{"id":81751,"date":"2023-05-23T11:28:39","date_gmt":"2023-05-23T11:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/?post_type=careerguidepage&#038;p=81751"},"modified":"2026-03-17T22:47:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T22:47:00","slug":"summary","status":"publish","type":"careerguidepage","link":"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/career-guide\/summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Summary: How to find a fulfilling career that does&nbsp;good"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"margin-bottom no-margin-top\" id=\"audio-player\">\n<style id=\"type-3-player-styles\">@media print { type-3-player { display: none; } } h1 .t3a-heading-play-button { display: none; } h4 .t3a-heading-play-button, h5 .t3a-heading-play-button, h6 .t3a-heading-play-button { display: none; } .panel .t3a-heading-play-button { display: none; } .well .t3a-heading-play-button { display: none; } .eightyk-expandable-well-content .t3a-heading-play-button { display: none; } blockquote .t3a-heading-play-button { display: none; } .btn .t3a-heading-play-button { display: none; 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} .t3a-heading-play-button:focus { outline: none; } .t3a-heading-play-icon { display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; margin-left: 2px; } h2 .t3a-heading-play-button { margin-top: 3.5px; width: 1.5rem; height: 1.5rem; } h3 .t3a-heading-play-button { margin-top: 1px; width: 1.3rem; height: 1.3rem; } .type-3-player.sticky { box-shadow: 0px -2px 10px 0px rgb(171 171 171 \/ 60%); z-index: 8000; opacity: 1; visibility: visible; transition: opacity 0.2s ease, visibility 0.2s ease; } .type-3-player.sticky.hidden:not(.loading) { display: flex !important; opacity: 0; visibility: hidden; } .-t3a-button-pill span { padding-top: 1px !important; font-weight: 600; }<\/style>\n<p><script>(function() { 'use strict'; if (!window.t3aListeningTimeTracker) { window.t3aListeningTimeTracker = { totalSecondsListened: 0, hasFiredSixMinuteEvent: false }; } if (!window.t3aAnalytics) { window.t3aAnalytics = function(eventType, event) { analytics.track(eventType, event); gtag(\"event\", eventType, event); if (typeof plausible === \"function\") { plausible(eventType, {props: event}); } if (eventType === \"continued-listening\") { window.t3aListeningTimeTracker.totalSecondsListened += 30; if (!window.t3aListeningTimeTracker.hasFiredSixMinuteEvent && window.t3aListeningTimeTracker.totalSecondsListened >= 360) { window.t3aListeningTimeTracker.hasFiredSixMinuteEvent = true; const sixMinuteEvent = { ...event, action: \"Listened for 6 minutes\", totalSecondsListened: window.t3aListeningTimeTracker.totalSecondsListened }; analytics.track(\"Listened for 6 minutes\", sixMinuteEvent); gtag(\"event\", \"Listened for 6 minutes\", sixMinuteEvent); if (typeof plausible === \"function\") { plausible(\"Listened for 6 minutes\", {props: sixMinuteEvent}); } if (typeof window.eightyKAudioListened6Min === \"function\") { window.eightyKAudioListened6Min(); } } } }; } if (!window.t3aScrollListenerAdded) { window.addEventListener(\"scroll\", function() { const players = document.querySelectorAll(\"type-3-player\"); const tocButton = document.querySelector(\".sidebar-toc__open-button-wrap\"); const scrollTop = window.scrollY; const viewportHeight = window.innerHeight; const totalHeight = document.documentElement.scrollHeight; if (scrollTop + viewportHeight >= totalHeight) { players.forEach(player => player.style.display = \"none\"); if (tocButton) { tocButton.style.display = \"none\"; } } else { players.forEach(player => player.style.display = \"\"); if (tocButton) { tocButton.style.display = \"\"; } } }); window.t3aScrollListenerAdded = true; } document.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { const noPlayButtonTitles = [\"Read more\", \"Read next\", \"Learn more\"]; document.querySelectorAll(\"h2, h3\").forEach(function(element) { if (noPlayButtonTitles.includes(element.textContent.trim())) { element.classList.add(\"no-heading-play-button\"); } }); }); })();<\/script><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; min-height: 75px; clear: both;\" class=\"margin-bottom no-margin-top\">\n        <type-3-player mp3-url=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/2062493\/13036838-summary-how-to-find-a-fulfilling-career-that-does-good.mp3\" \n            cover-image-url=\"\"\n            background-color=\"#f1f1f1\"\n            listen-to-this-page=\"\"\n            listen-to-this-page-text=\"\"\n            link-to-timestamp=\"true\"\n            header-play-buttons=\"true\"\n            sticky=\"true\"\n            primary-color=\"#333\"\n            secondary-color=\"#aaa\"\n            accent-color=\"#2ebdd1\"\n            primary-font-family=\"&#039;museo-sans&#039;,&#039;Helvetica Neue&#039;,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif\"\n            secondary-font-family=\"&#039;proxima-nova&#039;,Arial,sans-serif\"\n            analytics=\"custom\"\n            t3a-logo=\"false\"\n            link-to-timestamp-selector=\".type-3-player__replace-timestamps-with-links\"\n            feedback-button=\"false\"\n            custom-css=\"\"\n        ><\/type-3-player><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>TL;DR:<\/strong> To have a fulfilling career that does good, build useful skills and use them to tackle pressing global problems.