Zenabis, a cannabis products company, is hosting a job fair in an effort to fill 45 new positions at its Stellarton location.
“It was a good interview,” said Jeff Piek of New Glasgow. “They asked a lot of questions about who you are as a person.”
Piek was one of nearly 30 people on Aug. 29 who were at the Holiday Inn Express hotel on Lawrence Blvd for the interview. The two-day job fair, which is taking place in the hotel’s Hector Room, takes place between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Aug. 29 and 30.
“It has been busy. I think we’ve had a steady line people since it opened,” said the Stellarton location’s director of facility operations, Curt Gunn.
“Largely we’re looking to ramp up our pre-roll production at our facility,” said Gunn referring to something that is better known as, “rolling joints”.
The positions posted vary by volume, some requiring more people to fill the job than others, but in total the jobs currently be hired for are:
- Production Associates
- Sanitation Technicians
- Security Operators
- Production Line Supervisor
- Health and Safety Officer
- Production and Packaging Manager
- HR Assistant
Gunn was seated at one of four different recruitment tables where Zenabis recruiters were interviewing candidates.
Before stepping in line each candidate was expected to fill out a short form answering questions about previous work experience, current employment status, comfort with shift work, and if the candidate would find smell of cannabis bothersome.
Last March, when the Zenabis Stellarton location officially received its Health Canada Approval, Zenabis CEO Andrew Grieve and Stellarton project lead May Nazair told The News, along with nearly 30 local politicians and community leaders, that the company had planned to fill 200 positions by the end of 2019.
Today it’s looking to be half that.
“There’s been a shift in how we’ll utilize our facility,” said Gunn. “Given the change in strategy we’re looking to have between 80 and 100 employees by Christmas.”
The 255,000 square foot facility in Stelalrton is the largest indoor cannabis production facility in Canada. Currently it utilizes only 1/3 of that space, and so Gunn told The News that there is still a lot of room to grow.
“We’re working on design plans now to see what that will entail,” he said. “We’re hopeful that we’ll have a large majority of that building built-out in 2020. The plan is still to grow and expand. We’ve just changed how we’re going to go about that.”
