• Industry luring managers from companies like Hershey, Hostess
• Competition for workers sparks offers like five-day weekends

Professionals used to shy away from jobs in the marijuana industry — or at least keep them hush hush. Now, the tables have turned.

Liesl Bernard, chief executive of San Diego-based CannabizTeam, which places both managers and temps at cannabis companies, said she used to have to “beg people to take a chance on cannabis” when she started her business in 2016. Executives were concerned that working with marijuana, which is illegal on the federal level in the U.S., could cause them to lose professional licenses in areas such as accounting or law.

This year, her firm placed TerrAscend Corp.’s new Chief Financial Officer Keith Stauffer, who previously worked at Coty Inc. and Hershey Co. CannabizTeam has doubled its number of placements this year to over 1,000, with 25% to 30% of those at the management and executive level.

“Today, it’s become the sexy industry,” Bernard said. “After it was deemed essential in Covid, people are reaching out to us and saying: ‘How can we get into this industry?’”

If full legalization occurred in all 50 states today, there would be in excess of 1.46 million jobs, which would increase to 1.63 million jobs by 2025. Its appeal has grown as more states move to allow it. [Read More @ Bloomberg]