{"id":34429,"date":"2015-07-13T05:10:52","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T05:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/80000hours.org\/?post_type=career_profile&#038;p=34429"},"modified":"2026-04-22T16:42:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:42:29","slug":"think-tank-research","status":"publish","type":"career_profile","link":"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/think-tank-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Think tank&nbsp;research"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":74266,"parent":0,"menu_order":34,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1514,315,1386,1315,1360,322,1362,1417],"class_list":["post-34429","career_profile","type-career_profile","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advocacy-other-topics","category-career-advice-strategy","category-career-paths","category-career-planning","category-job-satisfaction-career-advice-strategy","category-personal-fit","category-skills-skill-building-and-career-capital-2","category-think-tank-research-career-paths"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Think tank research | Career review | 80,000 Hours<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Working in a think tank for a few years early in your career is a plausible way to influence government policy for the better, and in the meantime gain...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/think-tank-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"If you want to change the world for the better, should you work in a think tank?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Working in a think tank for a few years early in your career is a plausible way to influence government policy for the better, and in the meantime gain skills and contacts to advance your future career in politics or elsewhere, while doing work that&#039;s often fulfilling.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-reviews\/think-tank-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"80,000 Hours\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/80000Hours\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-22T16:42:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/bit-cloud-3lqk4BQkCDw-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"If you want to change the world for the better, should you work in a think tank?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Working in a think tank for a few years early in your career is a plausible way to influence government policy for the better, and in the meantime gain skills and contacts to advance your future career in politics or elsewhere, while doing work that&#039;s often fulfilling.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@80000hours\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/80000hours.org\\\/career-reviews\\\/think-tank-research\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/80000hours.org\\\/career-reviews\\\/think-tank-research\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Robert Wiblin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/80000hours.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f09139c7c3b45b08bad1d272b1594e41\"},\"headline\":\"Think tank&nbsp;research\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-13T05:10:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-22T16:42:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/80000hours.org\\\/career-reviews\\\/think-tank-research\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/80000hours.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/80000hours.org\\\/career-reviews\\\/think-tank-research\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/80000hours.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/bit-cloud-3lqk4BQkCDw-unsplash-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Research\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Advocacy\",\"Career advice &amp; 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