I was only here for 3 months and I resigned by myself, I think I might have been a bit burnt out at the end. If you haven't worked in the cannabis industry before, it might be a bit of a difficult adjustment. I resigned due to a combination of things. I have never resigned from a position before because I've seen potential in the roles that I've applied for, but this one was just not for me.
- Interviewing process took 3 months + a video editing test
- Overtime is expected and encouraged by management. Something that worried me was hearing from co-workers that they can't sleep at night because all they think about is work and they can't get a break. I've had bad cases of burning out before due to a high work ethic, I wanted to take a step back and not let that happen again. The company posts mental health facebook workplace posts, but there's a difference in saying something and leading by example. People in management usually say they'll work on something during the weekend and then you feel like you should be working overtime too. An HR representative told me that "they're used to it because they'd been working there for many years" but that's not healthy or good? People have lives outside of work too.
- Company structure a bit of a mess, file organization is non-existent, it's everywhere and not in one place. They use so many different platforms it's difficult to find information or documents that are properly updated.
- Brand is inconsistent
- They use an "EOS" system, which makes you set goals for 90 days. At first, it makes sense because it seems structured, but they don't tell you that in-between the "rocks" (goals) you will be working on millions of other projects - which can be very stressful and lead to less time being creative in the role or actually giving you time to finish the projects themselves. If you finish all your goals within the quarter, I believe there is a monetary bonus to this, but it feels a bit difficult being able to finish all of them. Sometimes you won't be able to finish certain goals because you depend on someone else to hand something in, which delays your own process.
- I wish there had been more time appointed for the creative process in certain projects. There are so many projects to do all the time and the expected standard is very high. The pace of the projects is high.
- Marketing team gets sent inspiration videos by high profile companies like Nike and Tesla frequently. I understand it's good to get inspiration from higher places, but those are 500 million dollar marketing teams and the team's resources are small here. You have a lot of pressure on your shoulders, at least I felt that way. I felt like I was constantly letting myself down all the time because I wasn't reaching that level. A lot of the creative stuff I worked on got shot down frequently and it can get a bit demotivating at times, especially when they're a bit unsure of what they want creatively. The branding direction isn't quite there yet. Help me help you. I feel like I was setting myself up for failure a lot.
- The cannabis industry is a bit of a tough adjustment if you've never worked with it before. I had a hard time relating to the industry as a whole.
- Working from home is only available during COVID, after that the role will be in-house in Surrey. Wish working from home in the future was an option.
I feel bad because most people there are nice and mean well, I don't want to be negative but the role wasn't quite what it was advertised to be. I went in feeling very positive about the role, but the longer I stayed the more I just felt that it wasn't for me.