A new jobs site has emerged called Vegan Jobs Ireland aimed at helping job seekers find jobs that are in keeping with their values.
With the speedy growth of veganism, an increasing number of companies are quickly adapting to these new consumers’ choices by placing their new vegan products on the market.
A community of vegan companies is on the rise, ranging from restaurants and cafes to services such as beauty and make-up salons, tattoo shops, clothing stores, and many others.
“I believe that supporting small business is a way to get more open positions, helping job seekers to discover new opportunities”
Most of these companies are looking for a candidate who also matches with their ethical and compassionate lifestyle and Vegan Jobs Ireland, the brainchild of creative designer Wagner Rosati, helps them to connect with vegan job seekers.
“Vegan Jobs Ireland aims to support not only the vegan community, but people willing to change their life, helping them to find a job that is in keeping with your values, that can positively impact peoples’ lives, but also animals, the environment, and that can help build a healthier, more compassionate society,” said founder Wagner Rosati.
A vision for what vegans need
Ireland is ranked 10th worldwide in list of countries where veganism is most popular. A recent Wellwoman Vegan study found nearly half of Irish people said they would go vegan for environmental and ethical reasons and 37pc would change to a vegan diet permanently.
After realizing that there are a huge interest and demand for the workplace which shares vegan values, Wagner set the Vegan Jobs Ireland Facebook page in 2018.
It didn’t take long and the page was noticed by a high number of people looking for work opportunities within the vegan community with the companies posting available positions.
An increasing interest prompted Wagner to create a website in order to offer this opportunity to a wider group of people who care about animal welfare and the environment.
“The aim of Vegan Jobs Ireland is to help a job seeker to find a position, which not only positively impacts their life, but also the lives of the animals and the environment which builds a healthier and more compassionate society.
“This is a free job board and news website based in the Irish market. Vegan Jobs Ireland helps employers to connect with vegan job seekers.
Wagner said that while Vegan Jobs Ireland is at an early stage, it already has monthly pageviews of more than 5,000 users while the social media following on Facebook and Instagram is growing every day.
“As a creative designer with over 15 years of experience, I thought it was about time to put my ideas to use, using my skills to create something that motivates me, a cause that makes sense for me and being able to pay my bills.”
Goals, values and vision
Rosati’s views on the start-up ecosystem in Ireland are positive. “It seems to be very supportive, not only from the government, but from people, looking for a positive environment when you have a great idea.”
He said that he is not planning to raise a funding round to grow the site, instead preferring to find a business partner to help grow the business.
To keep the business on track he uses popular cloud tools like Trello and Microsoft Teams.
His advice to fellow founders: “Don’t let people change the course of your goals.
“Don’t expect quick results, watch out who to trust, be patient, be excited about your project all the time.”
Build it and they will yum
An increasing interest prompted Wagner to create a website in order to offer this opportunity to a wider group of people who care about animal welfare and the environment.
“I wanted to use my skills as a web designer and do something to support the community in Ireland”, Rosati explained.
Unlike other online job boards available, Vegan Jobs Ireland offers all the services free of charge to both job seekers and businesses. A new interview section has been recently added to Vegan Jobs Ireland which brings the local vegan businesses closer to the community, explaining how the business started and how they are dealing with the pandemic situation.
“This was a very good opportunity to let people know about the stories of the companies and informing people how these companies are attending the public and support these companies in this difficult time.
“As all of the services are provided free of charge, there is a way to support this fantastic idea via Buy me a coffee to maintain, improve, and create additional user-friendly features for the website. This includes covering monthly server and annual domain costs, mailing list server costs, printing flyers, outreach and events, other operational expenses, and the support of the development team who is continuously working on improving site functionality.”
Rosati is already planning for the Vegan Jobs Ireland website’s expansion displaying ads to promote vegan businesses and adding a journalist member to the team, writing articles about the vegan-related changes in the market.
Currently, there are just over 10 interviews with local vegan businesses, from new start-ups to the well-established ones.
“I believe that supporting small business is a way to get more open positions helping job seekers to discover new opportunities,” Rosati added.
Written by John Kennedy (john.kennedy3@boi.com)
Published: 30 September, 2020
