Curious about our employment processes, experiences and more? Here are some questions we typically receive.
WHAT’S AN INFORMAL MEET & GREET
We provide a zoom webinar style offering where folks can join us to hear a moderated conversation with our current team. Through informal conversation, you will learn more about our organization and how we roll. You’ll hear about why this work matters to us and where we imagine this year will take our team. We’ll provide folks with an opportunity to ask questions about our work culture, style, and any current employment opportunities. If you’d like to apply but are wondering about the people you’d be working closely with – this is a great opportunity to suss us out and to see if you could imagine spending a lot of time with us. Participation is optional and confidential.
WHAT’S A SEASONAL APPROACH TO WORK?
We strive to be in alignment with the principles of Abundance, Reciprocity, Accountability and Curiosity and use them to guide our decision making and movement toward a shared future. These principles are naturally aligned with our seasonal pathway approach to governance and operations where we steward our work, relationships and accountabilities based on the spirit of each season – Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.
We embody the wisdom of a seasonal approach because it enables wellbeing, spaciousness and an orientation toward learning. It allows us to aspire toward a shared leadership atmosphere for our board, staff, partners and members.
4 DAY WORK WEEK
In 2023, The Circle implemented a 4DWW as a commitment to our team’s wholeness. Extending our weekends is a resistance to a culture of urgency – one of the primary characteristics of white supremacy – and enables our team to fulfill the many responsibilities we hold in the world.
For The Circle, implementing a 4DWW doesn’t come with a salary reduction, or longer, “condensed”, work days. Our team makes the same annual income and works a reduced weekly schedule. Period.
What our team has shared demonstrates that we are living into our principles of abundance, reciprocity, accountability and curiosity. We’ve heard that the 4DWW, “allows us to feel human.” It’s allowed time for rest and rejuvenation, and deep connection to family, community, culture and land. As an Indigenous-led organization, these are the values that we centre. Since shifting to a 4DWW schedule, the team has shared feelings of: encouragement and growth, groundedness and connection, spaciousness and joy. This is the kind of workplace culture we want to nourish.
WORK FROM HOME
The Circle is aware that working from home brings both opportunities and added complexities in terms of navigating work life balance, use of space, and a lot of personal discipline. The Circle has some limited access to shared office spaces with partner organizations in Toronto and Vancouver. If a staff member identifies that a home office space is not available to meet their needs, The Circle will endeavour to accommodate them to work from a physical office space in their local area if possible.
We also provide a generous WFH stipend to ensure that staff have a suitable work space in their home – including a good ergonomic set up to support body well-being – and supplies required to do their work, including hardware and software provided by the organization.
SOME POSSIBLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Here is a sample of the questions we’re likely to ask during first interviews. We share them here to honour the value of doing deeper thinking to respond more fully to questions like these:
- Share a story about your community, who are they, where do they reside and who else calls you kin
- Share a story how you activate a cultural value that relates to accountability, collaboration or sustaining relationships across cultural difference
- What are the practices that keep you energized, nourished and connected?
FIRST 90 DAYS
The first 90 days at The Circle will be a lovely ride – a time for connecting with team members, getting oriented to our systems and developing your pathway for systems integration and implementation using tools like Asana, Salesforce and GSuite. Your first week will be an orientation to our existing systems and setting up your email, doing some internal set up and getting your home office ready. Week 2 will consist of meeting team members, learning about the various existing projects and beginning to practice at a new pace, and continue orienting to the organization. This role will also learn and implement in real time the processes involved in our membership renewal and engagement at the start of a new year. Weeks 3 and 4 we’ll carry on with some team building and work plan development for the coming year.
This is just a small taste of the variety of work, expectations and opportunities this role will encompass in the first 90 days among other duties. While we don’t expect perfection or encourage a culture of overwhelm, we do bring focus, intention and energy to moving through our days together with high trust and value on following through while honouring family, community and cultural responsibilities.
STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?
Join us at our Meet + Greets!
As well you can learn more about our work by reviewing these:
