The Nonlinear Library EA - AMA with AIM's Director of Recruitment (and MHI co-founder), Ben Williamson by Ben Williamson
Aug 20, 2024
03:21
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: AMA with AIM's Director of Recruitment (and MHI co-founder), Ben Williamson, published by Ben Williamson on August 20, 2024 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
As AIM's Director of Recruitment, I'm running an AMA to answer any questions you may have about applying for our programs, as well as any questions that may be of interest from my other experience (such as co-founding Maternal Health Initiative).
Ambitious Impact (formerly Charity Entrepreneurship) currently has applications open until September 15th for two of our programs.
Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Programme
AIM Founding to Give
You can read more about both programs in this earlier EA Forum post. Please consider applying!
Why a personal AMA?
Answers to questions can often be subjective. I do not want to claim to speak for every member of AIM's team. As such, I want to make clear that I will be answering in a personal capacity. I think this has a couple of notable benefits:
My answers can be a little more candid since I don't have to worry (as much) that I'll say something others may significantly disagree with
Application season is busy for us! This saves coordination time in getting agreement on how to respond to any tricky questions
It also means that people can ask me questions through this AMA that go beyond AIM's recruitment process and application round...
A little about me
I've been working at AIM since April 2024. Before that, I co-founded the Maternal Health Initiative with Sarah Eustis-Guthrie. We piloted a training program with the Ghana Health Service to improve the quality of postpartum family planning counseling in the country.
In March, we made the decision to shut down the organisation as we do not believe that postpartum family planning is likely to be as cost-effective as other family planning or global health interventions. You can read more about that decision in a recent piece for Asterisk magazine, as well as an earlier EA Forum post.
I started Maternal Health Initiative through the 2022 Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program. I spent the year prior to this founding and running Effective Self-Help, a project researching the best interventions for individuals to increase their wellbeing and productivity.
My job history before that is far more potted and less relevant - from waiting tables and selling hiking shoes to teaching kids survival skills and planting vineyards.
Things you could ask me
Any questions you may have about what AIM looks for in candidates for our programs and how we select people
Questions about getting into entrepreneurship - why to pursue it; how to test fit; paths to upskilling; lessons I've learned from my own (mis)adventures
Questions about Maternal Health Initisomething in my experience ative - what we did; lessons I learned; how it feels to shut down
More general questions about building a career in impactful work if something in my experience suggests I might be a good person to ask!
How the AMA works
1. You post a comment here[1]
2. You wait patiently while I'm on holiday until August 28th[2]
3. I reply to comments on August 29th and 30th
1. ^
If you have a question you'd like to ask in private, you can email me: ben@ charityentrepreneurship [dot] com
2. ^
This was coincidental rather than planned but has the wonderful benefit of ensuring I avoid spending a week refreshing this article feverishly waiting for questions...
Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org
As AIM's Director of Recruitment, I'm running an AMA to answer any questions you may have about applying for our programs, as well as any questions that may be of interest from my other experience (such as co-founding Maternal Health Initiative).
Ambitious Impact (formerly Charity Entrepreneurship) currently has applications open until September 15th for two of our programs.
Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Programme
AIM Founding to Give
You can read more about both programs in this earlier EA Forum post. Please consider applying!
Why a personal AMA?
Answers to questions can often be subjective. I do not want to claim to speak for every member of AIM's team. As such, I want to make clear that I will be answering in a personal capacity. I think this has a couple of notable benefits:
My answers can be a little more candid since I don't have to worry (as much) that I'll say something others may significantly disagree with
Application season is busy for us! This saves coordination time in getting agreement on how to respond to any tricky questions
It also means that people can ask me questions through this AMA that go beyond AIM's recruitment process and application round...
A little about me
I've been working at AIM since April 2024. Before that, I co-founded the Maternal Health Initiative with Sarah Eustis-Guthrie. We piloted a training program with the Ghana Health Service to improve the quality of postpartum family planning counseling in the country.
In March, we made the decision to shut down the organisation as we do not believe that postpartum family planning is likely to be as cost-effective as other family planning or global health interventions. You can read more about that decision in a recent piece for Asterisk magazine, as well as an earlier EA Forum post.
I started Maternal Health Initiative through the 2022 Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Program. I spent the year prior to this founding and running Effective Self-Help, a project researching the best interventions for individuals to increase their wellbeing and productivity.
My job history before that is far more potted and less relevant - from waiting tables and selling hiking shoes to teaching kids survival skills and planting vineyards.
Things you could ask me
Any questions you may have about what AIM looks for in candidates for our programs and how we select people
Questions about getting into entrepreneurship - why to pursue it; how to test fit; paths to upskilling; lessons I've learned from my own (mis)adventures
Questions about Maternal Health Initisomething in my experience ative - what we did; lessons I learned; how it feels to shut down
More general questions about building a career in impactful work if something in my experience suggests I might be a good person to ask!
How the AMA works
1. You post a comment here[1]
2. You wait patiently while I'm on holiday until August 28th[2]
3. I reply to comments on August 29th and 30th
1. ^
If you have a question you'd like to ask in private, you can email me: ben@ charityentrepreneurship [dot] com
2. ^
This was coincidental rather than planned but has the wonderful benefit of ensuring I avoid spending a week refreshing this article feverishly waiting for questions...
Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org