Kitchener cannabis producer looking to eventually fill more than 400 positions

Hundreds show up for cannabis producer career fair From CTV Kitchener’s Jeff Pickel: The line and wait was long for those seeking employment at a Kitchener cannabis producer’s career fair.

KITCHENER - A Kitchener cannabis company is hoping to eventually hire more than 400 new workers.

James E. Wagner Cultivation Corporation, or JWC, held a career fair on Tuesday just down the road from their Manitou Drive facility.

"We will eventually employ 400 in total at our flagship facilty," said Nathan Woodworth of JWC. "Today [for our job fair] we are only looking to hire 15 people."

Roughly 800 applicants showed up at the event throughout the day in hopes of acquiring one of the few available positions.

"It's an exciting start to a new industry," said job applicant Jennifer. "I've done some work for start-ups before, I'm really into new projects, and I've told the company has really good benefits and work culture."

The Region of Waterloo, which co-hosted the event, says JWC is looking to fill manual labour positions.

"There's a lot of room to move up," said job applicant Andre. "If you get a job in it now then you'll be able to move up pretty quickly."

The cannabis producer recently received approval from Health Canada to double its production.

As a result JWC said that it would be increasing its capacity from 22,000 square feet to approximately 44,500 square feet.

JWC currently employs roughly 160 people. They say they will continue to ramp up their numbers through 2020.

Officials add that they hope to start hiring within the next few weeks.