Effective Careers
South Asia
We help professionals in India and South Asia move into high-impact work, with tailored advice from mentors and application support.
Express interest →
You have the skills. What is harder to find is a clear view of your options and someone to talk your plans through with.
Experienced professionals
- 3 to 10 years of experience in a field such as product, law, data science, government technology, development economics, public health, or policy analysis.
- Skills that would transfer to high-impact work.
- Little exposure so far to these roles, or to how people move into them.
Exceptional early-career talent
- 0 to 3 years out of one of India's top technical, policy, or law institutions.
- Making your first career choices.
- Open to working on hard problems.
- 01
Apply
You fill in a short form about your current work and what you are unsure about.
- 02
Talk
You have a 60 to 90 minute conversation with an advisor who knows the field. You cover your goals, where you would fit, and what you would need to get there.
- 03
Plan
You leave with a written action plan and a set of resources. Where it helps, we introduce you to people in the field.
- 04
Follow through
We check in with you at 3, 6, and 12 months to see how your plans are going. You can come back to us at any point as your plans change.
The program covers three cause areas. We advise on the areas we know well, and we do not push you toward one path.
Global health & wellbeing
Work on health, nutrition, air quality, or poverty, often at organisations in India that run these programs.
AI for social good
Work that uses advanced AI for development goals. This area is growing fast and has few people from South Asia in it.
AI safety & governance
Policy, evaluation, and research roles in India and abroad. This is the area SAFL itself works in.
career conversations since 2024 with professionals from India and South Asia. Most came to us through referrals from 80,000 Hours or at EAGx India and EAGx Singapore. ECSA turns these conversations into a structured program.
“I’d put about 90% of my move into AI safety work down to SAFL’s mentorship and field exposure. Those conversations helped me see where my skills met the government’s Safe and Trusted AI agenda.”
Want to talk through your plans?
Fill in a short form about yourself. We will contact you when advising slots open.
Express interest →If you work at a high-impact organisation, you can advise our candidates or hire from the people we have advised. Fill in the same form and tell us which you are interested in.
Mentor or partner with us →