The role of a dispensary manager is one of responsibility and requires the person to be in charge of all the operations at a legal marijuana dispensary. The person is, in short, responsible for overseeing everything in the dispensary, right from monitoring the cannabis to looking after sales and customer service.
Here you can find the top 20 interview questions and answers for applicants preparing to be a dispensary manager.
1. Why Are You Interested In This Role?
The interviewers ask this question to know what drives you towards applying for this job. Say why you are keen on doing this job and what qualities make you a suitable candidate.
Sample Answer
“I have always been passionate about cannabis and wanted to join this industry for better opportunities. I feel it would give me the chance to be involved with something I feel passionate about, and create some change to empower others.”
2. What Are The Roles Of A Dispensary Manager?
The interview wants to check if you are aware of the roles and duties of a dispensary manager. Enlist the duties that you feel a dispensary manager must perform.
Sample Answer
“Dispensary managers must oversee the operations at a cannabis dispensary. The manager is responsible for monitoring the cannabis inventory, training to ensure excellent customer service, setting standards for product delivery, and promoting the benefits of marijuana to increase sales. The person must also have excellent communication and conflict-resolving skills for the role.”
3. What Are The Qualities That A Dispensary Manager Need To Be Successful?
The recruiters may wish to know whether you know all the qualities needed to make a successful dispensary manager. Mention the qualities you feel can make a person successful in this role.
Sample Answer
“A dispensary manager should have strong managerial skills to oversee all the functions at the dispensary and effectively organize and pay attention to every detail. The person should have administrative skills and also be efficient in training and managing retail staff to ensure excellent customer service. Apart from managerial skills, communication skills are also very important for this job role. A dispensary manager must uphold the mission and values of the company.”
4. What Major Challenges Did You Face During Your Last Role? How Did You Manage Them?
The recruiter tries to know how you have faced challenges in your previous role and how you showed your determination to overcome them. Your answer should reflect how the challenges made you a better professional.
Sample Answer
“As a budtender, I found it the biggest challenge to destigmatize the use of cannabis and convince people about the medical benefits they can have. Sometimes, even after my efforts, people wouldn’t be convinced. But, that’s exactly where you shouldn’t stop. The moment you stop, you defeat the entire cause of the industry and make the research work a failure. I kept trying by reading up more and educating people about cannabis and became successful in not only convincing people but also hearing successful stories about how cannabis helped them.”
5. Describe Your Daily Routine As A Dispensary Manager?
The interviewer asks this question to see how you plan to organize the duties involved in the role of a dispensary manager. Chalk out the basic duties daily to show your research about the role.
Sample Answer
“As a dispensary manager, I must prioritize the sales and customer service of my company before everything else. Therefore, tending to consumer complaints and suggestions or ensuring that their queries get answered and they are served with the best products is my primary responsibility. To ensure it, I would need to interact with, train, educate and oversee the staff members regularly. Moreover, I must also dedicate time to record-keeping, inventory management and maintain liaison with the local service providers to check everything is happening in accordance with legal guidelines.”
6. Describe Briefly About Your Experience
Interviewers ask you about your educational qualifications and professional experience, if any, to see how far you are suited for the present role. Mention if you have had any previous experience in the cannabis industry and the roles you have handled.
Sample Answer
“After my education, I was looking for an unusual career that I would be passionate about. I had just started knowing about the medical benefits of cannabis and the field really attracted my interests. The legalization procedure had just begun and I found it both interesting and challenging to dedicate myself to this new industry that works towards a cause. I joined the company as a budtender as I have mentioned on my resume. Over the years as a budtender, I have educated myself about cannabis and its benefits, and have successfully made people know about facts and research findings that they weren’t aware of. My experience has prepared me to develop myself further in this career and work towards expanding the cannabis industry with my dedication.”
7. What Kind of Strategies And Mindset Is Required For This Role?
Recruiters may ask you this question to see what personal skills and strategies you have for this role of dispensary manager. Speak about the kind of mindset the job demands and how you make an expert candidate because you possess it.
