Hydrolife Canada February/March 2017

grow
EXPERIENCED
GROWERS NEED
by Kent Gruetzmacher
ONLY APPLY:
Translating Your
Personal Cannabis
Growing into
Resume Format
In decades past, the
prospect of including
your home growing
experience on a
resume was a fantasy,
afterthought, or simple
impossibility. However,
times are a-changing.
Here’s a guide on how to
interpret your personal
cannabis cultivations and
previous work experience
into language you can
use to land a job.
THE ERA OF THE MODERN
PROFESSIONAL GROWER
HAS ARRIVED
Instead of remaining a secretive
enterprise, cannabis cultivation
is rapidly transforming into a
legitimate and respected profession.
Knowledgeable, disciplined, and
versatile cannabis growers are highly
pursued assets in the contemporary
business world. Of course, cultivators
ready to make the transition into
hydroponic and cannabis industries
require a solid resume to gain these
employment opportunities.
COMPETENCY-BASED
HIRING AND RECRUITING
When crafting a resume for a legitimate
cannabis business, applicants can
use the competency-based model of
hiring and recruiting to generate an
informative and up-to-date document.
Instead of focusing on previous
employment, this model highlights
skills and knowledge obtained through
practical experience—even if that
experience was underground cannabis
growing. For example, a familiarity
with regulating climactic fluctuations
in a greenhouse environment would be
considered an occupational competency.
This model also allows applicants
to highlight behaviours that would
contribute to success in the workplace.
HOME GROWING
IN RESUME FORMAT
Constructing an informative resume
for the hydroponic and cannabis
industry is a different process than
building a traditional resume. After
all, this is a novel job market and
most candidates do not have formal,
commercial, cannabis growing
work experience. As a result, hiring
companies are most attracted
to candidates who explain their
cultivation talents effectively.
Cannabis growers should be
as specific as possible in their
resumes to highlight applicable
skill sets for any given position.
This is because, according to the
competency-based model, potential
employers are most interested in
specific previous actions that are
applicable to future occupations
and endeavours. For example, an
experienced greenhouse cultivator
interested in acquiring a head
grower position in a commercial
greenhouse setting should show that
he or she has competent, in-depth
knowledge concerning pest control.
To elaborate, that he or she knows
pest control in a cannabis garden
involves both the foresight to avoid
potential problems in the operation
with sanitation, as well as the ability
to effectively solve issues as they
arise with effective spraying.
16
grow. heal. live. enjoy.
myhydrolife.ca