Confidential searches can give people the ick. But there are scenarios where the company has to treat an important hire as a confidential recruit. It’s the reality of business.
In the world of executive search and placement of senior-level management candidates, discretion is often paramount. Often, when a company needs to replace a high-profile person in its organization, it becomes a confidential process. And companies in cannabis are particularly prone to this type of scenario.
Before anything is done, companies need to ensure they don’t lose productivity during transitions for critical positions. They must have a transition plan, develop a communication strategy, and play offense instead of defense.
FlowerHire has conducted more of these than anyone else in the cannabis industry. Last year alone, the team filled 90 different job titles across 24 states, from CEO and President positions down to retail general managers, cultivation managers, and accountants.
But why is the cannabis industry so uniquely positioned to require confidential searches? The answer lies in several industry-specific factors that create a perfect storm for sensitive hiring situations.
Over the course of 9 years, the FlowerHire team has navigated a very unique web of challenges specific to the cannabis industry, which add to the benefits of partnering with a cannabis recruiting agency.
1 Rapid business evolution outpaces current talent
The cannabis industry changes rapidly. The leader who was the right fit for your organization 12 months ago may not be the right fit today —and probably won’t be the right fit three years from now if your company is growing.
Consider this common scenario: When you’re first opening your retail store, you hire an experienced retail general manager with a solid track record. You give them a director of operations role to launch your first two or three stores. Then, 18 months later, you’re preparing to open your tenth store. Now you need someone who understands P&L responsibilities and can train other GMs. While this person had the skills for the role initially, the role has changed.
Why a confidential search for this? In these situations, companies often want to retain the individual who has been with them through the growth journey for cultural reasons while bringing in additional expertise or mentorship. This delicate balance frequently requires a confidential search approach.
2 Lack of succession planning creates urgent hiring needs
When someone key is being replaced, companies want to be proactive so the person being replaced does not find out. If they find out, they might leave quickly, causing a need for an urgent hire. When the search is confidential, companies can take their time finding the right person without worrying about urgent hiring.
Also, in more mature industries with established HR departments, succession planning tends to be built into companies, preventing the need for urgent hiring. There’s usually someone obvious who has already been identified and prepared to step into the next role. In cannabis, however, the bench tends to be light – the next person in line to move into the key role does not always exist.
Because of the pace and startup nature of the cannabis industry, companies are often forced to operate lean, leaving little room for developing internal talent pipelines. When you’re in hypergrowth mode, there’s more of a focus on opening locations and scaling operations. When you’re in cost-cutting mode, you don’t have the luxury of investing in succession planning – there are other immediate priorities.
Cannabis companies often find themselves in feast-or-famine cycles, with little time for long-term planning. Some companies with robust HR teams manage succession planning well. But most still have significant work to do in this area.
Why a confidential search for this? This lack of readiness creates situations where critical roles need to be filled externally, often requiring confidential searches to maintain business operations without disrupting current staff.
3 Inexperienced hiring decisions lead to do-overs
The reality of the cannabis industry is that many founders and leaders are hiring for positions they’ve never filled before. These leaders are intelligent, dedicated individuals putting their all into building their companies. But they sometimes make the wrong call simply because they don’t know exactly what to look for in a role they’ve never had to fill.
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 Deals and expansion create timing sensitivities
In cannabis, deals and expansion plans often take considerable time to materialize, and things are frequently “done” before they’re actually done. If you’re expanding and about to take over a production facility, you know you’ll need someone to run that operation, but you don’t want the current employees at that site to know you’re hiring for their potential replacement.
Similarly, brands moving into new states often want to control the messaging around their launch. They might need a sales director for a new state, but aren’t ready to announce their expansion publicly. In these cases, companies request confidential searches to avoid premature disclosure of strategic plans.
Why a confidential search for this? The growth trajectory of the cannabis industry, including M&A activity and rapid expansion, creates numerous scenarios where confidential searches become necessary to protect business strategy and maintain competitive advantage.
5 The strategic value of professional confidential search services
Given these industry-specific challenges, why would a cannabis company attempt to conduct a confidential search on its own rather than using expert services?
When dealing with business-critical roles where you don’t want to alert the person you’re replacing that you’re trying to replace them, why would you risk handling it internally?
The stakes are simply too high for high-level roles where you can’t afford to mess up. The risk of not using a third-party professional service becomes too great, especially when you’re nervous about people finding out about the leadership change.
FlowerHire has developed a highly scientific approach to filling strategic roles in cannabis specifically because these situations require such delicate handling.
The combination of industry expertise, proven processes, and discretion makes professional confidential search services essential for cannabis companies navigating these complex talent challenges.
6 Why confidential search instead of public job postings?
If you don’t want employees to know there’s an open position, it’s often because it might lead to speculation or workplace chatter. Depending on the nature of the open role, public job postings can affect workplace morale. If you don’t have internal staff members who are qualified for the role, it could affect the way current employees feel and cause some resentment or animosity. Keeping it confidential can preserve workplace morale.
If you’re replacing someone who’s currently employed, you clearly don’t want their job posted publicly. Even with a seasoned HR leader, the more people who know what’s happening in the organization, the less control you have over managing the transition effectively.
When you’re nervous about people finding out about a leadership change, especially for high-level roles where you can’t afford to mess up, the risk of not using a third-party professional service becomes too great to ignore.
The cannabis industry is the ideal environment for confidential searches
The confidential approach allows you to manage sensitive transitions thoughtfully. The cannabis industry’s unique characteristics – from rapid growth and lean operations to inexperienced hiring and complex expansion strategies – create a perfect environment for confidential search needs.
Companies that recognize this reality and partner with experienced search professionals position themselves to handle these transitions more effectively, retain valuable talent, and maintain operational continuity during critical leadership changes.
Confidential searches enable you to communicate with current employees from a position of strength, ensuring you’re not left dealing with workforce challenges if the conversation doesn’t go as planned.
In 2024, FlowerHire filled 90 different job titles – essentially every role that a vertical cannabis company or multi-state operator could have at the salaried management and executive level.
When you have that many functional leads across multiple facilities in your footprint, there are simply more opportunities for business-critical roles that require leadership changes. And the sheer number of moving pieces in the cannabis talent puzzle creates frequent needs for confidential searches.