Sample Answer
“The role of a dispensary manager requires a person open to new research and one who is ready to embrace and preach these changes to the world. A dispensary manager should possess a growth mindset not only for career development but to help the industry as well. This is not a field where you can stay just for money. You need to be passionate about the subject, believe in it, and help people embrace the healing qualities so that medical use of cannabis can flourish.”
8. What Is the Biggest Challenge That You Foresee In This Job?
Interviewers will ask you to describe the potential challenges as a dispensary manager to see if you are prepared to handle them and how you would do that. Research well about the specific challenges in the role and focus on how an able candidate would deal with them every day.
Sample Answer
“The biggest challenge for anybody in the cannabis industry and especially the dispensary manager is to educate and aware people about the medical benefits of marijuana and destigmatize the industry. The dispensary manager must ensure that customers get the right information, that their queries are tended to by the staff and they are served with the best products. Ensuring sales and good customer satisfaction in this field is the biggest challenge here.”
9. How Do You Stay Motivated In Your Work?
Interviewers often resort to this question to understand your dedication and how you keep yourself motivated in your job.
Sample Answer
“Being a budtender, I often had to go through long conversations that ended fruitless at times. It is easy to lose interest after repeated failures sometimes, but that’s where I felt the need to make myself better and win over the challenges. My motivation comes from the urge to have more successful moments and taking them as small but significant achievements in the cause I believe in both professionally and personally.”
10. Describe A Time When You Failed In This Role And The Lesson You Learnt?
Interviewers may test whether you honestly speak about your failures and what you learned from such incidents. Frankly, narrate any specific incident where you failed in your duty and how it became a vital learning experience.
Sample Answer
“Failure is perhaps necessary for a person’s career to create opportunities for learning experiences. As a budtender, I initially believed that my job is to convince people to increase sales. But, the mistake I was making was concentrating on selling instead of advising and providing factual information to customers. I was made to see the mistake I had been making. Since then, I have understood the importance of providing customers with genuine and reliable information to educate them about cannabis at first.”
11. Why Do You Feel You Are The Most Suited For This Role?
The interviewers would like you to highlight why they should hire you over others applying for the role. Try to be specific and highlight the exceptional quality that keeps you above others.
Sample Answer
“With my years of experience as a budtender and personal study about the field of medical research in cannabis, I feel I can pour in a great lot of contribution to your company. I like to research about the field to keep myself well-informed about the changes happening in the cannabis industry so that I can work better on sales and promotion. Moreover, I am immensely dedicated to this field and can also assure you that I have great managerial as well as communication skills needed to be successful at this job.”
12. Share With Us Your Greatest Achievement.
Interviewers may wish to hear about your biggest achievement so far to see how you have progressed in your last job and what you have learned. Mention any incident where you felt you have been successful at what you had been doing. You may also talk about how your failures turned into your biggest achievement one day.
Sample Answer
“I have been working as a budtender for quite a few years. Initially, whenever I told people about my unusual career choice, I would find a lot of negative comments. People refused to take me seriously. But with time, as I increased my convincing and promoting skills to make people aware about the medical benefits of legal marijuana, showcase products, and answer all questions from customers regarding them. At a point of time, someone praised me for choosing this job role and being so passionate about what I believe in, and how I was doing it like a true professional this industry needs. I felt really successful at that moment, and finally felt that my efforts got validated.”
13. What Are The Characteristic Benefits Of Indicas And Sativas?
This is a technical question directly related to cannabis. The interviewers wish to see how deeply you know about the field. Answer in brief about the question asked, highlighting the main difference in benefits between the two.
Sample Answer
“Sativas offer an energizing and stimulating effect upon a person to reduce stress and anxiety and spark creativity. On the other hand, indicas help in reducing sleeplessness and provide a deeply relaxing sensation.”
