Pubdate: Sun, 01 May 2016 Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Copyright: 2016 Hearst Communications Inc. Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1 Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388 Author: Kevin Schultz CANNABIS INDUSTRY JOB FAIR DRAWS CROWD Many Applicants Eager to Break into Budding Market Raychel Young woke up early Saturday morning, placed her photography portfolio full of high-resolution prints of marijuana flowers into a large yellow envelope and headed to San Francisco's Regency Ballroom. She talked to hiring managers, alongside an estimated 2,500 other eager applicants who passed through the ballroom throughout the day, hoping to embark on new careers in the marijuana industry at what event organizers called the largest cannabis industry job fair ever. Thirty-two companies, ranging from industry-focused magazines to dispensaries to cannabis-based data and technology startups, attended the Join the GreenRush event, searching for candidates to fill jobs as budtenders, cultivators, delivery drivers, marketers and even software developers, in order to meet their expanding needs for workers as the market for legal marijuana continues to grow across California and several other states. The event was the inaugural job fair for GreenRush, a technology and marketing company that connects already legal medical marijuana users with cannabis delivery systems, a sort of Eat24 of the marijuana industry. "With cannabis as the nation's fastest-growing industry, there are a large number of positions opening up that we need to fill," said Jude Ignatius, event coordinator and director of operations at GreenRush. "It's an exciting venture." Young, 19, from Foster City, showed off her portfolio in hopes of snagging one of those positions, specifically as a photographer for a cannabis sales company. Job growth The industry is "growing in my own backyard," Young said. And with that growth there are an increasing number of jobs in the industry that people wouldn't typically think of, she said. For example, photographers are necessary because "it's important in delivery for people to see the quality they're going to get before they order," Young said. David Drake, CEO of Cannabis Reports, a cannabis data and technology company based in Berkeley, said he has seen no shortage of candidates for cannabis-focused tech jobs, an area of work in the industry people also might not typically think of. These tech workers can build websites, develop cannabis-friendly applications and do much of the same work that is seen in other new companies. "I've been overwhelmed," Drake said. "I had about 200 applications for one position within 48 hours of posting it online." Despite success finding candidates online, Drake chose to attend the job fair because he said it's a great way to meet passionate members of the cannabis community. He expected to fill several positions throughout the day. Outside of the event, a line to enter the door went down Van Ness Avenue and wrapped around part of the block through mid-afternoon, with small crowds gathering inside around three rows of tables and a stage where informational sessions were held. Tickets were an aptly priced $4.20, but free codes for tickets were available online. Many attendees showed up to the job fair specifically to make connections and get into the industry before an initiative that would legalize recreational use of cannabis in California is expected to appear on the November ballet, where it is likely to pass. Arianna DeTomasi, 20, of South San Francisco, was one of those people. She was looking to get into the industry in any way she could. "I think businesses are about to boom," DeTomasi said. "I want to get in now, rather than later." Pat and Luke of Schneider of Sunnyvale were also hoping to get into the business before possible legalization. The husband and wife showed particular interest in the edible cannabis industry, which they see becoming increasingly more popular among the aging Baby Boomer generation, especially as legalization picks up. "If California goes, the rest of the country will probably eventually go," Pat Schneider said. "You really want to be at the forefront." Ahead of legalization Ignatius said the possible legalization would open up a lot more jobs for the industry, but that it wasn't the main reason for the event. "It's the elephant in the room," Ignatius said. "It's the looming outcome that everyone is anticipating. But the timing of the event isn't predicated on legalization. It's predicated on the very real staffing needs in the Bay Area right now, with the system as it exists." Ignatius said officials in the medical marijuana industry have already started to beef up infrastructure and employee numbers for what could ultimately become an over $10-billion-dollar industry, depending upon legalization outcomes. "With legalization, obviously the industry is going to expand," he said, "and we only expect staffing challenges to increase exponentially." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom