Looking for Work(ers) – Cannabis Business Times

The hiring process is not necessarily a simple, straightforward sequence of events. It can be difficult, time- consuming and potentially frustrating—but it can also generate rewarding connections and far-reaching successes for your team. It’s a critical part of the growth of any business, and you’ve got to get it right.

With American workers more interested than ever in moving among different industries, the emerging cannabis space is well positioned to attract unique talents. So, for businesses eager to expand their teams, where to begin?

Here, hiring experts lend helpful tips for navigating the ballooning workforce and for securing the right people for the right jobs at the right time. Missing the mark can be a painful lesson for a business, so it’s paramount to make the hiring process a productive one.

Tips from David Belsky, founder and CEO, FlowerHire

1. Keep an open mind to hiring employees from other industries amid “the Great Resignation.”

Sparked by the rapidly reshuffled economy at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, “the Great Resignation” saw an estimated 47 million American workers voluntarily quit their jobs in 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That trend may have slowed down a bit in 2022, but the effects still linger. What that means, in short, is that the supply of jobs is now outpacing demand; wages are rising, and workers themselves are in the driver’s seat for career-advancing opportunities. For the emerging cannabis industry, that means a new workforce is taking shape as people are more willing than ever to make the jump to cannabis.

“Here, you can come in, and if you’re a good employee, it will pay off,” Belsky says. He and his team have been watching the cannabis landscape for certain hiring trends and employment dynamics. Right now, for businesses looking to expand their staff in 2023, things are looking up.

Know that your next employee could very well come from non-cannabis retail or non-cannabis horticulture, or even some industry not tangentially related to cannabis at all. Automotive employees are finding their way to cannabis cultivation facilities. Food and beverage executives are tumbling into the extraction sector. And folks with strategic skill sets (like GMP compliance or, say, international export law) are landing C-suite jobs at a pivotal moment in the American cannabis space.

2. Be flexible about where and when employees will be working.

As a small follow-up to that tip, Belsky says that it’s helpful to embrace the idea of virtual headquarters. Many companies are turning their resources away from the costs of a brick-and-mortar office, allowing employees to fan out to their homes or to other remote-work options. This may be something for companies to consider and could be something to seize on when marketing new jobs.

And yet, many jobs in cannabis can only be done in person. Many companies also will still prefer to build out an actual office—with in-person interaction—and your team should not necessarily shy away from that aspiration. Good candidates will go where they are needed, and you can build flexibility into the job in other ways (summer hours or hybrid work environments, for example). That flexibility can also be seen as something that comes with time—something extended to more veteran staffers who’ve put in years with the company. Because of cannabis’s opportunities for upward mobility, a more flexible workspace can be presented as a bit of an employee-retention strategy.

3. Use your job search as a marketing opportunity.

Your job listings are a critical communications touchpoint for future employees (and, N.B., your consumers). Highlight your employment brand at every opportunity. The people who follow your brand most closely will be listening, even if they aren’t necessarily in the job market at that moment. You can do this by turning your top-performing employees into champions. Shine a public spotlight on them: Highlight their work in your own outbound marketing materials or, internally, lift them up with an employee-of-the-month program. Empower existing team members to refer new employees (and earn a small bonus if those newbies stick it out).

“There are a lot of restrictions on marketing cannabis products,” Belsky points out. “But marketing cannabis jobs?” Now there’s a major opportunity for your business.

4. Know which positions are most in-demand in the cultivation sector these days.

Hourly retail is bringing in plenty of new workers, but cultivation, pound for pound, remains the biggest force in cannabis job creation, Belsky says. This hasn’t changed much over the years. Because there won’t be interstate commerce in this industry anytime soon, each state market necessarily will issue new licenses for growers. That means jobs.

Trimmers and packagers are always needed, but Belsky says he’s seeing significant demand for more facility management-type positions: Indoor cultivation GMs who can oversee the post-harvest process, from plant to consumer-packaged good (CPG). This is not a simple task, and it’s one that calls for notable experience in the CPG space—think food and beverage.

5. Place a higher value on cannabis industry experience.

We may be moving into a more normalized era in the cannabis space, but this is still a relatively novel professional arena. Cannabis-specific skills are a major plus, even if those strategic non-cannabis skill sets are making their way into the hiring process. It helps when your prospective employees can bring a worldly perspective to the plant.

Furthermore, Belsky is noticing that it’s those workers with prior cannabis experience who end up earning higher pay.

“They’re getting raises. They have the playbook,” he says. “They don’t have to get trained on this industry.”

This is valuable. Companies can afford to set lower compensation rates for workers who are brand new to cannabis—for those workers who have yet to pay their own dues in the business. But once that cannabis industry experience is on the resume, that worker can command a higher pay.

