Good Food Jobs is a job search tool designed to link people looking for meaningful food work with the businesses that need their energy, enthusiasm, and intellect. We post opportunities with farmers and food artisans, policy makers and purveyors, retailers and restaurateurs, economists, ecologists, and more.
GFJ on INSTAGRAM
That's right, we're on Instagram. You didn't know? Follow along to see what we're up to when we're not staring at our computer screen. After all, Good Food Jobs came from a place of loving good food, and the cooking, gardening, preserving, eating, and DIY projects that come along with it. Here's what we've been up to:
  
WEB DEVELOPMENTS
Our job search engine is a work in progress. Check out these and other web developments on goodfoodjobs.com :
We're still working on some changes in our job search refining tools. This week, we brought back the popular 'search by region' function. Check it out.
Do you have a recommendation? Constructive criticism? Or have you noticed a glitch? Let us know. And stay tuned for more updates. We're always scheming.
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Last week, we addressed an issue of ever-increasing importance: unpaid labor. There are many intricacies to our stance, and as the past few weeks of newsletters have noted, the territory we are inhabiting is not clearly black and white. But life happens in the grey areas. As much as we'd love for everything be obvious and absolute, we know that the reality of life is often quite complicated.
This has us constantly thinking about our role at Good Food Jobs. Our efforts have always been about transparency, education, and opportunity. We hope to continually build tools and resources that individuals and organizations can use to be more effective at their own work. Yes, the control freaks in us would love to build a one-size-fits-all solution. But the culture and community and food system we believe in is diverse, intricate, and varied. So we take small steps at a time, and bite off only what we can chew. We hope to empower everyone to face the unique challenges ahead of them.
We've had a lot of response from users who are delighted by our new stance on unpaid labor. REFRESHER: we are no longer posting unpaid internships that offer no compensation. This does not mean that all positions must pay in salary or wages, but they MUST include some sort of tangible good, service, or monetary value such as room and board, barter for products or classes, or college credit. Our goal is to encourage more employers to think about the ways that they can provide mutually beneficial and sustainable employment opportunities.
This week, we'd like to address the other side of the equation: Employee Accountability. While there are so many opportunities to be exploited, it can become very easy to play the role of victim. The fact is, we have the power as individuals to ensure that we are not taken for granted.
So how do we do this? By taking back the control. We advise every employee, no matter what your career goals, to approach your work like an entrepreneur. It's easy to wait for things to happen to / for us, to complain when things don't go our way, or to feel hopeless when seemingly 'stuck' in a less than desirable situation. But each one of us has the power and energy to carve our own path. If you are waiting for permission to do so, we are granting it to you right now.
Our Words of Wisdom post this week (in the left sidebar, and on our website) is Act Without Expectation. What do we mean by this? Happiness, fulfillment, and satisfaction cannot come from the outside - they must come from within. When we hand over total control and responsibility to our employers, we are also leaving our precious path in someone else's hands. Just as we take responsibility for the work that we do, we must also enforce the things that we value, and choose carefully the opportunities that forward our own goals.
In essence, no matter where or for whom you are working, or what you are doing, ask yourself if you are doing it for someone else, or for yourself.
That means that sometimes you will make the extra effort to spend your day off volunteering (because it's going to connect you with an organization that interests you, or affords you the opportunity to learn a skill that you would have otherwise paid to learn), or you might save up money at your fill-in-the-blank lucrative job for the next 6 months so that you can commit to a 6-month internship in a field that you love. It also means that you can be involved in a job or internship and realize that the work and compensation are no longer worth your time and energy, and you can make the decision to leave. Each of these decisions is most worthwhile when you are steering the ship.
We understand that common culture does not always support these ideas, and in order to do something different it becomes infinitely harder just by the sheer fact that other folks don't understand, advocate, or support the same ethos. But we do. And the people in the GFJ community do. We are always here to help brainstorm ideas, talk through career path strategy, or lend an extra ear to hear out your challenges.
Let's all be mindful in the way we move forward, together.
Cheers,
Taylor & Dorothy
Co-Founders, Good Food Jobs
the GASTRO.GNOMES BLOG
Ben Barkan
Owner
Home Harvest
Urban agriculture was one of the earliest inspirations and passions that helped to steer Dorothy from a career in architecture and design to a career in food. We never cease to be excited about the establishment of another resource for growing food (and thereby restoring the planet) no matter how small the plot. Ben's company, HomeHarvest designs, builds and maintains high-yielding and beautiful edible gardens in and around Boston. As usual, we're jealous of his neighbors, and anyone else who has the opportunity to benefit from his skills. Read More
GOOD FOOD JOB HIGHLIGHTS
and over 1,100 other active jobs, too . . . see the full website for the latest.
BREAD BAKER
She Wolf Bakery
Long Island City, NY
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Berkeley Student Food Collective
Berkeley, CA
FARMER CARPENTER
Sweet Stem Farm
Lititz, PA
see more good food jobs at goodfoodjobs.com
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