Write a Cover Letter for Marijuana Jobs

How to Write a Great Cover Letter for Jobs in the Cannabis Industry

As someone with years of cross-functional experience in both the hiring industry and the cannabis industry, it’s no wonder why I often get asked how to write an effective cover letter to target jobs in medical or recreational marijuana. A lot of people just pay me to do it for them, which isn’t a bad idea if you aren’t particularly confident in your writing abilities, however if you’re determined to craft your own cover letter from scratch then let me at least give you some pointers.

My first piece of advice, and this goes for just about every industry, is you don’t want your cover letter to be too long. You want it to be short, to the point, and to briefly touch on the most notable aspects of your background. Because the whole point of a cover letter is that it’s an introduction. It’s supposed to be a “leading” document, which prompts the reader to want to know more about you. So give them a taste, but not the whole pie. That’s when they’ll move on to your resume, where the bulk of your information should be presented, and from there they can determine whether or not they want to follow up with you for an interview.

Cannabis Industry Cover Letter

Another great piece of advice for writing an effective cannabis industry cover letter is to know your audience. By that I mean know who will likely be reading this letter, and try to put yourself in their shoes. What do they want to see in a potential job candidate? What skills are they looking for? What will be the best way to get their attention from the moment they start reading your cover letter? And NO, I don’t mean you should use colorful text and graphics and such. Stuff like that is typically viewed as a bit sophomoric and unprofessional. What I DO mean is that you need to show them VALUE. You need to show them how your skills and personality will fit within their culture, and you need to show them that you would be able to hit the ground running with their company.

The fact of the matter is that the average hiring manager will only spend an average of a few seconds reviewing your cover letter before they decide whether or not to continue on and read through your resume. It’s essentially their very first line of defense against horrible job candidates. Thus, in those crucial first seconds you better do everything right! You better show them what they want to see, and you better make it as easy on them as possible. After all, if your cover letter looks like it was written by a baboon, then the assumption is that your resume probably does to. And why should anyone waste their time with you after that?

So, in addition to ensuring your cover letter is well-written, you also want to make sure it is as succinct and eye-catching as possible. A good way to grab the reader’s attention is to include a few bullet points with relevant keywords and skills that are applicable to the job you are applying for. Not too many, you don’t want to intimidate or bore them, but just enough to let them know you are a serious professional and that your expertise are in line with their needs. You can start of with a brief introductory paragraph, explaining your intentions, and follow that with a statement such as, “Please consider the following highlights from my resume:”. Then you can add a few bullet points under that.

Cover Letter to Target Marijuana Jobs

To conclude your cover letter to target marijuana jobs, I would recommend a statement that conveys your enthusiasm and also suggests they read your resume for further information. Perhaps something along the lines of, “I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can address the unique challenges of this position. I thank you for reviewing my resume and look forward to hearing from you soon!”

In the end, the best advice I can give you is to make sure you proofread your cannabis cover letter multiple times or you have someone else review it for you. A second set of eyes can be an invaluable resource. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen hiring managers throw a perfectly good cover letter or resume into the “junk” pile because there were typos on it. And you can’t rely on spellcheck, trust me. For instance, spellcheck won’t catch it if you try to type “public”, but actually type “pubic”. That’s a big difference, I’m sure you would agree!

Best of luck in your cannabis job search and if you need help with your marijuana resume or cover letter then please feel free to contact me. I offer fast and affordable resume writing services for all levels of cannabis professionals and I’m here to help!

JR Hindman is a freelance resume writer and the owner of MarijuanaResumes.com. He has years of cross-functional experience in the hiring industry and the cannabis industry and has helped countless individuals to land their dream jobs.

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