I’m making a general assumption stating most people who are involved with the “seeking employment” sub category are looking for their first job in the cannabis industry.
My question is, what kind of experience are cultivation facilities and dispensaries looking for? Professionally, I am a funeral director, but I for have been growing anywhere from 1-4 plants, hydroponically, for personal use and for my now ex mother in law’s MS symptoms since Massachusetts allowed us to do so legally and maybe before that. I know many people come from different professional backgrounds in this field, but to start as an assistant grower, head grower, bud tender, dispensary manager, ETC…what do employers want to see on a resume?
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For us at SKöRD, pretty much everyone starts out in the processing area trimming flowers. People that show initiative and self motivation can move up to other tasks including working in the grow. It’s much easier to train someone to do it the way we want it done rather than deal with someone who thinks they already know everything or that their way is better. Get your foot in the door and impress the person you work for if you really want to be in the industry. There are no shortcuts and growing 1-4 plants is a completely different world than commercial cultivation. I have seen too many “master growers” fail miserably because they had no concept of scaling to commercial numbers. this is a new industry and one where the less you know is probably much more beneficial.
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I agree with the other post. Most people are started off in the trimming or other labor positions. Those who are team players and show great work bv ethic etc… get moved to diff positions. But even entry level positions can be tough to get because of the vast majority of applicants. But honestly our industry is full of millennials that want to be industry but when they find out it is real work like any other job, it’s easy to separate the doers from the dreamers.
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Hey there! I’ll tackle this question, but you may have to humor me a little bit…
Sounds like you come from an interesting background. I bet you put the "FUN" in “funeral” 
I always start new staff in propagation. I have them jam out many clones and learn the process from the early stages of the life of the plant. I want them to be able to manage a lot of plants and keep them alive at a critical stage of growth. I also have them transplant a LOT of plants. This demonstrates the monotony of the work and the true labor involved with commercial cultivation.
If the greenhorn greenthumb can manage to maintain a 90% thrive rate, they will move from propagation to apprentice growing with another trained member of our staff. They will help with other aspects of the growing process starting with vegetation and ultimately they learn to flower and process harvests. If the grower demonstrates proficiency, they will be allowed to practice on their own room. We monitor the progress closely so the grower learns proper technique in line with our cultivation practices. The goal for these growers it that they too can train a new grower. It is at this point the grower has come full-circle. Like the plants we grow, everything we do is cyclical in nature.
Question: How do you master a task?
Answer: Teach it.
OK, I’ve got to get one more in, @Brillo9703: Are you ready to get out of a “dying” business and into a “growing” business???
OK I’ll stop with the grim humor now. Thanks for a great question, @Brillo9703!
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Hahah death humor, I’ll be the last to let you down. I would love to transition out of my current field. I have been in the death industry for 14 years (employed at 3 different locations over those 14 years)and as a 31 year old I feel like I gave the deathcare industry it’s pound of flesh. I am definitely looking for a chance to transition into the cannabis industry. Waiting patiently for something local to me to spring up. I’m currently living in the Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts. Most new and upcoming growing locations are a good hour or two away from me and currently I am unable to relocate. My current city has bolstered some interest but, as many know, bureaucracy tends to slow things up. Fingers crossed for something soon.
I absolutely despise being lumped into the “lazy, entitled, millennial” generation. I can’t think of many people who work 60 hours a week without making any overtime because that’s what the field demands. 2am removals, 4am embalmings, meeting the family of a deceased love one at 8am funeral at 11 calling hours set up at 2 work calling hours till 8. Rinse lather repeat. Gets draining.
But I digress, there are many different ways to grow cannabis as there are many different ways to embalm. Knowing only one way is a great way to be left behind and no one knows it all.
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My grandfather owned and directed a funeral home for the majority of his life. I remember visiting it when I went there for Christmas as a child.
My father was the driver as a teen. However, being in a small one-horse town, he transported to many of his friends and thusly decided to get out of the family business…thankfully. haha!
Anyways, I get where you’re coming from and why you want to change paths. You did your duty to ease the process, thank you for your dedication to that unsung service. I think you’re making the right choice with cannabis.
Best of luck in your hunt friend! GNet is a great place to be!
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Haha, “pound of flesh”! That’s rich! What school did you attend to attain your mortuary license?
I understand slower growth of the cannabis industry in smaller communities; unfortunately, fear and sometimes outright propagandized lies further hinder that growth. For many years the cannabis industry has dealt with negative reputation that sometimes persists into today. This translates to fear for a lot of people. And we all know how strong communication can be in smaller towns. Everybody talks. In my experience, large municipalities often embrace new cannabis legislation while rural communities take a “wait and see” approach…or they preemptively ban the plant outright.
I agree with you that millennials have received an unfair stereotype of laziness and entitlement. I can point those traits out in every generation! It’s people like you who will break those unfair labels. I remember a time when “stoners” received similar labels…and if you used any cannabis, you were automatically categorized as a “stoner”. Hey, if we can fix that PR problem with cannabis and stoners, maybe we can fix the image problems facing millenials! 
Death is a draining business, and the corporatization of the funeral industry has many similar parallels to the cannabis industry: just as the funeral “home” has given way to larger corporations buying up and shutting down funeral homes in favor of larger conglomerated mortuary operations, the smaller mom and pop grow op has a difficult time keeping up with the combination of a plummeting cannabis market and the production capabilities of industrialized cannabis. Big canna is here. I like your analogy: there are as many ways to grow as there are to embalm…I prefer coco and LED’s and going through the femoral.
Cheers!
I am an 07 graduate of the, now defunct, New England Institute at Mount Ida college, it was located in Newton. I leaned to embalm using the femoral and axillary moved to the carotid with direct drainage about 7 years ago. Much smoother, better results!
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What a coincidence: I take my extracted concentrates in a similar process: straight through my capillaries right into my pulmonary artery!
I could do this canna/death dance for days, my friend. Great to have you here for sure!