The coronavirus has forced a lot of universities to provide digital curriculums, which has proven beneficial for cannabis education programs.

Cannabis education has slowly spread since marijuana began to earn legal status across states. Nowadays, with the coronavirus, universities are facing new challenges that force them to rework their curriculum and find new ways of keeping students engaged while producing revenue.

Higher education is one of the industries hit hardest by COVID-19. Colleges and universities across the U.S. are bleeding revenue, as they’re forced to furlough employees and send students home.

Two types of entrepreneurs emerge during a crisis: Those who panic, kicking into survival mode thinking the only solution is to wait out the storm and hope everything works out at the end. And those who are true change-makers, recognizing opportunity in a time of crisis and springing into action. These people have one thought in mind: What can I do to help? 

Union leaders are saying the COVID-19 global health crisis could prove to be a watershed moment for organizing within the fledgling cannabis industry. 

Local 881 UFCW, an affiliate of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, represents 34,000 workers in retail, drug stores and the cannabis industry in Illinois and Northwest Indiana.

The association says the pandemic will result in more workers in the marijuana business unionizing in order to protect labor rights they claim have been jeopardized under the current circumstances.

Unlike many industries, the cannabis sector is still hiring during the pandemic. Yet the number of open positions has dwindled as layoffs become more common and many of the jobs that do exist are temporary.

Vangst, which runs the Gigs site for temporary pot jobs and recently launched a platform for full-time positions, is filling about 600 jobs a week. That’s a slight decrease from pre-COVID-19 levels earlier this year, mostly because companies are employing fewer in-store staff as they switch to delivery or curbside pickup. Meanwhile, the number of job candidates on the platform surged by 300 per cent between March and April, according to Karson Humiston, founder and chief executive officer of Vangst.

Ever wondered what the recruitment world is like in the cannabis sector? We explore the unique benefits and challenges of recruiting in the burgeoning cannabis industry.

It is no secret that the cannabis sector has seen unprecedented growth in recent years. And while some countries have stricter laws than others, this growth, albeit at different levels, is nevertheless taking place around the world. With this growth comes many challenges and benefits, especially in regards to recruiting in the cannabis industry.

Amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, restructuring at Canopy Growth Corporation is continuing, with the move to slash 200 jobs in the U.S., the U.K. and, hardest hit, Canada.

The cuts will involve several departments, the Smith’s Falls, Ont.-based cannabis giant confirmed in an email to Bloomberg News: “The latest cuts represent about five per cent of its total workforce of 4,118. The majority of affected employees are in Canada.”

The expansion of the cannabis industry is parallel with the increased public awareness of the marvelous benefits of cannabis for our health and wellbeing. New and current companies in the cannabis industry are constantly looking for new additions to their teams. There’s more to hiring people than reading a few resumes and choosing which one suits your company the most.

As the world is seemingly closed for business, many business owners find themselves in hot water. According to Liesl Bernard, CEO, and founder of cannabis staffing agency CannabizTeam, the cannabis industry is not one of those businesses. Being coined as “corona stress disorder”, people are turning to cannabis products to ease their anxiety over the current state of the world. And since everyone is at home, people are running through their products at a much faster rate than usual.