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THE ANTI-RESOLUTION . . .
may have become more popular, in this month of January, in certain treehouses and living rooms. But from what we can tell, the dominant system is still pushing productivity, improvement, goal-setting, and burnout (as if this year, it might look better on you?)
In our own corner of resistance to the status quo, we're thinking about something that Monique Melton illuminated for us more than a year ago: so much goes into identifying and setting goals for what we want... but it's a shock to realize how rarely, if ever, we ask ourselves why we want what we want.
Not because we shouldn't be setting goals, necessarily - they have their value and place in the cycle - but because there is so much to learn about ourselves and our communities when we spend time with the why.
This week, that subtle shift in thinking has a relationship to labor that we want to explore. At GFJ, we've always been curious about why we - the individual and the collective 'we' - do the work that we do. And one of the biggest gaps between the passion, the motivation (the 'why' behind the goal of doing meaningful work) and the way that work is valued, is in the hiring process. It's something we've known from the beginning, and we're still working it out.
Anjali Prasertong seemed to embody that gap beautifully, when she wrote in her end-of-year wrap-up (which you can access as a subscriber to Antiracist Dietitian):
"Looking for a job is terrible, 0/10 do not recommend. Looking for a job when you are a career changer with a professional degree that you do not actually need for the work you do, when you are terrified you will make the wrong choice again and be miserably working from home, and when you are trying to recapture the joy, connection and meaning you felt when you worked in-person, pre-pandemic for a nonprofit in a city you no longer live in…that target feels impossibly small."
As we tie together threads from looking at the How to Apply process over the last few months, we continually return to the ways that the hiring process itself communicates how an employer values labor in their organization, and how shifts in that process have the potential to improve hiring, for all parties involved, in a way that also results in better retention, conservation of resources (like time and money), and improved work environments.
When we put together our guide on How to Write a More Equitable Job Post (which it's very hard to believe was almost three years ago) we knew that starting from the beginning, the root of the hiring process, was worthwhile. And everything we've heard from folks in the many months since, has affirmed it: better communication, right from the beginning, leads to all those beautiful things we listed in the previous paragraph.
Which is certainly not to say that it is simple...but that it is meaningful, if you are willing to try. Here are a few key ways to do better, with many thanks to the amazing readers who shared insights with us:
1 / Unpaid labor starts with the application process
Many people reading this will be familiar with the experience of being asked, during a job application process, to do work that they would be paid to do if they were on the so-called clock. (Some of you have even reached out to alert us when this happened with GFJ posts - thank you and keep it coming!) A reader named Ellen elaborated on this point better than we could:
Does one supply the product - or redirect/refuse the request, however diplomatically, and jeopardize one's chances to progress in the process?
Ellen went further to share her template for redirecting such requests:
I point out what the request is actually doing ethically, and how one's time needs to be compensated; or else redirected to when/if I am hired and have enough information from the inside to respond meaningfully...and so have taken my chances.
As Ellen told us, the sad truth is, the results are mixed. Many employers are operating on what they can get away with, rather than what would communicate value to their future team member. She also made the point that many of the resources people share in the hiring process - including helpful contacts or brainstormed ideas - have value in themselves. Refusing to acknowledge that causes harm to a working relationship before it's begun.
2 / Transparency about compensation is not optional
As we wrote in this newsletter a (whopping) four years ago, compensation is a necessary and vital piece of information that communicates to the potential candidate whether it is even feasible for their individual livelihood to spend time applying to a job. As another reader, Veena, writes:
It is especially frustrating as an applicant when employers don't include compensation information. It continues the pattern of asking someone for free labor (I'm sure some employers don't consider applying for jobs labor. But, it requires time.) and starts a conversation on unequal ground around value (ie: if a job pays less than a certain amount I will not take the time to apply for it).
If you're wondering why this matters so much, Veena went on to say:
I am learning/beginning to assume that those employers don't/won't value me and my skills or will undervalue them, which equates to an automatic swipe right.
Perhaps most importantly, Veena left us with some powerful questions:
What is so scary about financial transparency for organizations? And, if it isn't fear what is it?
3 / Clarity on process can go one step further
Expectations are such an important part of communication. Even as people who share our homes with spouses and young children, we might venture to say that communicating expectations in the hiring process is the most vital of all. There are so many micro-second judgment calls that get made between whether to apply to a job, or whether to hire someone, so being clear about expectations has real room for impact.
We mentioned a recent example from Moon River Farms outlining the time investment required in applying to work with them. Our friend Mary shared another example from Give Directly, and although we're impressed with the detail and clarity, we also find that the more important takeaway - based on what we hear from so many folks, across industries, ages, and experiences - is that it's a six hour process...AKA a full workday...and so what might be truly radical is to offer payment for that time.
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As we turn slowly through the cycles of our days, we'll leave you with Susan Cain's words from The Quiet Life substack:
"...we all have our light sides and our shadow sides, and every day, many times a day, without realizing it, we make a choice of which side of our natures to nourish. And where we choose to direct our thoughts has the power to change our emotions and actions.
We know this from neuroscience, which has a fancy name for this phenomenon: “experience-dependent neuroplasticity.” That is – our daily experiences literally have the power to rewire our brains, and thus our behavior, and thus our lives, and thus our societies."
Thank you for turning slowly with us,
Tay + Dor
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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 truth is that we're seasonal, cyclical beings, and we should be living our lives around the rhythms of nature, relationships, our bodies, and actual collective needs." - Toi Smith on unshackling from the capitalist cadence.
A New Start, a virtual class for farmworkers from Not Our Farm, is open for applications through January 14.
"I eat for taste. I eat to remember. Food is a conduit to the past." - Crystal Wilkinson's Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts is available for pre-order.
How do we navigate these times? Desiree Adaway is offering a six month immersive and emergent collective learning experience, Pathways to Liberation. Learn more and register here.
"I also have deep concerns with the appeal of a consistent easy life and what this means for the labor of others and the work of liberation. I mean, let's be clear: someone is working hard in order to provide for a person a "soft and easy" life." - Shelby Stone-Steel on working hard and moving slowly.
From The Kitchen Shrink, how roasted vegetables offer an opportunity to keep tending wounds.
Education for Racial Equality is offering an Embodied Anti Racist Intensive for White Bodies, a practice that "focuses on developing culture personally and communally". Learn more and register here.
Writer, photographer, and accomplished walker, Craig Mod, offers a detailed outline of how to walk and talk, and we were moved by the generosity of this approach - both the walking itself, and the efforts to share it. Will you be doing a walk and talk in 2024?
View and share this free guide to How to Write a More Equitable Job Post, and stay tuned for new resources to deepen this work.
"Plenty has been written about the economic impact of the pandemic on the food industry, but not enough about its lingering effects on the bodies of people whose mission is to nourish us." Read the latest GFJ Story on the creator behind Anjali's Cup, with words by Nicole J. Caruth and photos by Christine Han.
got a tidbit? drop it here for us and we'll share it in next week's newsletter.
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