I have a hypothesis, which is that a number of those people found somewhere else to spend their hours in the meantime (Possibly becoming valuable volunteers at other locations) and simply forgot to inform Givewell.
As an example of how this might work, I’ll imagine a scenario where I apply to do something at 125 organizations.
I hear back from 25 of them.
I respond to 5 interviews or tests.
An organization and I eventually select 1 final place to spend my time at.
This would be a circumstance where there is only one organization which thinks “Ah, a valuable worker.” out of 125 organizations who saw my application. It leaves also leaves a number of loose ends where people can drop off.
Although, as evidence against this hypothesis, it seems a bit odd that not one person Givewell tracked had a response along the lines of “Thank you for your interest, but I have found another opportunity elsewhere.” I mean, if my hypothesis happened to be the case, it seems like I should expect at least a one person to have done this out of the 27 who applied but did not end up doing valuable work.
I can’t test the hypothesis myself, but Givewell could always send out a followup survey if they wanted to test the idea.
I have a hypothesis, which is that a number of those people found somewhere else to spend their hours in the meantime (Possibly becoming valuable volunteers at other locations) and simply forgot to inform Givewell.
As an example of how this might work, I’ll imagine a scenario where I apply to do something at 125 organizations. I hear back from 25 of them. I respond to 5 interviews or tests. An organization and I eventually select 1 final place to spend my time at.
This would be a circumstance where there is only one organization which thinks “Ah, a valuable worker.” out of 125 organizations who saw my application. It leaves also leaves a number of loose ends where people can drop off.
Although, as evidence against this hypothesis, it seems a bit odd that not one person Givewell tracked had a response along the lines of “Thank you for your interest, but I have found another opportunity elsewhere.” I mean, if my hypothesis happened to be the case, it seems like I should expect at least a one person to have done this out of the 27 who applied but did not end up doing valuable work.
I can’t test the hypothesis myself, but Givewell could always send out a followup survey if they wanted to test the idea.