Thousands Of Houstonians Turn Out For What May Be The Largest Job Fair In United's History

Growing up in New Orleans, Trang Dang recalled, becoming a flight attendant was not among the careers — doctor, lawyer, dentist — her family encouraged her to pursue. 

But while working in the hospitality and startup industries, which had her flying often, she came to view the American aviation industry as “an underdog” career choice, she said Thursday, offering workers a variety of roles at major companies. And as a Vietnamese-American, she recognizes the value of having more bilingual professionals in the industry.  

“I see United as everything I want to do,” Dang, 33, said at United’s job fair at the Hilton Houston North near George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

It may have been the largest job fair in the Chicago-based airline’s history, executives said, with some 8,000 people pre-registered to attend and quite a few walking in. 

United plans to fill 2,100 jobs in the Houston market this year as part of a nationwide push that has the airline planning to hire 15,000 workers across the U.S. in 2023 and 50,000 by 2026.  

“We need pilots, we need technicians, we need flight attendants, we need airport agents,” said Kate Gebo, United’s executive vice president of human resources, on a conference call Wednesday, adding that the airline also has a few spots open in the HR department. 

Related: United's new job training program brings business and labor together

Hiring aircraft maintenance technicians, Gebo said, has proven to be the airline’s biggest challenge since the economy opened up late in the pandemic. The result was a red-hot labor market and a booming travel industry. The need is such that United in March launched a new training program, Calibrate, in Houston. 

The hope is that some 1,000 workers will be trained through the program by 2026, as part of United’s plans to hire 7,000 maintenance technicians by that time. Such apprenticeship programs, Gebo said, are key to the airline’s growth. 

“They’re going to be essential for companies like United going forward,” Gebo said. 

Across the nation, there are signs that the labor market is cooling “gradually,” as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday in announcing another interest rate hike, this time a quarter of a point. Wage increases, for example, are moderating, even as the unemployment rate remains low, at 3.5 percent nationwide as of March.

But the Houston area has seen significant population growth as well as job growth in recent years, pushing the regional unemployment rate to 4.9 percent — and making for some Texas-size job fairs. 

erica.grieder@houstonchronicle.com

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