“Stop Applying And Get To Work” by plex

LessWrong (Curated & Popular)

TL;DR: Figure out what needs doing and do it, don't wait on approval from fellowships or jobs.
If you...

• Have short timelines
• Have been struggling to get into a position in AI safety
• Are able to self-motivate your efforts
• Have a sufficient financial safety net

... I would recommend changing your personal strategy entirely.
I started my full-time AI safety career transitioning process in March 2025. For the first 7 months or so, I heavily prioritized applying for jobs and fellowships. But like for many others trying to "break into the field" and get their "foot in the door", this became quite discouraging.
I'm not gonna get into the numbers here, but if you've been applying and getting rejected multiple times during the past year or so, you've probably noticed the number of applicants increasing at a preposterous rate. What this means in practice is that the "entry-level" positions are practically impossible for "entry-level" people to enter.
If you're like me and have short timelines, applying, getting better at applying, and applying again, becomes meaningless very fast. You're optimizing for signaling competence rather than actually being competent. Because if you a) have short timelines, and b) are [...]
The original text contained 3 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.
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First published:
November 23rd, 2025
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ey2kjkgvnxK3Bhman/stop-applying-and-get-to-work
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.