Buffalo Business First: Staffing Expert: Cannabis Companies Need To Be ‘Choosy’ When They’re Hiring

By Katie Anderson – Reporter, Buffalo Business First

Lauren Lewis of CannaWorkforce Solutions

“Western New York is not really attracting people at rapid rates, like you see in Nashville or Charlotte,” said Lauren Lewis, partner and co-founder of StaffBuffalo. “We’re going to have to start working a lot with local colleges to capture the college-age students to show them that there is opportunity here and get them to stay.”

“I think organizations are going to have to show that they’re focusing on indoor grow facilities and that it’s going to be a year-round market here,” Lewis said.

“To be in the cannabis industry from the ground up means you get to learn from the baseline as these companies start growing,” Lewis said. “It’s an opportunity for people to grow with the businesses and to be at the start of something huge in New York state.”

“You can’t just hire anyone who wants to get into the cannabis industry,” she said.

“You’re working with very regulated product and a lot of regulated procedures,” she said. “We talk a lot about security in the cannabis industry. When you’re talking about seed-to-sale, there are a lot of different touch points and security threats, so you want to make sure the people you have internally are reliable and trustworthy.”

“You want people who can wear different hats and help on different projects as needed,” Lewis said. “From a social equity standpoint, it’s smart for people to look at the legacy businesses for recruitment, because there’s a lot of knowledge and experience there.”

Read the full article here.