By Darren Johnson
Campus News
It’s like the technology boom of the 1990s: Suddenly the Internet hit big, and any people with tech skills quickly found themselves hired by startups and earning nice pay checks. The startups became big companies, and these founding employees became vested.
But now it’s an impending pot boom, and perhaps you have some related skills that can get you hired. In such a fast-growing industry, you can quickly climb the ladder.
With cannabis legalization just beginning in Massachusetts, and with other states in the Northeast, like New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, also on the verge of legalization, a wide array of jobs in the industry will suddenly become available. Are you ready?
I spoke to Max Simon, CEO of Ventura, California-based Green Flower, a leading cannabis education company, about opportunities in the industry. Green Flower is about to partner with a large number of colleges to provide industry training for interested students. They also have online certification courses.
CN: What kinds of jobs are emerging in the new cannabis industry?
Max Simon: What most people don’t understand is that in the cannabis sector, there’s a whole suite of different license types that connect to entirely different business models. The jobs range from everything to retail manager to compliance manager to inventory manager to the famous “bud tender,” which is the person that interacts with people on the front line.
And there’s a whole suite of management positions and worker positions that fall under the retail sector. Then there’s the cultivation sector, which is basically who’s growing all the weed. And that also has a full suite of different roles from cultivation manager to nutrients manager to the processing side; where once they actually grow the plant, they have to cut it down and dry it and prepare it for consumption.
Of course, on the other side, now hemp is legal. And so there’s this enormous hemp boom happening right now where people are able to actually legally grow pretty large hectares of hemp, which can be used for everything from consumable products to building materials to even textiles. And so the cultivation sector is really rich in opportunity; both for people that are employees, but also a ton of opportunity for entrepreneurs and people starting businesses.
And so manufacturing is when people are creating products; edible products, vape pens, tinctures and oils. There are formulators, manufacturer’s quality control managers, all the way through the line of project managers, customer service reps, sales – there’s a huge demand.
And then the warmest demand is for quality salespeople right now. That actually to me seems to be the single biggest opportunity, because the companies are in need of specialized, talented people. And there’s so much opportunity for people to expand those businesses. They need talented, qualified, knowledgeable salespeople to help build those brands.
There are enormous opportunities within every different sector, and what is required for people to take advantage of those is to become knowledgeable and skilled within those areas so that the company doesn’t have to start from scratch with you; but rather can bring you in, and you can start making an impact from day one.
CN: Legalization hasn’t happened yet in much of the Northeast, where our readership is, but there’s talk that it may be happening soon. This puts people interested in working in this industry in a state of limbo, waiting.
Max Simon: This is what I’ve seen after being in this space for five years; there’s so much evolution happening, and the laws are continuing to change and shift at pretty, almost mindblowing rates. And so even if, right this second, the laws in your local area are seeming to be more restrictive, that doesn’t mean that that’s not going to change in a very short amount of time. And that if you’re not prepared to take advantage of those opportunities, then you just miss them. And so I keep reminding people that they have to become prepared for this next chapter because whether it’s places like New York or places like New Jersey or places like Connecticut where maybe legalization has not happened in the fullest sense yet, there’s so much movement happening that it is expected to change very quickly. And so I always tell people, if you want to be involved in this industry, don’t get discouraged where things are today because it continues to change and flip so quickly that the people that are prepared for it, when that happens, are the ones that get the best jobs, start the best companies, or ultimately can take advantage of the best opportunities.
CN: So what should a student in a state that hasn’t fully legalized yet do if they want to move into this industry, once it’s approved?
Max Simon: There are two things that you can do. One is you have to become knowledgeable and skilled; that is the biggest issue that exists in the cannabis industry right now. For companies and employers, there is there’s no shortage of enthusiasm, right? There are lots of people that want to be involved with those companies, but there’s an enormous shortage of specialized skills and talent. And so if you think about it, from a company perspective, would you rather have somebody who knows nothing and you have to train from scratch? Or would you rather bring somebody in who already is well trained and skilled? And the answer is obviously the latter.
There is only a small amount of colleges doing some kind of training and education, and whether you want to do that in your local area, that’s great. Obviously that’s the reason why Green Flower exists. We have very comprehensive online certificate programs that are well-respected and well-regarded in the industry as being a critical source of training. And so companies like ours are filling that skills gap by providing this comprehensive knowledge and education. And that’s something that’s of crucial importance. I would call it a requirement if you want to be a part of this industry.
The second thing I would say is get to know those companies, find the companies that you’re interested in working for and start to get on their radar early, so that whether it’s they need you now or they need you next month or they need you in three months, you’re developing a relationship with the people that are building companies and acquiring licenses.
Because oftentimes what people don’t see is that they are one month away from, perhaps, getting $1 million, and now needing to expand very quickly; or they’re three months away from opening up a new location that you didn’t know about, and they’re going to be hiring, say, a hundred people. And so you have to start being prepared for those by developing relationships and getting on their radars as soon as possible.
Companies are raising 5, 10, 25, 50, 90 million dollars. And as a result are having to put that predominantly into personnel growth, because that’s what’s fueling the development of the industry. And so every time a state legalizes, investment follows; every time investment follows, company growth explodes. And what you’re seeing in places where it’s becoming legalized is the amount of job growth is far surpassing, exponentially surpassing, the amount of qualified people that are available to fill it based on their existing knowledge and skills.
CN: Most of our readers are currently enrolled in a college program. Some may be interested in entering the cannabis industry. How can they adapt their studies to make themselves hirable once legalization hits?
Max Simon: What’s most important for students is that they pick their sector because that sector will dictate the knowledge that’s needed. For example, if you’re a business person, you might want to go into the retail management side or the distribution management side or even the marketing and sales side. All of those skillsets translate into cannabis. You just need to learn the specialized details where there’s not a lot of crossover, like learning about the regulations or learning about the restrictions on marketing and branding or learning about the uniqueness of what happens in the cannabis industry. Being sure you speak the right language.
CN: So it seems that if one wants to get into the cannabis industry, he or she can’t simply be a marijuana aficionado. Serious planning is needed.
Max Simon: The biggest pain point that employers face is everybody underestimates how sophisticated and how much innovation and growth and regulation is taking place. And so you have this huge wave of people that are just like, “Hey, I love cannabis. Can I work there?”
It’s almost insulting, because the amount of sophistication and growth that these companies are experiencing are rivaling big agriculture or big medicine or big retail. And so you need to really have your A-game if you want to get involved in these things. The point is, you need to get the knowledge and training; this is so much more sophisticated and involved than people think it is. If you’re serious about about getting a job in this industry, you’ve got to get serious about it and show up in a way that those employers respect.
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