Recruits workers for oil and gas companies
Direct Recruitment Services, a local company that recruits workers for oil and gas companies, holds a job fair in El Paso every two weeks, seeking workers for the oil fields.
And, every two weeks, as many as 40 people – mostly truck drivers and diesel mechanics – are hired and leave El Paso for the oil boomtowns of Midland and Odessa in Texas, as well as Hobbs, New Mexico, according to DRS president Mauro Medina.
“It’s like an addiction. You come out here and want to keep coming back,” Medina said, speaking from Hobbs.
Based on his experiences there, Medina estimated that as many as 80 percent of the workers in Hobbs were from El Paso.
Texas is in the midst of a fracking boom, which has opened up vast sources of oil and natural gas. Even though Midland and Odessa are 300 miles away, the demand for workers has stretched to El Paso, Medina said.
That’s made it hard for some El Paso companies, especially those in the trucking business, to find and retain workers.
“It is by far the most difficult driver recruiting market I have ever seen,” said Scott McLaughlin, president of El Paso-based Stagecoach Cartage and Distribution.
McLaughlin’s father founded the company in El Paso 28 years ago. It has 150 trucks and employs 180 drivers.