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Transitioning into the cannabis industry can be tricky if you鈥檙e not prepared. One of the advantages of entering this booming industry is that there are open opportunities just about anywhere you look, but success comes from being prepared.

Find Your Niche Within the Cannabis Industry

When you鈥檙e thinking about working in cannabis, it鈥檚 important to make sure your passions and skills align with what you want to do. The industry has many different options when it comes to choosing a career path. Careers range from working on the legal side of things, such as in compliance and risk management, to creative career paths like digital marketing and advertising. It鈥檚 important that you choose a career path that you feel confident and passionate about. This will not only make you happy, but also help you be successful in your career.

Understand Cannabis Industry Nuances

Working in cannabis isn鈥檛 a cakewalk. Although working in a burgeoning industry can be exciting and fun, there are many nuances to understand. Since laws and regulations are constantly changing, having a clear-cut understanding of them will not always be as simple as some would like to think. The success of a business within the industry is based on operating with an understanding these nuances and making sure that every action is compliant and doesn鈥檛 push boundaries. Working in the industry means that you understand these subtleties and agree to make sure everything you do is compliant and does not pose risk to the business or client you work for.

Obtain Tools for Success in the Cannabis Industry

To be successful in the industry, you need to have certain skills and tools. One of the tools is an understanding of the laws, from the federal level down to the municipal level. If you want to stay in this industry, you must learn and follow these laws. Another tool you鈥檒l find necessary is the ability to diversify yourself. Companies and fellow professionals want to know what sets you apart from others and why they should take note. Failure to do so will only make it harder for you to reach your goals.

Seek Cannabis Industry Education

We want to make sure individuals are well prepared before jumping headfirst into an industry that is not only new but also difficult to navigate. You can do this by connecting with local cannabis associations or pursuing formal education to gain knowledge about the field and give you a competitive over others looking to enter the field. Check out Excelsior鈥檚 Graduate Certificate in Cannabis Control to learn more about this rapidly growing industry.

Kayleah Morris, a dialysis technician and U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class, never imagined that she would be dealing with an influx of patients from a global pandemic. Stationed at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, she handles many COVID-19 patients in the Intensive Care Unit who are suffering from organ failure.

鈥淚n the beginning [of the pandemic], many people were scared of working in hospitals. I was deathly afraid that I would bring COVID home to my family,鈥� said the mother of two. Thankfully, there are a lot of precautions in place to prevent staff from contracting the virus, and Walter Reed, known as the Presidents鈥� Hospital, has tremendous resources for personal protective equipment (PPE) and containment measures; they keep COVID patients in negative pressure rooms and staff wear positive air pressure masks.

Morris works 12-hour shifts in this environment so that she can alternate workdays with her husband and avoid using outside childcare. Still, she manages to take college courses online; she is just three classes away from finishing her bachelor鈥檚 degree. 鈥淚 am very excited to see the light at the end of the tunnel,鈥� she said. 鈥淣othing is going to stop me from finishing at this point.鈥�

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Originally from Albany, New York, Morris could not afford to go to college after high school, and working two jobs to make ends meet did not leave time to take classes. So at age 23, she enlisted in the U.S. Navy, went through basic training, and was stationed in Maryland. 鈥淚 joined the military so that I could go to college,鈥� she said. With her dialysis training and experience, she figured nursing school was the logical choice, so in 2014, she enrolled in . 鈥淚 completed almost the entire nursing program before realizing that I didn鈥檛 want to be a nurse,鈥� Morris said.