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than expect to discover your passion in a flash of insight, your <a href=\"\/career-guide\/job-satisfaction\/\">job satisfaction<\/a> will grow over time as you <a href=\"\/career-guide\/personal-fit\">learn more about what kind of work fits you<\/a>, <a href=\"\/career-guide\/career-capital\">master valuable skills<\/a>, and use them to find engaging work that <a href=\"\/career-guide\/high-impact-jobs\/\">helps others<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Move through these <a href=\"\/career-guide\/career-planning\/\">three career stages<\/a> over time:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Explore:<\/strong> and investigate your <em>key uncertainties<\/em> to find the best paths, rather than &#8220;going with your gut&#8221; or narrowing down too early. Make <a href=\"\/career-guide\/personal-fit\">finding options that fit you best<\/a> your key focus until you feel ready to bet on one for at least a few years.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Build career capital:<\/strong> Look for jobs that let you <a href=\"\/career-guide\/high-impact-jobs\/\">build valuable skills<\/a>, and also your reputation, connections, character, and financial runway to <a href=\"\/career-guide\/career-capital\/\">increase your career capital<\/a> and accelerate you towards your longer-term vision. At the same time, invest in your <a href=\"\/career-guide\/how-to-be-successful\/\">personal development<\/a>. Do this until you&#8217;ve taken the best opportunities to invest in yourself.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Deploy:<\/strong> Use your career capital to tackle pressing global problems, and secure a job that meets your other personal criteria.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>When it comes to what to aim for longer-term, here are three key things to look for to make a <a href=\"\/career-guide\/can-one-person-make-a-difference\/\">positive impact<\/a> more effectively:<\/p>\n<p>First, <em>focus on more pressing social problems<\/em> \u2014 those that are <a href=\"\/career-guide\/most-pressing-problems\/\">big in scale, neglected and solvable<\/a> \u2014 rather than those that are popular or you happen to stumble into. Today, <a href=\"\/career-guide\/world-problems\/\">we think<\/a> these involve efforts to <a href=\"\/articles\/existential-risks\/\">safeguard the future<\/a>, including issues like AI alignment, preventing pandemics, nuclear war, or great power conflict (see our <a href=\"\/problem-profiles\/\">full list of pressing problems<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Second, <em>think broadly<\/em> about <a href=\"\/career-guide\/high-impact-jobs\/\">all the ways you might contribute to solving those problems<\/a> to identify the skills and roles that can help  you make the biggest contribution. Consider research, communicating ideas, community-building, organisation-building, earning to give, and government and policy careers. See our <a href=\"\/career-reviews\/\">full list of career reviews<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Third, focus on paths that have the best <em><a href=\"\/career-guide\/personal-fit\/\">personal fit<\/a><\/em>, and that best meet your <a href=\"\/career-guide\/job-satisfaction\/\">other personal criteria<\/a>. To <a href=\"\/career-guide\/personal-fit\/\">find your best fit<\/a>, <strong>think like a scientist<\/strong>: make some best guesses at the most promising paths and jobs, identify key uncertainties, and do cheap tests to resolve them. Keep updating your plan every 1\u20133 years.<\/p>\n<p>Eliminate any options that might have <a href=\"\/articles\/accidental-harm\/\">big downsides<\/a>, burn you out, or do <a href=\"\/articles\/harmful-career\/\">significant harm<\/a>, even if they seem like they might let you have a greater impact. Make sure you also have a <a href=\"\/career-guide\/career-planning\/\">backup plan B and plan Z<\/a>. But after that, <a href=\"\/articles\/be-more-ambitious\">aim high<\/a>. Although many efforts to help others fail, <a href=\"\/career-guide\/can-one-person-make-a-difference\/\">the best can be enormously effective<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to <a href=\"\/career-guide\/career-planning\/\">career planning<\/a>, it&#8217;s useful to have some <a href=\"\/career-guide\/career-planning\/\">ideas about the best longer-term vision<\/a>, but put the majority of your effort into finding the best next step (both <em>working backwards<\/em> from your vision and <em>working forwards<\/em> from interesting opportunities even if you&#8217;re not sure where they&#8217;ll lead).