level. Inspired by the EA community and equipped with mentorship and career coaching from EA Sweden, she has taken part in the Talos Fellowship, aimed to influence responsible AI policies and ensure AI becomes a force for good.
Vivianne Manlai
Student & Policy Research Fellow
Emil Wasteson Wallén
Plant-Based Protein Entrepreneur
Emil’s background is in entrepreneurship, and his last venture Hooked Foods applied EA principles to reduce overfishing and factory farming of fish – a subset in the animal kingdom whose welfare is highly neglected. He is since 2023 the Executive Director of EA Sweden, using his experience to amplify the impact of others.
Emil Wasteson Wallén
Plant-Based Protein Entrepreneur
Simon Eckerström Liedholm
Wild Animal Welfare Researcher
Simon is a Researcher at Wild Animal Initiative, where he uses his knowledge from his PhD in evolutionary biology, and his aptitude for research, to improve the lives of wild animals – a highly neglected field.
Simon Eckerström Liedholm
Wild Animal Welfare Researcher
Ulrik Horn
Biosecurity Entrepreneur
Ulrik Horn is an early adopter of EA and has shifted his career from the wind energy industry to use his entrepreneurial skills to work on more neglected causes. His last project, Fønix, has explored the potential of building a bioweapons shelter with the goal to increase society’s resilience towards pandemics and reduce the existential risk associated with such an event.
Ulrik Horn
Biosecurity Entrepreneur
Ernesto Diaz
Finance & Operations Manager
Ernesto, driven by a passion for sustainability and existential risk mitigation, transitioned from a career in agricultural engineering to a high-impact operations role at Future Matters, a think tank addressing global threats like climate change and AI. Through EA, Ernesto discovered his ability to contribute behind the scenes, ensuring organizations run smoothly while advancing solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.
Ernesto Diaz
Finance & Operations Manager
Kristian Rönn
Climate Tech Entrepreneur
Kristian, CEO and co-founder of Normative, left his role at the Future of Humanity Institute to launch a company that helps large corporations measure their climate impact through advanced software. Driven by the realization that changing financial incentives is key to tackling climate change, Kristian’s work empowers businesses to recognize and reduce their environmental costs, contributing to a more sustainable future.
Kristian Rönn
Climate Tech Entrepreneur
Anton Osika Palfi
AI Entrepreneur
Anton started his career as a software engineer with experience from CERN and Sana Labs, and is now an AI entrepreneur, committed to build products that help people, and donating a share of dividends and exit to highly effective charities.
Anton Osika Palfi
AI Entrepreneur
Jon Servello
Tuberculosis Researcher
Jon, originally from the UK, has made an inspiring and transformative journey, from the arts and humanities, to dedicating his career to public health. In addition to his full-time job as a Research Fellow, he has founded tb.care, a non-profit that aims to provide essential information about tuberculosis (TB) to people in rural TB affected areas in India.
Jon Servello
Tuberculosis Researcher
Ulf Graf
Public Health Lecturer
Ulf is a lecturer in Public Health at Halmstad University, and has in his spare time engaged in multiple impact-oriented volunteering positions, at the Happier Lives Institute and at EA Denmark, with the goal of improving the world.
Ulf Graf
Public Health Lecturer
Workshops & Lectures On Career
We organize regular career-focused events to help more people use their 80,000 hours to solve the world’s biggest problems. Follow us on Facebook subscribe to our newsletter or keep an eye on our event calendar for information on current events.