Mismatches in skills happen in situations where a job candidate’s skills don’t align with the requirements of the position, either because they lack the necessary skills (skill gap) or have skills beyond what is required (skill surplus).
Mismatched skills can destroy cannabis operations. A controller incapable of handling complex multi-state tax compliance details. A cultivation director who’s never scaled beyond 10,000 square feet. A retail operations manager who’s never managed more than three locations.
These are not bad employees. They may be passionate about cannabis, interviewed well, and may have impressive-sounding titles on their resumes. But when the rubber meets the road, they may not be able to deliver what a business actually needs.
The cannabis industry’s unique challenges create a perfect storm for skills mismatch. Every company is unique, and companies are scaling faster than talent pipelines can keep up. Roles are evolving rapidly, and many leaders are hiring for positions that they have never filled before.
At FlowerHire, we know how to find top talent both inside and outside the cannabis industry. In fact, our out-of-industry hires are more likely to stay past 12 months than any other source.
We assess experience and understand which industries translate well. Then, we prep candidates with a real look at what it’s like to work in cannabis. No surprises, just informed hires.
Here’s what’s really happening, what it’s costing you, and how to fix it:
1 The “cannabis experience” trap is expensive
Here’s a scenario we see constantly: a multi-state operator needs a new VP of Finance. They find someone who’s been a “financial leader” at two other cannabis companies. Sounds like a perfect fit, right?
Three months in, they discover this person has never managed cash flow for a $50M+ operation, don’t have an understanding of the complexities of 280E tax implications across multiple states, and don’t know the nuances of building the financial infrastructure needed for their next phase of growth.
The cost: Companies often spend 6-12 months trying to make it work before accepting that they need to start over. Meanwhile, financial reporting suffers, investors lose confidence, and growth plans get delayed.
Why this happens: To a hiring manager, a candidate with cannabis experience can feel safer, but the industry is young enough that someone’s “five years in cannabis finance” might actually be five years of basic bookkeeping at smaller operations. True functional expertise – the kind that scales – is still rare in our industry.
Solution: Look for candidates who’ve solved similar-sized problems in regulated industries, even if it wasn’t cannabis. A CFO who navigated a $100M manufacturing company through rapid expansion is far more unlikely to outperform someone who’s only worked at $10M cannabis companies.
FlowerHire proactively seeks out candidates from other industries and recruits them into cannabis. Reach out to one of FlowerHire’s experienced recruiters.
2 Scaling skills gaps creates operational disasters
Cannabis companies hit inflection points fast. You go from three retail locations to fifteen. Your cultivation operation triples in size. Your product line expands from flower to edibles to concentrates.
The person who got you from zero to $10M in revenue rarely has the skills to get you from $10M to $50M. But companies often try to make it work anyway, often because the person is great and they care about their people.
For example, a cultivation director successfully managed 5,000 square feet of canopy. The company expanded to 50,000 square feet and kept the same person in charge. Within six months, they had crop failures, compliance issues, and labor problems they’d never experienced before. The skillset that worked at a small scale became a liability at the enterprise scale.
The cost: Failed crops can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Compliance violations can shut down operations. Good employees leave when they see leadership struggling with challenges beyond their capabilities.
Solution: When your business model fundamentally changes – whether it’s scale, complexity, or market dynamics – evaluate whether your current team has the right skills for what’s coming next, not just what got you here.
3 Regulatory complexity demands specialized expertise
Cannabis compliance isn’t like other industries. It’s not enough to be “familiar” with regulations – you need people who understand the nuances of seed-to-sale tracking, banking compliance, multi-state licensing requirements, and constantly evolving local ordinances.
We’ve seen compliance directors who looked great on paper but had never actually implemented a comprehensive compliance program from scratch. They knew the terminology but couldn’t build the systems, processes, and training programs needed to keep a multi-location operation compliant.
The cost: One compliance failure can cost your license. In some states, that means losing millions of dollars in sunk costs and years of effort to establish a market position.