Her advisor helped her transfer her nursing credits into a different associate degree program, in Liberal Arts. After earning that degree in June 2019, Morris got to work on a bachelor鈥檚 degree in Social Sciences with a focus in Human Services. 鈥淥ne of my jobs, before I joined the Navy, was working with developmentally disabled individuals, and I loved it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 would like to work with that population again if I could make a decent living.鈥�

The change in program extended her time to degree completion a bit and coupled with recent changes to the military tuition assistance program, she had to apply for Pell Grant and other funding to pay for classes. 鈥淚 am so appreciative of the Excelsior scholarship I received when I did,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t came at a great time and allowed me to continue.鈥�

Not even a pandemic can stop Morris from completing her bachelor鈥檚 degree. 鈥淚 have worked so hard for this for so long, there鈥檚 no slowing me down now.鈥� After graduation, Morris plans to continue on for a master鈥檚 degree in clinical mental health counseling. 鈥淚 want to deal directly with people and be able to see firsthand the impact that I鈥檓 having.鈥�

SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT QUOTES:

鈥淚 cannot thank you enough for your generosity and support in ensuring Active Duty Military personnel such as myself receive an education. With the recent changes to the tuition assistance funding, your help is needed now more than ever.鈥�

鈥淲orking 12-hour shifts at the hospital and raising two children makes it difficult to pursue my degree. Financial limitations only add to my barriers to higher education. Your contributions have made it possible for me to attend college this fall and continue to work towards my bachelor鈥檚 degree. For the sake of my future and my family, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.鈥�

As many adult students struggle with the financial and health impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the attractiveness of short courses and alternative credentials as an alternative to continuing with their degree study is growing at a rate significantly higher than in 2019. According to Inside Higher Ed in August, 鈥淪everal leading massive open online course providers, coding bootcamps and business schools offering non-degree credentials reported manyfold increases in web traffic, inquiries and enrollments鈥�These new online learners are a mixture of recent college graduates looking to boost their r茅sum茅s, current or prospective college students trying to get ahead, furloughed or laid-off workers looking to pivot to new careers, and people with stable jobs who are now working from home.鈥�

Such classes are often noncredit and address specific professional needs and developmental skills that serve course takers well in an economy that has been strained by the virus outbreak and in which some 22 million jobs have been lost since the pandemic began. As such, employers are seeking specific skills and applicants who possess specific and contemporary job and knowledge skills. Moreover, students are looking for the same flexibility in learning that they are encountering with their work-from-home arrangements.

According to Credential Engine, a nonprofit that studies alternative credentialing tends, rapid changes in the marketplace have created an environment in which many providers are awarding an array of credentials. These alternative credentials provide students with short-term, affordable, and flexible learning experiences that result in specific, practical competencies and knowledge and skills sets that benefit both the student and the labor market.

Students can find a variety of areas of focus in these credentials. Colleges and universities offering alternative credentials (also referred to as 鈥渕icrocredentials鈥�) typically provide significant information on their websites that guide students to make informed decisions about credential options, pathways, and their value in the job market.

In addition, alternative credentials can also advance equity and access to economic advancement. The relative brevity of these credentials delivers faster, more efficient, and focused skills building. In turn, students are rewarded by more rapid marketability and job success. Earning degrees can contribute to advancing one鈥檚 quality of life and earnings potential over a lifetime, but also, over the short-term, alternative credentials provide rapid access to economic advancement and skills acquisition that can contribute to a student successfully climbing more remunerative career ladders.

In addition, as a result of alternative credentials, employers have more detailed and externally validated information to hire more successful and competent employees.

Types of Microcredentials

Microcredentials include a) short courses for specific skills building and b) longer, more professionally focused programs that gradually advance the course taker鈥檚 skills level in a professional or industry-focused subject area.

In the Cengage noncredit offerings, known as ed2go, skills-based courses include subject matter such as Homeschool Success and Keys to Effective Communication, whereas the certificates in career training classes are industry aligned and cover areas such as Certified Medical Billing and CompTIA Certifications. These career training courses involve study over longer time periods, gradually building skills cumulatively, culminating in a certificate. Each course with ed2go鈥攚hether short or long鈥攜ields a certificate of completion that may be shown to prospective employers as evidence of acquiring specific skills and competencies that can lead to better job placement and career advancement, in both the short and long term.