“This is a tool to let us stay engaged. So check it regularly [and] make sure that you are adding your events to the platform.”
Finding a job in the cannabis industry can be difficult—especially the right job. Meanwhile, employers often lament how hard it is to find new talent. It’s a paradox that speaks to a confusion among many industry stakeholders due to no fault of their own.
In short: Massachusetts cannabis is a perplexing battlefield, and it can be arduous to navigate. Although the marketplace is now a decade old in Massachusetts, there hasn’t been a central hub or clearinghouse for employers to find trained workers or for hopeful workers to browse opportunities.
In a significant move to help facilitate those connections, and to assist social equity license holders in particular, the Cannabis Control Commission recently launched its EquityWorks Career Hub, a comprehensive platform hosting jobs, networking opportunities, and job training for the statewide industry.
At the CCC’s last meeting, Director of Equity Programming and Community Outreach Communications Silea Williams formally announced the site. Designed by the contract administrator Premier Virtual, which also provides back-end services for MassHire, it went live on June 16. Williams called the resource a “one-stop shop” for people hoping to enter the industry, from experienced workers to potential business owners.
“After you set up a booth, you can post available opportunities, employment opportunities, any incubator opportunities that you may have, or set up recurring job and resource fairs,” Williams said. “You can virtually interview, review resumes, and hire all on this platform. These are all options, and for both employers and job seekers, it is free.”
According to the CCC, EquityWorks will be available for free to participants in the commission’s equity programs, as well as non-equity jobseekers, employers, and verified and pre-verified Social Equity businesses. The site launched exclusively for equity participants through June 19, and is now open to the public.
Fostering IRL cannabis industry connections
It’s not all virtual. The EquityWorks Hub has peer networking tools for finding collaborators by skills, region, or interest area, along with a monthly calendar of live networking events. The importance of encouraging real life connections came from CCC staffers and commissioners spending months doing outreach to various stakeholders, centering social equity.
Moving forward, Williams said her team from the Equity Programming and Community Outreach (EPCO) office will start its next period of live technical assistance for Social Equity Program (SEP) participants in September. They’re targeting individuals most impacted by the war on drugs, including those who were subject to disproportionate arrest and incarceration as the result of marijuana prohibition.
According to the CCC, more than 1,100 individuals have taken part in the SEP program to date. Though results have been mixed in the volatile industry, participants receive free technical training, expedited licensing review, fee waivers, and exclusive access to delivery licenses and forthcoming social consumption licenses.
So far, CCC Press Secretary Neal McNamara said several licensed businesses joined the platform ahead of launch, with participants spanning retail to cultivation and product manufacturing. “As of now, we have more than a dozen businesses confirmed, with more expected to join in the coming weeks as employer onboarding continues,” he said.
A Massachusetts cannabis jobs platform
The CCC recently ended blanket prohibitions that prevented people with criminal records from obtaining certain jobs in the legal marketplace. For those who helped bring EquityWorks over the finish line, that’s another reason that the public needs to have access to current information about potential employment.
“This is a platform that is going to evolve,” Williams explained. “We want to have resource fairs. We want to have job fairs. We want to have integrated business solutions. And this is a tool to let us stay engaged. So check it regularly, make sure that you are adding your events to the platform, any job fair, career development, incubator opportunities, please make sure that you infuse this into your business.”
EPCO hosted an in-person networking and education event in Lawrence on June 11. Another one this week in Brockton had more than 50 people signed up to attend. Williams said the department has also held three virtual sessions for employers focusing on website functionality.
“You’ll be able to select that you’re a Social Equity company, you’re an approved Social Equity participant, or a certified Economic Empowerment applicant, which is verified by my team,” she added. “So not only are you able to get people within your community, you can also ensure that you’re looking at candidates that are within the equity community and certified through the programming, through the various equity channels at this point.”