Solution: Ask specific questions about systems they’ve implemented, metrics they’ve tracked, and crises they’ve managed. Anyone can talk about compliance in general terms, but true experts can walk you through exactly how they’ve solved complex problems.
How many times has a private vertical cannabis company founder hired a controller or director of cultivation for the first time in their life? It happens frequently, and mistakes are inevitable. Companies will hire someone and realize three to six months in that it’s the wrong fit, but they feel trapped because the role is critical, and operating without someone would be worse. The founder might have to spend every day in the production facility for a month, or worse, pay a consultant hundreds of thousands of dollars to oversee operations.
Why a confidential search for this? Because of the nature of leadership profiles across the cannabis industry, these hiring mistakes happen more frequently than in mature industries. With so many different roles that are critical to business operations at a vertical cannabis company, this creates regular opportunities for confidential searches to correct course without creating operational chaos.
4 The urgency hiring trap multiplies mistakes
Cannabis operates at startup speed, even when companies are generating tens of millions in revenue. When someone key leaves or you’re opening new locations, the pressure to quickly fill roles is intense.
This is when mismatched skills happen most often. Companies skip proper vetting, settle for “good enough,” or hire based on availability rather than capability.
The cost: One mis-hire creates problems that affect other team members. Your head of cultivation struggles with scaled operations, so your facility managers spend time fixing problems instead of optimizing performance. Your controller can’t handle complex reporting, so your CEO spends hours every week managing financial details instead of strategy.
The reason: Companies procrastinate upgrading talent until they have more time. But there’s never more time in cannabis. There are always new challenges, new opportunities, and new pressures. The temporary hire becomes permanent, and the problems compound.
Solution: Don’t procrastinate. Prioritize successful hiring.
5 Internal hiring teams lack cannabis-specific assessment skills
Many cannabis companies don’t have seasoned HR leaders who know how to evaluate technical skills in cannabis-specific roles.
For example, how do you assess whether a cultivation candidate really understands integrated pest management at scale?
Another example: how do you evaluate whether a retail operations candidate can handle the complexity of cannabis inventory management across multiple locations?
Without this expertise, companies rely on resume keywords, general impressions, and candidate enthusiasm rather than true capability assessment.
Solution: FlowerHire has developed assessment and vetting frameworks specific to cannabis roles because general hiring practices don’t capture what actually predicts success in our industry. In 2024 alone, FlowerHire placed over 90 different job titles in 24 different states. Our team has experience recruiting for every role in the cannabis industry.
Learn about FlowerHire’s recruiting process
The strategic advantage of getting hiring right
Companies that solve the skills mismatch problem don’t just avoid costly mistakes, they gain competitive advantages.
Focus on growth instead of constantly fixing problems. When you hire the right talent, you can ensure your cultivation team consistently hits yield and quality targets, your retail operations run smoothly across all locations, and your finance team provides accurate, timely reporting that supports strategic decisions. When departments are running efficiently and effectively, fast growth is more easily achieved.
Every role done well enables other roles to perform better. A strong operations leader allows your CEO to focus on strategy. A capable controller gives your investors confidence. A skilled cultivation director ensures consistent product quality that builds brand value.
Working with experts who understand cannabis talent
FlowerHire has filled roles from CEO down to department manager across every function a cannabis company needs. We know what separates candidates who can talk a good game from those who can deliver results.
More importantly, we know how to help companies think strategically about talent needs as they scale, evolve, and navigate an industry that changes constantly.
Skills mismatch isn’t just about making better individual hires. It’s about building teams that can execute business strategy, adapt as the industry evolves, and compete effectively in an increasingly sophisticated market.
If your cannabis company is serious about building a high-performing team that drives sustainable growth, partner with recruiters who understand what it actually takes to succeed in this industry.
The cost of getting it wrong is too high. The advantage of getting it right is too valuable to leave to chance.