14. What Are Terpenes?
This is another technical question related to cannabis. Describe what you know about the term to show your knowledge in the field that helps to establish yourself as the ablest candidate.
Sample Answer
“Terpenes are aromatic chemical compounds found in plants like lavender, pine, and cannabis that determine the characteristic smell of the plants. There are high concentrations of terpenes present in cannabis, and research shows that it has several health benefits on the human body. The compound is mainly responsible for the aromas and flavors in cannabis.”
15. What Do You Know About Medicinal Cannabis?
The interviewers probably wish to see how well-informed you are regarding this area of research regarding cannabis. Since this is a relatively new industry, they want to test whether you are aware of the medical research going on with legal marijuana.
Sample Answer
“Marijuana plant has well over 100 different types of chemicals known as cannabinoids, and each of them has a different benefit for the human body. Research is being conducted to understand and put to use these several benefits of marijuana after it has been made legal in several countries. It has immense potential benefits to help with depression, stress, anxiety, chronic pain, cancer pain, etc.
16. Do You Feel Joining The Industry Will Help You Bring A Change?
The interviewers try to see your views regarding the job and the industry with this question. They need to know how well you perceive the job role as an opportunity to bring about a change, thus progressing with their vision. Answer how you wish to take this to change people’s mindsets and further empower people with the sea of medical benefits.
Sample Answer
“For several years, the industry was in the dark because of the stigma associated with it. With relaxations in the cannabis laws, it has paved the way for beneficial medical research about the plant. I wish to involve myself in this job role to change people’s mindsets and make them aware about the legal use of marijuana to lead a happier and healthy life.”
17. What Do You Know About Our Company?
The interviewers want to know the real reason why you choose to be a part of their company. Research well about the company you are interviewing for. You may check their website beforehand to achieve relevant background information about their views and mission. Understand their vision and say what you particularly admire about the company and why you think it relates to your personal views.
Sample Answer
“I have found out how this company is not just focused on tapping the financial benefits out of cannabis, but believes it to be a powerhouse source of healing and recovery, empowering people. The vision exactly matches my views on marijuana, and I find myself perfectly fitting with the company’s outlook and driving force towards business.”
18. Why Are You Leaving Your Last Job?
The reason to ask this seemingly innocent question is to see how appropriately you answer this. They are looking for something other than people seeking a better salary. Thus, speak about career development and how you have prepared yourself to rise to this position in your last job over the years.
Sample Answer
“I am quite content and happily involved with my current job role. But staying content at this position is not how I plan to shape my career. After being a budtender for quite some time, I wish to rise up to the position of a manager in the cannabis industry to help myself develop as a professional in this field.”
19. How Has Cannabis Affected Your Life?
The interviewers may wish to find out whether you are really passionate and enthusiastic about cannabis and how it has personally affected you towards exploring its benefits. The answer may be a dealbreaker here. Thus, answer how you feel cannabis has positively influenced your life which drives you towards working in this industry.
Sample Answer
“I have always been keen on studying the positive influences of legal marijuana. It has helped me deal better with anxiety and pain, and liberate myself from worries and mental blockages. The physical and mental benefits you derive from cannabis are wonderful. Decrease chronic pain and workout injuries, or sparking creativity in people, cannabis has a huge load of positive potentials.”
20. State Your Greatest Strengths
Most interviews will want you to highlight your greatest strengths as a person. Talk about your strong sides or positive qualities in general, which also seem befitting for the job role you are applying for.
Sample Answer
“I feel that my greatest strength is being able to keep myself motivated even under great pressure and handle stressful situations with a calm head. I always keep pushing myself to learn new things every day and expand my vision to keep myself motivated and passionate about the work I do. Perhaps, that is why I try to take stress positively and as a challenge to come out better at the end of the tunnel.”
Conclusion
The aim of interviewing for this job role is to test whether you have the supervising and managerial abilities to run the marijuana dispensary and carry out the day-to-day functions. Frame your answers effectively to impress the people on the other side of the table with your personality and skills.
