MEDICINE HAT, AB – Aurora Cannabis will be moving ahead soon when it comes to finding staff to work at their new Medicine Hat facility.
When the 1.2 million square foot Aurora Sun facility is completed, it will be the largest private employer in Medicine Hat.
The facility doesn’t need to be completed before Aurora starts hiring.
“The facility is going to modular so the facility itself doesn’t need to be complete before the first grow and first harvest can happen,” says David Howe, community relations for Aurora. “The individual growth bays can operate independent of each other.”
About 100 people are expected to be hired at the facility between now and May 2019 for more administrative positions.
The first growth bay is expected to be completed around April of next year, and as a result, roughly 350 positions will be filled to grow and tend to the cannabis.
“We anticipate our first harvest will come in the first half of next year so we need staff coming online before that harvest,” says Howe. “That’s really when the bulk of it will begin.”
Positions such as harvest team members, security, shipping and receiving, power engineers and even facility management will be available.
“Really you’re getting a wide array of positions, not just entry level labour positions,” says Howe. “But all the way to high paying general manager positions and the like.”
Aurora hopes the salary will be enticing to future employees, noting even the lowest paid positions will be ‘significantly higher’ than minimum wage.
Medicine Hat residents will also be the top choice for new employees.
“We want to locate in Medicine Hat because we recognize this community was particularly hard hit by that recent economic downturn,” says Howe. “We wanted to offer as many of these stable long term jobs as possible to help grow this community .”
There are currently four job opportunities with Aurora in Medicine Hat, listed on Aurora’s website.
There’s also a chance to submit a resume to the company at the Great West Home and Leisure Show from October 26 to 28.
