Good morning from Saint John NB, @ the World Cannabis Congress!

CPG Executive Search has been recruiting in the Cannabis space for the past 20+ months already - so what are we seeing?

From Powell River B.C. to Atholville New Brunswick, the cannabis industry is super-charging the Canadian economy - and doing so in many remote regions as well as the more traditional corporate centres.

• 109 Licensed Producers with Health Canada and counting. How will we be different?

With hundreds more in the application queue with Health Canada - the mergers and acquisitions have already been a taking place almost weekly, while the middle of pack are busy strategizing on finding their edge & differentiator. How can they be more then just a grower of flower? How will they compete once supply catches up with demand? Do we have the right leadership team in place? Who's going to take us across the finish line and get it done for us in terms of R&D, Production, Marketing, and Sales? So many unknowns - I admire the risk tolerance of these entrepreneurs from all walks of life who have chosen to be part of this pioneering effort in Canada.

• 59 LP's or just over half of those are in Ontario alone. Where to locate / attract talent?

The 401 corridor is living up to it's reputation as being the heart of commerce in Canada as many LP's have located within 20-30 min off the 401 from Windsor to Montreal. This will give them a labour and talent advantage with lots of qualified talent and industry cross-over close by. However Quebec and other provinces like New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are making a strong case for many with lower energy input costs and large government incentives being offered. British Columbia, Alberta and the Praires will also be powerhouses and have already led as far as innovation, incubation, and investment outlay go, spreading the wealth from west to east.

• Quality Assurance & Regulatory Expertise - working with Health Canada.

This was the first wave of hiring - that will likely continue for another 18-24 months as there are still hundreds of applicants in the queue with Health Canada applying for cultivation and sales licenses. Each one of these cultivators needs a designated QAP - Quality Assurance person from day 1. Ideal qualifications are Manager level experience (4-8 yrs) including people supervision, from a GMP manufacturing regulated industry, likely food manufacturing, pharmaceutical or natural health products, holding a bachelors degree in the sciences. The leaders in the field must push and carry Health Canada along with them as they innovate and propose new ideas, product concepts, delivery methods and approaches, sitting back and waiting is not going to be the winning formula. Many of these people have been 'picked' over and are getting more difficult and more expensive to secure:) We have successfully found and placed over 25 QAPs across the country!

• Major transfer of talent from Alcoholic Beverage, Food & CPG companies into Cannabis.

As the preparation race for the Consumer (legal recreational) market continues Sales and Marketing teams who understand how the provinces and territories work from a distribution and policy perspective are crucial. Branding and consumer marketing will take some 'out of the box' thinking and creativity. We've seen more and more people making the switch into Cannabis with a renewed level of energy and excitement for this once in a lifetime opportunity.

• Talent shortages and surpluses? Sales & Marketing vs. Technical expertise.

We're seeing there is no shortage of interest level and applicants in the Sales & Marketing functions; however the challenge becomes the classic 'fit' factor. Can they transfer from a multi-national / tier 1 CPG environment to an 'all hands on deck' start-up with no structure and limited resources. Can they get granular, role up their sleeves? Go from a team of 7 to a team of 1? Some have already successfully done this and proven it - others will struggle to tread water.

As far as more Technical Positions, Chief Scientific Officers, Master Growers, Commercial Horticulture, R&D, QA and Regulatory backgrounds - the talent war is on and fierce. Many job seekers are feeling this high demand and asking for retainers, signing bonuses, high salaries and option / share options. If you haven't secured your talent for these positions yet - you may want to start your search at least one month but maybe even 2-3 months in advance; and you better define what your 'offer' is. Not just from monetary / compensation perspective, but what's your story? Passionate people who want to be apart of this industry want to be a part of the story they don't just want another job - which leads to my last point.

• Compensation packages, salaries, share options, your story and how it all ties together...Share the risk, share the reward.

As a job seeker you have to understand where these employers are coming from. Yes some have unbelievable valuations on the stock market and have successfully raised millions of dollars, but that doesn't mean their hiring strategy is to throw money around in he form of fat compensation packages with salaries equivalent to big pharma or CPG. This is about shared risk for shared reward, many Execs and Managers are being asked to take a lateral salary move (in some cases even a pay-cut) for higher variable income potential in the form of bonuses and stock options. This makes sense when you're pre-revenue or early revenue, and the only revenue streams at the moment are from the medical channels. I'm not preaching to take a pay-cut, and I understand everyone has worked extremely hard to get to their level and wants to maintain and increase their earning potential, however if you don't have the risk tolerance to make some sacrifice, or if you feel the business model and team trying to hire you may be lacking - maybe it's not the right move for you.

• Gaps in the recruitment model - finding creative win-win solutions.

A lot of this hiring is taking place through job postings on Indeed & LinkedIn, hard work, sweat equity by Human Resources, hiring managers, existing networks, and referrals; which is great - these methods all make up good recruitment practices - however the job posting, sorting, and screening route is the most labour intensive. I recently saw two Execs from Canopy speak at O'Cannabiz in Toronto - and they have 1000 open positions to fill! With 600-800 more on the horizon with the launch of retail around the corner...who's going to fill all these jobs?!

Similar to not wanting to always pay top salaries, Human Resources and recruitment budgets are limited. Most LP's are not going to budget a recruitment agency fee of 20-25%+ for every new hire...so where is the middle ground between posting a job and sorting through 200+ applicants and paying a large headhunting fee?

Much like marketing is doing, HR and Recruiters are going to have to get creative and think outside of the box to create win-win partnership strategies for high volume hiring. Can you outsource some of the screening & sourcing process? Can you offer a different fee structure that makes sense for both sides? The key will be to find a 3rd party recruitment agency you can trust, who will act as a true business partner, extension of your brand, and who understands your business and story - enabling them to bring you the best talent that 'fits' your culture - fast.

Recruiting for Cannabis is not the same as recruiting for P&G or PepsiCo, we understand this and so should job seekers and corporate HR and hiring managers. Not that due diligence and assessment practices should be compromised, but the balance of speed shifts and processes have to be sped up to win this race and come out the other side on top.