Open Philanthropy’s “Day in the Life” series showcases the wide-ranging work of our staff, spotlighting individual team members as they navigate a typical workday. We hope these posts provide an inside look into what working at Open Phil is really like. If you’re interested in joining our team, we encourage you to check out our open roles.
Dee Kathuria is a Recruiter at Open Philanthropy, where she specializes in round management: the end-to-end process that includes everything from initial discussions with hiring managers to making a successful hire. Dee holds a BEng in Information Technology from Visvesvaraya Technological University. Previously, she was the Outreach and Communications Director at Effective Thesis, a nonprofit that helps students select impactful thesis topics, and served as a marketing advisor at the University of Southern California. Fun fact: Dee is also a DJ!
Day in the Life
I start each day with a 15-30 minute planning session, which helps me organize my tasks and set priorities for the day. Today’s top task is drafting a “post-mortem” reflection on the recent Business Immigration round I managed. One highlight is a new suite of documents I put together to help candidates learn more about Open Philanthropy throughout the interview process, which will continue to come in handy for future rounds. Carving out time to reflect allows me to celebrate what I did well and pinpoint areas for growth, an essential part of how I practice continuous improvement.
Next, I dive into my email and Slack messages. Communication is a key part of my role, whether I’m responding to active candidates, updating hiring managers, or collaborating with fellow recruiters. Today, I’m revising interview templates for an upcoming round. It’s also my turn to monitor our catch-all jobs@openphilanthropy.org inbox. At Open Phil, almost every operations team has a general inquiry email, where both external and internal parties can reach out for support. One of our goals is to ensure that genuine questions receive thoughtful answers.
Manning the recruiting inbox often involves addressing time-sensitive candidate queries and directing prospective candidates to our Expression of Interest form, a rolling application for folks who want to work at Open Phil but don’t see an open role that fits their skills. Our Expression of Interest repository is one of the first places we source candidates after a new role opens, so I’m always excited to see new submissions come in.
Given that I’m based in India, midday is a good time to plug into focus work before my colleagues in the Americas log on. When I first joined Open Phil last October, I managed just one recruitment round with a lot of support. Now, I typically manage 2-3 rounds simultaneously, each at different stages — some of my colleagues focus on round management more heavily, and handle even more. Today, I’m reviewing applications for our Grants Associate role, which has seen an unprecedented level of interest — we’ve received 700 applications in just three weeks!
As the day progresses, I prepare a comprehensive write-up about a promising candidate in the later stages of our Global Aid Policy round. This involves consolidating application data, work test results, and other relevant information into a single document for the hiring manager and skip-level manager to review. As recruiters, we play a crucial role in creating a clear picture of the candidate and articulating our current view on them to help hiring managers make informed decisions.
To close out my day, I tackle special projects aimed at refining our recruiting processes. I dedicate 30% of my time to special projects, which is a relatively large portion compared to other recruiters at Open Phil. I’m drawn to projects that improve workflows, likely due to my engineering background, so my manager and I worked together to craft a portfolio that leverages my strengths. I love that Open Phil nurtures this passion — I’m encouraged to take ownership of projects that allow me to use my interdisciplinary skillset. Today, I’m developing an automation to streamline information sharing. Instead of manually sending recruiting updates to teams we work closely with, the automation fills out the relevant Google Sheet and shares it in the necessary Slack channels with just one click.
During my time at Open Phil, I’ve been moved by the thoughtfulness that permeates everything we do. We care deeply about even the tiniest details — in team meetings, a minor question can spark a 10-minute discussion. Everyone’s input is valued, and each recruiter is willing to pinch-hit when help is needed. If one of us is overloaded, we can post in our group chat, and another team member will happily cover an interview (a favor that’s typically rewarded with a custom meme, of course). I’d share a few here, but they’d likely be nonsensical to outside parties — a testament to how well my team has gotten to know each other in the course of fulfilling our mission to make the best hires possible.
If you’re passionate about using your skills to do good, come work with me! We’re hiring for several open roles, including more recruiters to help grow Open Phil (deadline 9/8/24).