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They say, “everything is bigger in Texas,” and electrical contractor Rosendin aims to live up to that saying with an ambitious hiring drive in the central part of the state. The company launched a target to hire 700 workers last month to develop the region’s digital and energy infrastructure.
“Our growth in Texas catapulted in 2023, with contract awards in biomedical, transportation, semiconductor and mission critical,” said Shaun Mahan, Rosendin’s chief operating officer.
Mahan said the San Jose, Calif.-based company posted revenue of $560.7 million in 2023, up 8 percent from a year earlier.
“The momentum from 2023 has continued throughout 2024 and we expect it to extend well beyond 2025,” Mahan said. “We continue to see tremendous growth in the data center market to support the growing demand for AI, cloud resources and data analytics. The demand for skilled tradespeople and project leadership continues to outpace the supply of labor “.
The hiring plan specifically focuses on growing Rosendin’s teams in Dallas-Fort Worth, Temple, Abilene and Austin. Rosendin workers have contributed to projects such as the terminal expansion at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and infrastructure improvements at Texas A&M and the University of Texas.
The company is currently hiring Commercial Electricians, Solar Panel Technicians, and Installers for a variety of Texas-based projects including offsite manufacturing, aviation, transportation, semiconductor installations, commercial , educational, data centers and renewable energy projects.
“We’ve been investing in Texas for more than a decade and these projects will bring another seven to 10 years of steady work,” Mahan said.
Find labor
Given the current shortage of skilled laborRosendin developed a strategy to find the workers it needs in an effort to separate itself from the competition.
The company coordinated with local chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Association of Electrical Contractors to develop the Electrical Training Alliance, Mahan said.
“This program combines face-to-face and online learning to enhance the learning experience and provide flexibility,” he said.
In addition to partnering with local unions to attract men and women interested in a career as an electrician, the company seeks to build the long-term workforce by partnering with local school districts to educate students, their parents and teachers about opportunities in the industry, Mahan said.
For this reason, the company increased its recruiting efforts in Texas, incl development of a recruitment website go to the artisans of the area.
Qualifications for jobs
Rosendin is hiring at all skill levels and is open to learning opportunities at all stages of an artisan’s career. For example, the company developed the Craft Empowerment Program to help give its electricians additional support in the field.
“The program provides a workplace with additional team members who are available to answer safety and quality questions and provide an outlet for our project teams to make suggestions on how to make our project sites safer, introduce innovations or create camaraderie among contractors.” Mahan said. “Rosendin also offers robust in-house training programs including an electrical boot camp, OSHA certifications, first aid/CPR and more. Our electricians are trained in the latest innovations in tools to perform their jobs safely and with a high level of quality”.
As of early November, things were going “extremely well” with the hiring process, but most of the hiring will happen next spring: Rosendin expects to bring on board roughly 500 electricians by April, according to Mahan.
Rosendin was recently ranked by ENR Texas as the #1 electrical contractor in Texas, so it hasn’t been too much of a challenge to find interested workers.
“We anticipate that the new hires in Texas will become valuable assets to the Rosendin team and potential conduits for future leadership, innovations and award-winning work,” said Mahan. “We’re a culture of learning and development, so it’s always exciting to see what the next generation of artisans will do with their legacies.”
