Got a bad case of the Mondays? Maybe a career shift is in order… Here are some emerging job opportunities in weed.

There’s a problem plaguing the world today. It affects children as young as 3 years old and doesn’t let up until a person reaches the 60’s or 70’s, even then they’re not spared from its effects and causes long-lasting mental and physical issues:

Weekends are too short!!! 😛

This is, of course, less of a problem if you could somehow merge your interests, hobbies and your job into one. Fun, earning and productivity all in one. A… a… a TRIFECTA of sorts…

Well, if you know who you are, know what you want, need some money and have a very particular set of skills; skills you’ve acquired over a very long career: the emerging cannabis industry might have something for you.

 

The Product Reviewer (Marijuana Product Reviewer)

 

Let’s start out with probably the most fun one. We’ve covered this on this link here, but the short of it is that you’ll be reviewing an assortment of cannabis-derived products from soaps to edibles. Oh and how’s this for an interview question: “Applicant must know… at least 6 street names, slang terms, or nicknames of marijuana”. The payout? A cool $3,000 a month. 

 

Le Chef de haschisch (Make Cannabis Recipes)

 

So. Weed and access to a fully stocked pantry? Sounds like a recipe for success! We also have some coverage of this via this link, and this makes total sense because at the very core of it all: everybody’s gotta eat and everybody wants to try something exotic at least once in their lives.

The average chef and head cook salary is $15.21 an hour, and the highest paid 10% reported earnings of as much as $35.61 or more an hour! You can also factor in a 10-25% “specialty” add-on (since this is a niche product), sponsorship deals, cookbook endorsements, guest appearances, heck, even the possibility of having your own TV show! 

 

The Budtender

 

Marijuana dispensary budtenders serve as the poster-boy and smiling face of the legal cannabis industry. You may also know him or her as: the almighty wizard that knows all the incantations, spells and ingredients for the perfect hit!

We’re not exaggerating in the slightest: an extensive, encyclopedic knowledge of strains and their effects are a must for this job, so this is more like being a pharmacist than a bartender. The great part? Most, if not all, dispensaries readily offer on-the-job training. 

And what, pray tell, doth the wizard’s rate command? Professionals in the business earn an average of $13 to $18 an hour.

The Dispensary Manager

 

 

Alas, the wizard reports to a higher power. And with great power comes great responsibility.  We’ve covered a few requirements of small marijuana businesses, and that’s just a very small piece of what dispensary managers have to deal with. In addition to making sure the dispensary is operational, health-regulated and law-abiding, there’s the very core function of ensuring it is profitable.

This is perhaps the most sought-after job by companies in the current market as a good or bad manager will make or break the business. One slip-up and the whole operation gets shut down. Possibly permanently. 

 Great responsibilities apparently come with great pay too: Salaries range from $60,000 to $115,000 annually!

 

The Master Grower

 

On to the production side of things. The Master Grower or, as the formal term goes, Director of Cultivation is responsible for the day-in, day-out processes of growing cannabis. Seed selection, soil selection, potting, watering, cleaning, maintenance – anything and everything involving the process of growing. It is their mission to ensure yields are going as planned. Make no mistake: this is the person that makes all the magic happen and so isn’t a particularly easy job to get into as it requires excellent people management skills and expansive horticultural experience. 

For their efforts? $100,000 to $300,000 a year.

 

The Scientist

 

Although mainly called “Extraction Specialists”, cannabis laboratory workers deal with a wide array of work that include:

  1. Better extraction techniques via machine operation and development
  2. Health and compliance concerns
  3. Ongoing research on practical application and discovery

Naturally, this is a job that has the most competitive requirements – it’s not a question of if you have a doctorate degree here, it’s a matter of how many. And depending on how many initials after your name you can put on paper, salaries can range from $80,000 to $250,000 per year. 

Science, b*tch!

 

The Trimmer

 

Ah, but where would we be without the dear farmer? Cultivation Site Workers are the working man’s beat. This entry-level position entails physically planting, trimming, manicuring, preparing, harvesting, maintaining, sanitizing, storing – well, practically everything that involves hands-on work.

This isn’t work to sneeze at though. People in this general line of work in other industries typically earn minimum wage (or less than that, sadly) at $7.25 an hour, but the cannabis cultivation site worker averages at around $12 to $15 an hour. 

This list is by no means exhaustive, in fact, Glassdoor research estimated a whopping 1,512 cannabis-related job openings in the US at the start of the year!  A number that continues to grow as more research and inroads into legislature are paved. As the marijuana industry is young, more and more career opportunities are bound to develop, only limited by our own creativity. Interested what other jobs there are? Check this listing out.

Is it time to leave your old 9 to 5 for a career in the marijuana industry, though?  Maybe we can help with that decision, so be sure to check out our pros and cons for the business. Or maybe starting a business is more your style, here’re a few ways to get capital.