Expert Advice on Cannabis Job Searching

For those job searchers out there interested in a career in the cannabis industry, its evident that cannabis job searching can be quite challenging. While the cannabis industry is experiencing rapid growth, individuals are not finding cannabis jobs as easily as one might expect. Looking at the marketplace as a whole, there are a number of reasons why cannabis industry hopefuls are having a tough time finding career opportunities with cannabis employers:

• Every cannabis related business entity is still a “start-up” with limited hiring resources.
• Cannabis cultivation jobs are heavily romanticized by American youths—there is an exorbitant influx of unqualified “master-growers” flooding job boards and postings.
• Unsatisfied people from the American workforce (such as the I.T. and legal sectors) are leaving cubicle jobs and flocking to the cannabis boom.
• Individuals are often unwilling to “step-down” a notch from established career personas

Changing Career Paths: Critical Thinking, Practicality, Persistence

If someone is serious about changing career paths and entering the cannabis business, here are a few helpful pointers for cannabis job searching:

• Think critically about how you can transfer your previous education and work history into a novel job platform in the cannabis industry. This effort should be reflected in a resume written specifically for the cannabis industry.
• Be realistic, humble, and practical. Hopeful candidates might have to take entry level cannabis jobs in order to break into the industry and gain some applicable experience.
• Persistence is everything, do all you can to market yourself. This notion includes utilizing job boards and cannabis conferences, as well as emailing/calling cannabis companies.

Growing Career Sectors: Sales, Technology, and Compliance 

For those engaged in cannabis job searching , qualified sales, technology, and compliance candidates are in high demand. There are a few reasons for this:

• Every business entity is profit driven—it is up to the sales force to generate revenue for businesses. Furthermore, sales positions are not as “glamorous” as cultivation or marketing jobs—making salespeople a hot commodity.
• State mandated computerized tracking systems for cultivation centers and dispensaries are in place in most legal states. Technology minded individuals can put their skill-sets to use in markets such as California that will be implementing this tracking technology on a massive scale.
• Compliance is one of the most important factors in successful cannabis business operations. Therefore, studying up on career paths in cannabis compliance is a good idea.

This article originally appeared in the June / July 2017 Edition of HydroLife Magazine.