FORBES: New Search Engine Features Jobs That Don’t Require Drug Tests For Marijuana

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajherrington/2021/10/12/new-search-engine-features-jobs-that-dont-require-drug-tests-for-marijuana/?sh=50fa1dbe5284

Cannabis consumers seeking employment opportunities can help narrow the hunt thanks to a new search engine that exclusively features jobs that do not require drug screenings for marijuana as a condition of employment. Dubbed Phynally, the online resource launched by Philadelphia entrepreneur Damian Jorden in April can save job hunters the disappointment of finding an exciting prospect only to learn that they will be subject to a pre-employment screening for marijuana use before they apply.

“We are the LinkedIn for cannabis users,” Jorden, 35, told Philadelphia magazine this summer. “We want to match people with transparent employers who have transitioned out of those old policies that date back to the War on Drugs — employers who know that the future is legalization.”

Job hunters can upload their résumés to the site for free, and Jorden says that more than 7,000 candidates have done so since launch. Users can search for available positions by business sector or location and use their uploaded résumé to apply. Employers can also find potential candidates by searching the data base of résumés.

“I realized that a lot of my friends, colleagues and associates who consumed cannabis for a medical condition would essentially stop consuming their medicine to go through the interview process blindly, not knowing if the company they were interviewing for screened for cannabis or not,” he says in a virtual interview.

At the same time, he adds, there are many employers that do not screen job candidates for marijuana use. Amazon, the second-largest employer in the U.S., announced in June that it would no longer subject applicants for most of its jobs to drug tests for cannabis and encouraged its delivery partners to do the same. Jorden expects many employers, particularly those seeking highly educated candidates, to follow the trend and relax their policies regarding cannabis use by employees.

“The main reason behind it is that 47% of college graduates consume cannabis,” says Jordan. “This is today’s working class.”

But the lingering stigma of cannabis and the taboos associated with marijuana and the workplace leave a barrier between cannabis consumers and progressive employers. That barrier, Jorden says, was the inspiration to “create a platform to connect two groups of people who have essentially been conditioned to avoid each other.”

Phynally is currently in its first round of fundraising, seeking to attract $2 million in investment to grow the company’s platform. Jorden says the firm is also generating revenue through a service that connects patients with doctors who can write medical marijuana recommendations, and other new products are also in development. It’s all part of the goal, he says, to connect strong candidates who happen to use marijuana with employers eager to tap into their talent and skills.

“Just because someone consumes cannabis on their time does not mean they are not qualified for a position,” Jorden insists. “That’s why we are here to give employers access to a completely new pool of job seekers.”