Join Our Team
Our team comes from within the Okanagan Valley, across Canada and all over the world — Mexico, Jamaica, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, Spain, Czech Republic, and more. Whether you are a local student looking for a summer job, visiting from another province, have a visa for a working holiday, or are looking to build a career in the cherry industry, we welcome your application to be a part of our team!
Because our harvest involves long, physically demanding work days, we strive to provide a safe and comfortable environment for our employees. From our camps and dormitories with plenty of amenities, to free transportation for weekly shopping and banking, we support the well-being of our staff.
A Family Legacy
The Geen Family
Our family has been growing cherries in the Okanagan Valley since 1904 — and Jealous Fruits Recruitment is continuing our family’s legacy. We have the passion and intimate knowledge of the area’s soils and climate that’s necessary to produce the finest possible cherries.
What To Expect
We offer competitive wages and comfortable facilities that include shaded camping areas for cherry pickers with space for tenting, trailers, or vans — whichever you prefer. We also provide common kitchen areas, hot showers and laundry facilities. Our company also hires many Temporary Foreign Workers. We participate in the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) with Mexico and Jamaica, as well as the Agricultural Stream Program for workers from Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, Jamaican and many other countires. As such, we provide dormitory accommodations to those staff. In addition, we have limited dormitory space available to those hired for supervisory positions in our packing facility and field operations - be sure to let us know your housing needs in your application.
Prospective employees should be aware that our operations are vulnerable to the weather. Our harvest timeline and picking days can change on short notice due to rain events and heat waves which may delay or speed up picking. We strive to keep our staff informed during these circumstances.
The Okanagan Valley is a semi-arid climate with average daytime highs of 25-35 degrees Celsius and night time lows of 10-15 degrees. Picking crews begin as early as 5am, when it is still quite cool, and finish between 12-2pm. This means pickers must come prepared for working in both the cooler mornings and the heat of the day. By mid July - we switch to harvest picking on nights. Starting around 11pm. It is easier on the cherries to be picked when it is cooler. We provide head lamps so that pickers have the ability to see and pick cherries at night.
Our packing facility is a refrigerated work environment (10-12 degrees Celsius; 0 degrees in cold storage), meaning staff should be prepared with warmer layers. Our packing facility runs on a ~12 hour shift beginning mid morning.
Our typical work schedule is one rest day in a 7-10 day period, however, the schedule will vary with crop maturity, weather and packing requirements. We seek to balance the demands of our harvest with the rest and recovery needs of our staff.
We are committed to providing a safe and respectful work environment by adhering to health and safety policies which are outlined in our employee handbook. Expect training and an orientation session to review our company policies and the specific requirements of your job role before your first shift.
Due to the fact that we are a Food Processing Plant and many of our workers live in Industrial Camps (Congregate Living) we require all of our workers to be double vaccinated. All Plant / Office employees and anyone living in shared company provided housing must provide proof of vaccination prior to confirming a start date with the Company. We have a very active Covid Safety Plan in place where we require masks in the offices and in all shared transportation. Our employees Health & Safety is our priority.