A Greater Houston company is ramping up production of fiberglass composite utility poles \u2014 and it\u2019s looking to hire hundreds of workers to help get the job done.<\/p>\n
Resilient Structures, based in Humble, manufactures poles designed to withstand winds topping 140 mph \u2014 the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. The company is now hiring for a range of full-time positions, and a college degree isn\u2019t required for all of them.<\/p>\n
Beryl exposed weaknesses in Houston\u2019s power grid<\/p>\n
When Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas as a Category 1 storm in 2024, it knocked out power to millions across the Greater Houston area. Downed utility poles were a significant factor in leaving some neighborhoods without electricity for days.<\/p>\n
Alisa Madrid, a buyer at Resilient Structures, remembers it well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was here. I was fortunate that I only lost power for 12 hours, but I did have family members who lost power 10 days,\u201d Madrid said.<\/p>\n
The storm exposed just how vulnerable the region\u2019s power infrastructure was. Since then, CenterPoint Energy has been replacing thousands of wooden poles with stronger fiberglass ones \u2014 many of which are being manufactured at the Humble facility.<\/p>\n
Inside production floor<\/p>\n
On the production floor, dozens of workers are already busy building the poles. The facility is loud \u2014 and according to Resilient Structures, it\u2019s only going to get louder as production scales up.<\/p>\n
Rob Krotee, executive vice president of Sales & Marketing at Resilient Structures, says the company is still in the early stages of its hiring push.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be hiring at full scale. We\u2019ll probably be over 300 people. So we still have hundreds more jobs that we\u2019ll be hiring here for our Houston facility,\u201d Krotee said.<\/p>\n
The open positions span a variety of skill sets.<\/p>\n
\u201cA number of different skilled kind of work, whether it\u2019s equipment operators, there\u2019s some technical skilled work in our filament lining, which is unique to our composite poles. So they\u2019re great full-time career opportunities with quite a bit of a runway as we continue to build and grow in support of the utility industry,\u201d Krotee said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
More than just a job<\/p>\n
For Madrid, who has worked at Resilient Structures for a few months, the role carries a deeper sense of purpose. She says knowing the poles her team builds could help keep other families powered during future storms makes the work meaningful.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s what makes Resilient Structures so special \u2014 I\u2019m able to see the direct impact now. And I\u2019m reminded of that daily,\u201d Madrid said.<\/p>\n