Job fair at Stampede Park for those looking to work in the cannabis industry

Pot retailer’s hiring fair draws a crowd Kevin Green reports on Tuesday’s 420 job fair where applicants were interviewed for dozens of positions.

Calgarians looking for work in the cannabis industry will be handing out resumes Tuesday at a job fair being held at Stampede Park.

There are 75 to 150 positions available in Calgary, Okotoks and Canmore retail locations at 420 Premium Markets Ltd.

It had 15,000 inquiries about job opportunities on its facebook page.

This is the cannabis company that hopes to be one of the dominant retails brands in the recreational cannabis sector.

“A lot of opportunities, a lot of growth; the future of this is continuous growth and it shows that everywhere that this legalizes. This industry is about to explode and you can see that because big alcohol, big pharma, big tobacco will all be getting involved in this.” says Jeff Mooij with 420 PM.

It wants to approach the industry in a socially responsible manner to educate the public on its products and take away the stigma around the drug.

Tuesday they’ll be looking to fill management, supervisor, inventory and sales positions when recreational cannabis becomes legal on October 17.

"We’re looking staff seven stores right of the bat just for Calgary. We have other stores outside of Calgary so really we’re looking for a couple hundred people today. We need those immediately. We don’t expect anyone to come here with any training or understanding of the plant and the complexities we love to teach that,” says Mooij.

People who waited in line to drop off a resume are excited by the opportunities a job in the cannabis industry offers.

“It’s going to be very big and I’d live to get in on the ground floor. Just by what you’ve seen in the states you know it’s going to be a very big industry,” says Garth Dyment. “It’s only going to spread throughtout the country and we’re going to get a lot of tourists and a  lot of people coming to Canada just because of this I think.”

“I really like helping people so I feel like it’ll be a really good area for me to get out and help people learn more about the industry and be able to help themselves by learning from us,” says Ashleigh McAllister.

Anyone hired to work in a retail marijuana store must pass a criminal background check and pass the sell safe course which is similar to the paperwork a bartender or server needs before they’re allowed to sell alcohol.

The City of Calgary says there are 258 active cannabis store development permits and that 201 decisions have been made.

The city has approved 102 applications, refused 999 and 24 appeals have been filed.

The job fair starts runs from 12:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at Stampede Park in the BMO Centre’s Arabian Room.