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Below is our recent interview with James Yagielo, CEO of HempStaff:
Q: James, could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to HempStaff?
A: HempStaff was founded in April 2014 and quickly became the industry leader in cannabis and hemp employee recruiting. To date, HempStaff, has placed thousands of candidates in the cannabis and commercial hemp Industries.
We also created our state-customized nationwide dispensary training course in September of 2014. Currently, we have trained over 6,000 students, in 20 states through our Certification program.
Q: Why it pays to recruit with HempStaff?
A: There are several reasons. First, HempStaff does not require any upfront costs to get you started. You are not billed until a HempStaff candidate starts their first day of work. If we can’t find you that perfect candidate, there is no cost to you at all, that is how confident we are that you will love our candidates!
Next, we also offer a 90-day guarantee, so if the employee quits in the first 90 days, we will replace them at no cost. HempStaff has the largest database in the industry with over 50,000 candidates, with all levels of experience, through our nationwide recruiters.
HempStaff will give you a dedicated account manager, pre-screen each candidate and run a national background check once an offer letter is received. Additionally, HempStaff holds both national liability and professional insurance, something unique for a cannabis/hemp recruiting company.
Q: Why is staffing so important in this industry?
A: Cannabis and Hemp are highly scrutinized industries! If you don’t have the right employees in place you can quickly go bankrupt or even get raided by local/federal authorities. It is imperative that your top managers know exactly what they are doing in this heavily regulated industry. HempStaff can save companies money by finding experience managers in the cannabis industry, many times relocating them from another state.
As for entry-level employees, each opening, receives upwards of 200 resumes – and most are not qualified. We can save a cannabis company, hours of time, by narrowing these 200 resumes down to the top 3 to 5 candidates for each position with our pre-screening process.
Q: What kind of jobs are available in this industry, and how much can you make doing those jobs?
A: There are many types of jobs throughout both industries. The highest paying positions come with the highest level of skill and experience requirements as well. Directors of Cultivation (Master Grower), Directors of Processing (Master Extractor) and Dispensary Managers all command fairly lucrative salaries. However, recruiters are used to find everything from starting positions like trimmers and budtenders to accountants and marketing. Salaries have a wide range from a $10/hour trimmer job to a Director of Processing with a PHD that commands a $180,000/year salary. You can get a better idea of the jobs and their salaries on our website.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: HempStaff’s plans for the recruiting side are to expand our business as the cannabis and hemp markets expand. Our goal continues to be, to ensure each state’s cannabis program succeeds by having the proper employees in place for each employer.
Our goal for the HempStaff training program is to drive the need to the program leaders for each state, to have a nationally recognized training program for dispensary agents to ensure consistency throughout all dispensaries, nationwide. The dispensary agent is the face of the business and face of the industry as they are the employee who have the most interaction with customers who are purchasing cannabis. HempStaff continues to lead the industry on customized education and classroom training for hemp and cannabis products.
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