<\/p>\n<p>Finally, <a href=\"\/career-guide\/how-to-get-a-job\/\">to actually get a job<\/a>, don&#8217;t just send out your CV in response to job listings. Get leads through your connections, and prove that you can do the work by actually doing some.<\/p>\n<p>Focusing your career on tackling pressing global problems isn&#8217;t always easy. If you&#8217;re not able to change jobs right now, you <a href=\"\/career-guide\/making-a-difference\/\">can still have a lot of impact<\/a> by donating or enabling others to work on the problems you think are most pressing.<\/p>\n<p>Seek <a href=\"\/career-guide\/community\/\">community<\/a> because two people working together effectively can achieve more than they could individually.<\/p>\n<p>By working together, in our lifetimes, we can prevent the next pandemic and mitigate the risks of AI, we can end extreme global poverty and factory farming \u2014 and we can do this while having interesting, fulfilling lives too. So let&#8217;s do it.<\/p>\n<p>You have 80,000 hours in your career.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t waste them.<\/p>\n<div class=\"well bg-gray-lighter margin-bottom margin-top padding-top-small padding-bottom-small\">\n<h2>Read the full guide<\/h2>\n<p>Next, you can read the <a href=\"\/career-guide\/\">full career guide<\/a> to learn more about how to find a career that is both satisfying and has a positive impact.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/career-guide\/job-satisfaction\/\" title=\"\" class=\"btn btn-primary\">Part 1: What makes for a dream job?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>If instead you&#8217;d like something more advanced, listen to <a href=\"\/podcast\/\">our podcast<\/a> featuring in-depth interviews with experts on the world&#8217;s most pressing problems, or <a href=\"\/advanced-series\/\">see our foundations series<\/a>, which contains some of our most important and novel research about how to increase your impact.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"well visible-if-not-newsletter-subscriber margin-bottom margin-top padding-top-small padding-bottom-small\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-7 col-lg-7 margin-top-smallest pr-sm-0\">\n<h2>Join our newsletter to get the guide<\/h2>\n<p class=\"margin-bottom-smaller\">Get started planning a career tackling the world&#8217;s most pressing problems. <\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ll never share your email, and you can unsubscribe in one click.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-sm-5 col-lg-5 hidden-xs pl-0\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/80000hours.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/at_book_screen.png\" alt=\"The 80,000 Hours career guide\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<form data-80k-object-id=\"\" data-80k-form-action=\"newsletter__subscribe\" action=\"\/\" method=\"post\" class=\"form-newsletter-signup form-newsletter-signup-step-1 margin-bottom-smallest margin-top-smaller\">\n<div class=\"mc-field-group input-group compact-input-group input-width-xl\"> <input type=\"email\" value=\"\" name=\"email\" required class=\"form-control email\" placeholder=\"Email address\" id=\"input_email\" pattern=\"[a-zA-Z0-9._+\\-]+@(?!(gmial\\.com|gnail\\.com|gmai\\.com|gmal\\.com|gmali\\.com|gamil\\.com|gmail\\.co|gmail\\.con|gmail\\.om|yahooo\\.com|yaho\\.com|outlok\\.com|outloo\\.com|hotmial\\.com|hotmail\\.con|hmail\\.com|yopmail\\.com|discardmail\\.com)$)[a-zA-Z0-9.\\-]+\\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}\" title=\"Please enter a valid email address (e.g. user@example.com)\" > <span class=\"submit input-group-btn input-group-btn-right\"> <input type=\"submit\" id=\"mc-embedded-subscribe\" value=\"GET THE FREE GUIDE\" class=\"btn btn-primary \" \/> <\/span> <\/div>\n<div> <input name=\"_eightyk_action\" value=\"mailchimp_add_subscriber\" type=\"hidden\"> <input name=\"redirect_path_after_step_2\" value=\"\/newsletter\/welcome\/\" type=\"hidden\"> <\/div>\n<div style=\"position: absolute; left: -5000px;\"> <input type=\"text\" name=\"b_abc12f58bbe8075560abdc5b7_43bc1ae55c\" tabindex=\"-1\" value=\"\"> <\/div>\n<\/form>\n<p class=\"center-align\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":73811,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[315,1315,1316,1208,1360,322,1354],"class_list":["post-81751","careerguidepage","type-careerguidepage","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-advice-strategy","category-career-planning","category-community-coordination","category-exploration","category-job-satisfaction-career-advice-strategy","category-personal-fit","category-skill-building-and-career-capital"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Summary: How to find a fulfilling career that does good | 80,000 Hours<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Just the bottom lines from our career guide. 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