Tips from Jacob Petersmark, vice president, The United Green

6. Train employees to help boost efficiency and retention.

“The cannabis industry is evolving,” Petersmark says. What that means is that cannabis companies are, in many cases, more similar to established CPG businesses than the one-man-show home-grow operation from the days of yore. Cannabis experience is important, but so, too, is more practical business or legal experience.

And still, training matters.

“The costs of letting someone go—or having them walk on you—are very high,” Petersmark says. Whether your new employee is coming from another cannabis business or from a national pet store, your team must set up proper training channels.

7. Relocation is not as common as it once was—establish a policy.

For years, people who wanted to get into the cannabis industry had to travel to Colorado or California—the legacy markets that jumpstarted the business in the U.S. Now, with more states coming online, it’s not exactly imperative to seek work out West.

That migration is now happening from West to East, with those experienced workers taking their talents to newer markets. While those legacy markets still remain a hotbed of talent and job growth, more and more prospective employees are finding a home in places like New York or Maryland—whether that’s their home state or a relocation.

Increasingly, it’s the former: Prospective employees can often find a place in the cannabis industry right down the street from their homes, cutting out the life-altering hassles of cross-country moves. With less need for relocation, companies are now able to walk back travel reimbursements for new workers.

Make this clear in the interview process, wherever your business lands, and highlight the homespun qualities of your operation to entice local workers.

8. The growth trajectory is an important part of the story.

Cannabis sells itself in many ways, but licensed businesses can also do a lot to proactively attract employees. “A good way to attract talent is to show how much growth the cannabis industry has had over the last two to three years,” Petersmark says. Following more than 50% year-over-year growth in the cannabis market these past two years, the U.S. industry is expected to hit $72 billion by the end of the decade, according to New Frontier Data.

This industry growth has led to “an influx of new openings and new career opportunities throughout the country,” he says.

Companies will experience restructuring and position changes, no doubt, but growth across the board is still on track. In other words, fewer workers are leaving cannabis than those who are coming into the industry.

Make sure to convey the story of the industry to interviewees who may be kicking the tires on the business.

9. Convey the risk of cannabis properly.

High risk, high reward, of course. This is still a federally illegal industry, so along with all the Panglossian projections in the industry, there’s still a fairly grim regulatory backdrop.

It’s true that you can build a terrific career in cannabis, but it’s one that will look and feel much different than in other industries, Petersmark says. When talking about the work, make sure to let prospective employees know this, too.

Tips from Kelsea Appelbaum, vice president of partnerships, Vangst

10. Hone your sales team.

With so much focus on internal operations, it can be easy to overlook external sales. But your business’s sales team is its lifeline to the broader marketplace. Invest heavily here.

“There are more brands than ever, more SKUs than ever, and more states establishing their cannabis markets,” Appelbaum says. “All of those new stores and brands need people to put their products and names in front of potential customers. The market is fragmented and crowded.”

Your sales team is responsible for helping to develop brand affinity among consumers and for getting your products in front of as many people as possible. Lessons can be learned from other industries, but cannabis is its own beast—and your sales team must know the industry in and out.

“Sales positions are also a great opportunity for somebody from another industry to move into cannabis if that’s something they’ve been considering,” she says. “There are so many verticals that match mainstream products now, that the transition can be nearly seamless. We’re talking beverages, food products and other consumer packaged goods. The transferable skills are already there. Ironically, though they are the most in-demand, sales positions can be tough to fill. Many cannabis businesses are looking for an account executive, for example, with an existing, robust book of business. Not always an easy task in an emerging industry like cannabis.”

11. Lead the way with good pay for workers.

Part of the Great Resignation was (and continues to be) a frank discussion about compensation in all industries. With inflation rising in the U.S. and elsewhere—and with workers feeling emboldened to leave their jobs if they feel it’s necessary—good pay matters. The cannabis industry has generally known this, but it’s incumbent on your business to keep up with local trends in hourly wages or salaries and to make that known to prospective employees.

This is especially true of those entry-level workers you may be trying to lure to your business now.

“Pay at these frontline positions isn’t seeing a big change—but we don’t see that as a negative thing,” Appelbaum says. “If anything, more mainstream retail and service-focused employers are catching up to the pay structure that budtenders and trimmers have long enjoyed—well above minimum wage. We believe that good-paying cannabis jobs entering a state or municipality creates competition in the labor market and other businesses are just beginning to figure that out.”

Same goes with the C-suite: Salaries aren’t skyrocketing, but cannabis businesses would do well to monitor broader economic trends when assessing pay.

“At the C-suite level, professionals have honed in on their careers throughout their tenure and generally won’t make a career move without advancing compensation-wise,” she says. “When professionals are at this level, they are focused on how they can continue growing within their career, which typically doesn’t lead to a compensation decrease. Overall, we don’t typically see a decline in C-Suite role compensation as these positions continue to be a top priority for our clients.”

Eric Sandy is digital editor for Cannabis Business Times.