Serendipity, weird bets, & cold emails that actually work: Career advice from 16 former guests

80,000 Hours Podcast

• Episode: Serendipity, weird bets, & cold emails that actually work: Career advice from 16 former guests
• Website: 80,000 Hours Podcast
• Feed URL: https://feeds.feedburner.com/80000HoursPodcast
• Duration: 02:18:41
• Published: 2025-04-24 18:39

How do you navigate a career path when the future of work is uncertain? How important is mentorship versus immediate impact? Is it better to focus on your strengths or on the world’s most pressing problems? Should you specialise deeply or develop a unique combination of skills?

From embracing failure to finding unlikely allies, we bring you 16 diverse perspectives from past guests who’ve found unconventional paths to impact and helped others do the same.

Links to learn more and full transcript.

Chapters:

• Cold open (00:00:00)
• Luisa's intro (00:01:04)
• Holden Karnofsky on just kicking ass at whatever (00:02:53)
• Jeff Sebo on what improv comedy can teach us about doing good in the world (00:12:23)
• Dean Spears on being open to randomness and serendipity (00:19:26)
• Michael Webb on how to think about career planning given the rapid developments in AI (00:21:17)
• Michelle Hutchinson on finding what motivates you and reaching out to people for help (00:41:10)
• Benjamin Todd on figuring out if a career path is a good fit for you (00:46:03)
• Chris Olah on the value of unusual combinations of skills (00:50:23)
• Holden Karnofsky on deciding which weird ideas are worth betting on (00:58:03)
• Karen Levy on travelling to learn about yourself (01:03:10)
• Leah Garcés on finding common ground with unlikely allies (01:06:53)
• Spencer Greenberg on recognising toxic people who could derail your career and life (01:13:34)
• Holden Karnofsky on the many jobs that can help with AI (01:23:13)
• Danny Hernandez on using world events to trigger you to work on something else (01:30:46)
• Sarah Eustis-Guthrie on exploring and pivoting in careers (01:33:07)
• Benjamin Todd on making tough career decisions (01:38:36)
• Hannah Ritchie on being selective when following others’ advice (01:44:22)
• Alex Lawsen on getting good mentorship (01:47:25)
• Chris Olah on cold emailing that actually works (01:54:49)
• Pardis Sabeti on prioritising physical health to do your best work (01:58:34)
• Chris Olah on developing good taste and technique as a researcher (02:04:39)
• Benjamin Todd on why it’s so important to apply to loads of jobs (02:09:52)
• Varsha Venugopal on embracing uncomfortable situations and celebrating failures (02:14:25)
• Luisa's outro (02:17:43)

Audio engineering: Ben Cordell, Milo McGuire, Simon Monsour, and Dominic Armstrong
Content editing: Katy Moore and Milo McGuire
Transcriptions and web: Katy Moore