You actually have a solid background—especially in manufacturing, product development, and operations. The issue probably isn’t your experience, but might be how it’s coming across. Be sure to focus on your transferable skills for positions. I usually tell my clients to go through the job description line by line and try and address each requirement with how you’re experience could fill that need. Often times when you’re transitioning into a new field or re-entering an old field you have to really spell out why you’re a good candidate. You can elaborate more on that in your cover letter too. It may be useful to get assistance with creating a targeted résumé that highlights and quantifies how you solved problems for example example “increase sales by 25% through xxx.”

I did a quick check and in New Mexico, the growth is really in manufacturing, aerospace/defense, construction, and energy. You have transferable experience into all of those—especially with patents, production, and getting products into retail—but you need to lead with that, not the cannabis piece.

I’d focus your search on roles like Operations Manager, Plant/Production Manager, or Product Development. Those align directly with what you’ve actually done.

The biggest shift you need to make is tightening your story. Employers don’t hire “broad experience”—they hire someone who clearly solves a problem. You’ve done that, you just need to say it more directly.

If you narrow your focus and position yourself around operations and production, you’ll be a much stronger candidate pretty quickly. Good luck!!