Holyoke Community College to Host Cannabis Career Fair on Nov. 10
HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College (HCC) will host a cannabis career fair on Wednesday, Nov. 10 at the HCC Kittredge Center for Business and Workforce Development, where individuals interested in working in the cannabis industry will have the opportunity to talk about job openings in person with representatives from area cannabis companies.
The fair, titled “Cultivating an Industry,” will run from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the PeoplesBank Conference Room on the third floor of the Kittredge Center on the main HCC campus, 303 Homestead Ave. It is sponsored by the Cannabis Education Center — a partnership between HCC and Elevate Northeast — and MCR Labs, a marijuana testing facility in Framingham.
The fair is free and open to anyone looking for a job in the burgeoning cannabis industry, which had surpassed $1 billion in sales in Massachusetts by October 2020, after its first four years.
“There are a lot of jobs that go along with a billion dollars in industry activity,” said Jeff Hayden, HCC’s vice president for Business and Community Services.
So far, 10 cannabis employers have signed up for the fair, with more expected: Boston Bud Factory, Canna Provisions, Holyoke Cannabis, and My Analytics Lab, all from Holyoke; NETA, Resinate, and Truelieve, all from Northampton; Mass Alternative Care and Theory Wellness, both from Chicopee; and Insa, based in Easthampton.
Attendees will be granted access to a new virtual job board specific to the cannabis industry. Note that masks are required in all HCC buildings regardless of vaccination status. To maintain social distancing, only 50 people will be allowed in the conference room at a time, so pre-registration is strongly encouraged. To register for the fair, visit hcc.edu/canna-fair.
The CEC will also run introductory Cannabis Core training programs Nov. 9-17 (Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6 to 9 p.m.) and Nov. 28 to Dec. 20 (Mondays from 6 to 9 p.m.), as well as a Cannabis Cultivation Assistant training course Nov. 13 to Dec. 4. To register for those programs, visit hcc.edu/cannabis-core.
