May 2025
Brief
Hello to our over 2,000 new subscribers!
If that's you, congratulations - you're in for a treat. We pack every inch of this newsletter with the critical information, tools, and job listings you need to accelerate your career towards making the world a much better place.
Whether you're reading from Mogadishu or Michigan, the client site or a train, welcome. Don't be a stranger - we'd love to hear from you.
-Emily Dardaman
Content & Network Lead
Meet our experienced career advisors - all ex-consultants! Emily Dardaman, Sarah Pomeranz, and Edmo Gamelin
Headlines
Updates from the consulting industry + the world's biggest problems
After significant backlash, OpenAI announced that it is no longer planning to remove control of the company from its nonprofit governing structure. However, it might still end caps on investor profits. -Obsolete
As consulting firms scramble to save their US federal contracts, seven of the 10 largest consulting firms to the government have offered to reduce their fees by $20 billion. -Wall Street Journal
Uganda launched the world's largest malaria vaccine introduction to date, serving over 1 million young children. -Gavi
WHO members agreed on a historic, legally binding pandemic preparedness pact. -WHO
With the help of multiple whistleblowers, Australia's animal welfare body secured a commitment from the Labor Party to strengthen independent oversight of export slaughterhouses. -The Guardian
Quick wins
Courses, tools, and other career shortcuts
Feeling existential about your career? Commit to a 1-hour Career Check-In. -Consultants for Impact
Condense a multi-year transformation into 8 weeks with this self-paced career development course. -80,000 Hours
Don't feel like setting goals right now? Procrastinate on purpose! -Upgradable
Communicating with hiring managers just got easier with these follow-up email templates. -Madeline Mann
If you haven't seen this updated map of organizations working on ensuring AI is developed safely, you're missing out. -AISafety.com
Deep reads
Nuanced takes worth your time
A classic: What are the world's most pressing problems, actually? -80,000 Hours
Your career was trained on the wrong dataset. -Sarah Pomeranz for Digital Frontier
How to cope when your job breaks your heart. -HBR
Clean energy breakthroughs could save the world. How do we create more of them? -Vox
"Long" timelines to advanced AI have gotten crazy short. -Helen Toner
Rutger Bregman asks bankers if they're making the world a better place. -School for Moral Ambition
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Coming up
Events worth changing your Slack status to
May
- AI for Animals, May 30-June 1
June and beyond
- EA Global: London, June 6-8, (Apply by May 18)
- Profit for Good, June 11
- EAGx Nigeria, July 11-13 (Apply by June 30)
- AI Law and Policy Workshop, July 25-27 (Apply by May 25)
Meet the member
We caught up with Steven Rouk, a Slalom consulting alum and founder of Connect for Animals, a platform connecting professionals who want to help end factory farming.
What's the secret to making a difference in your career? Keep your eye on the prize, i.e. your values and life goals: what do you actually want to do with your life? How do you want to make an impact? Never forget that. If consulting helps you get there, then do it. If not, don't.
What should consultants watch out for? I've seen people increase their spending to a point where they have decreased freedom to work on important things. Regardless of the career path you're considering, always consider all your options and your long-term trajectory. Ask how you can position yourself to learn the most transferable skills and make valuable connections for future work.
Jobs
Get paid to assist solving make the world's worst problems!
- Community Manager - Founders Pledge(Apply by May 7)
- Project Officer, Pandemic Fund - United Nations, World Health Organization(Apply by May 9)
- Deputy Director, Personal Protective Equipment - Blueprint Biosecurity (Apply by May 11)
- Engagement Specialist - 80,000 Hours (Apply by May 11)
- Strategic Partnerships Officer, AI Governance - Future Matters (Apply by May 14)
- Strategy Officer, Malaria - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Apply by May 15)
- Chief Executive Officer - The Good Food Institute (Apply by May 28)
- Research Associate, Finance, Business, and Technology; Research Associate, Global Health, Economics, and Development - Council on Foreign Relations (Rolling)
- Program Associate / Program Officer, Global Biological Policy and Programs - Nuclear Threat Initiative (Rolling)
- Senior Research Project Manager, AI / Bio, Meselson Centre - RAND Corporation (Rolling)
Member moves
Consultants taking off in high-impact new roles
- Annemiek Janssens has taken on the role of Operations Manager at Taimaka, an organization dedicated to tackling acute childhood malnutrition.
- Silje Uhlen Maurset, former Deloitte, joined the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, where she will be working on mobilizing private partnerships and private capital for global development.
- Lorcan Clarke. ex-Dalberg, has started a new role assessing high-impact funding opportunities.
- Aastha Mohapatra, former EY, will soon begin a position as a Data Associate at the Data Policy and Innovation Centre at the University of Chicago.
- Moritz Hagemann has been accepted into the Master of Public Policy (MPP) program at Harvard University, where he will focus on AI governance, during his academic leave from McKinsey.
- Brandon Riggs joined London AI Safety Research Laboratories, a research programme focused on reducing the risk of loss of control to advanced AI.
- Kushal Kansagra has taken on a new role as Head of Strategy at the Cosmos Institute.
Want to talk jobs?
Our team has 15+ years of experience in the consulting industry and have each personally transitioned into high impact roles. We'd love to help you do the same!
