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ACCOUNTABILITY...
requires vulnerability, a poignant reminder from Brené Brown this week. And vulnerability, we have noticed, can lead quickly and directly into fear. My favorite acronym for fear comes from a relationships and child-rearing resource by Dr. Laura Markham: Future Events Appearing Real. This helps me to return to the moment and consider how the decisions I make now will affect the future I want, rather than the one I am afraid of.
As we've been thinking about how to hold ourselves accountable to the ethos of anti-racism as a company, we've slowed down our daily processes. When we slow down, we notice things. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the possibilities for how we can create and enact change, but we consider that a good problem to have. Today, we want to talk about just one small thing we've noticed, and think about the big ideas and questions that might stem from it.
One thing we've noticed in a new way this week is: Job Requirements. Yes, that ubiquitous section of a job post that, whether you're an employer or an applicant, you might be equally likely to feel neutral or nervous about. From an employer's standpoint, how to craft a list of traits that will help you to find an outstanding team member? For the applicant, how to be sure that your individual qualities will stand out among the bullet points?
In the past, we've pointed out that Job Requirements are best separated into two categories: required and desired, a distinction that can welcome more applicants to your position, especially those who might not have applied if they didn't meet 100% of the items listed.
We've also noticed how many employers ask for either a clean driving record or the ability to pass a background check. We find ourselves wondering, when are those necessary to perform a job well, and when are they limiting the applicant pool unnecessarily?
An article from Worktable on Equal Employment Opportunity statements points out how impactful the decisions we make within a list of Job Requirements can be.
There is much to be vulnerable about in the process of hiring people and applying to jobs. It often feels that one party has an advantage over the other, but the truth is that, just as employers and applicants can both experience vulnerability, they both have to be accountable to one another.
We've seen and heard ways that trust has been broken in the workplace and through the hiring process, and we don't want to discount that - in fact we are always here to listen and learn if you want to share. But with unemployment soaring and disproportionately affecting Black Americans, now is the time to ask a radical question...how might we rethink Job Requirements?
As I read over job posts this week, I noticed the occasional listing that included statements about the atmosphere and ethos of a company, focused on growth and training potential, and asked for people to apply based on their passion and interests. This lent a human quality to the posts that struck home for me. I found myself thinking of the many stories of folks who succeeded by alternative methods of education or experience, people who were what you might call 'self-taught'. Those stories often make headlines and get passed on from person to person as a point of pride...yet while someone is in the process of taking an alternative path, they often face criticism and - you guessed it - fear.
It has us wondering...what is the value of funneling people through the same passageways to 'acceptable' credentials? When we write a job post, are we hiring from a place of openness and vulnerability, or fear and exclusivity?
If you have thoughts on this, or on other ways that GFJ can be more accountable to anti-racism, please reach out. In the meantime, we'll be anticipating an upcoming newsletter when the writer, photographer, and filmmaker, LeeAnn Chisolm Morrissette, will step up to the GFJ mic. We couldn't be more excited to hear what she has to say.
In food, justice, and food justice,
Tay + Dor
Co-Founders, Good Food Jobs
photo by Evan Stevens for GFJ Stories
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tidbits...
resources on anti-racism, environmentalism and food culture AKA stuff we're reading / listening to / watching / noticing / thinking about / captivated by this Tuesday . . .
"The story we tell ourselves about what the country is, shapes the world we make going forward." – Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., author of the forthcoming book, Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, excerpted in the New Yorker.
The deadline to apply for a scholarship from the Edna Lewis Foundation, dedicated to creating opportunities for African Americans in the fields of cooking, agriculture, food studies, and storytelling, is fast approaching.
If you aren't already acquainted with Brené Brown's work, her latest podcast features the actor and activist Laverne Cox in a discussion about her new documentary project, Disclosure, high on our list of what to watch next.
Afros + Knives is a podcast featuring interviews with Black women who are leading, innovating, and disrupting the food, wine, and hospitality industries.
“Black Lives Matter, not just Black deaths.” – Frankie Reddin for Bazaar Magazine reminds us to engage with all kinds of Black literature, beyond that which focuses directly on racism.
From Nell Painter, author of The History of White People, a personal memory that touches the history of Black Cowboys in America.
got a tidbit? drop it here for us and we'll share it in next week's newsletter.
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