When Hector Santa Cruz tells people he works in staffing, they don’t bat an eyelash. But when he adds that it’s for the cannabis industry, their eyes light up.

“That exists?” Santa Cruz said strangers ask him. “It’s always fun to see that reaction.”

After spending almost a decade working for medical marijuana collectives, Santa Cruz saw a need for reliable workers that weren’t just friends of friends or your sister’s husband’s cousin. He and partner Chris Abkarian co-founded Emerald Opportunities last year, a full-service staffing agency for the cannabis industry. The Hollywood firm fills everything from part-time temp work to full-time direct hires for mostly California clients, such as dispensaries, growers and edibles makers. The firm has placed more than 200 employees so far, said Santa Cruz.

Emerald expanded its services earlier this year through the purchase of THCJobs.com, a Monster.com-type site for cannabis-related work. Whereas Emerald takes a percentage of placed candidates’ annual base salary, THCJobs generates revenue from ads and fees for featured job or company postings.

Santa Cruz has been getting the word out to potential clients and talent by attending a spate of career fairs, a more recent development for the budding industry. Next week, he’ll head to Phoenix, where Emerald and THCJobs will be title sponsors of a career fair at the Southwest Cannabis Conference and Expo.

While pot expos have been around for some time, Santa Cruz said recruiting events started popping up after Colorado legalized marijuana use for adults a few years ago. The state’s dispensaries soon began branching out into related businesses, such as manufacturing vaping pens, and needed to staff up.

“They started doing career fairs to find employees for their auxiliary companies, and from there that snowballed,” Santa Cruz said. “It’s been great to see. Honestly, I always welcome more professionalism within this industry.”

– Marni Usheroff