Recruiting will continue as the site adds up to 150 new positions this year, she said.Įngineering and construction colossus Bechtel Corp. She said energy companies have been among the more active recruiters.ĭow Chemical hired 19 former NASA workers, mostly engineers and technicians, at its massive manufacturing complex in Freeport, said Undrea Kennedy, human resources manager at the facility. Veronica Reyes, the center's director, said the facility has helped set up more than 300 interviews so far, but did not know how many have led to jobs. And it hosts job fairs, including a virtual one taking place this week and next online. It holds workshops to teach interviewing skills and provides tips on using social media sites like Facebook for networking. The Aerospace Transition Center has been working to revise the resumes of candidates like Quiñonez to highlight broad skills over shuttle-specific projects and jargon. Quiñonez, 39, is seeking work in the energy sector, which he believes is more stable than aerospace. I just don't know if industry sees it like that," he said. She believes there is more opportunity for employment in Houston than in many other large cities, but said the search has been more difficult than she expected.ĭavid Quiñonez, a senior systems engineer who was let go 19 weeks ago, agrees. "I've never been laid off in my life," Hartsfield said as she combed through online job listings at the Aerospace Transition Center, a small storefront in a strip mall in Clear Lake that helps former contractors find work. Keely Hartsfield, a quality assurance engineer with more than 20 years experience who lost her job at Johnson Space Center on Oct. Additional job losses are taking place in Florida and Alabama.Įven if energy companies are interested, the job search is tough. At Johnson Space Center in Houston, about 2,000 contractors have been let go since late last fall and another 2,000 will be cut by September, said Rachel Kraft, a JSC spokeswoman. The shuttle program is shutting down after 30 years and 135 flights, taking thousands of jobs with it. "You can always find room for people with these skill sets," said Teresa Wong, spokeswoman for oil field services giant Baker Hughes, which so far has hired two former NASA workers and continues recruiting from among their ranks. Several local energy companies said, given the caliber of most former NASA contractors, they are willing to take the chance. Aerospace engineers, for instance, may know how to get a crew safely to the International Space Station but very little about how oil and gas reservoirs behave. There are also questions about how easily work experience on the nation's space program will transfer to the oil field or chemical plant. They've snapped up engineers and other technical experts that are once again in high demand as high oil prices and improving economic conditions worldwide give the industry a boost, even as other sectors take longer to rebound.īut it's unclear how many of the laid-off workers have been hired so far, and how many jobs will be waiting for hundreds of others that will be let go after the space shuttle Atlantis lands for the last time on Thursday. Among companies that have hired or are recruiting former NASA contractors are major oil producers, oil field services providers, chemical makers and firms that build large-scale energy projects.
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