United Independent School District held a job fair on Tuesday at Elias Herrera Middle School, drawing more than 350 applicants for positions ranging from teachers to custodians to security guards.
“We’re looking for citizens of Laredo to come into our employment status at UISD. We hope we can find teachers, bus drivers, custodians, teacher aides, plumbers, electrical folks, police officers, nurses, you name it,” said David Canales, Associate Superintendent of Human Resources.
“We’re basically like a small city and the way you run a small city is that you have every department you can think of. We have a job for you if you apply with us,” he added.
The district, which has 6,300 full-time employees and more than 1,000 part-time workers, has many openings, in large part because of the many who are retiring, according to Canales.
“We have quite a few that are retiring - all the baby boomers are thinking about retiring and then we have the first end of Generation X folks. They already have those 30 years, 31 years, 32 years,” he added.
UISD, which was the LMT Readers’ Choice for Best Place to Work in 2023, has a good compensation plan, decent pay and great benefits, Canales noted. For example, teachers work about 190 days and get paid from January through December.
“Where else can you find a job like that?” Canales said.
The district hires all year with every single type of job position. The district is in special need of positions such as special education teachers, teacher aides, bus drivers, custodians, grounds crew and police officers.
“Join our family, join our team. There is a lot of room for growth, a lot of room for advancement. I started out as a substitute and now I am the Associate Superintendent of Human Resources,” Canales said.
One of those applicants looking for work was Marissa Rivera. She is looking for an instructional aide or substitute position.
She has worked with autistic children as a behavioral therapist and worked for UISD as an in-home trainer years ago. Most recently she worked for a school district in Buda but has returned to her hometown and wants a job with UISD.
“It’s a top-notch district in Texas, and I’m proud to be an alumni from United High School,” she said. “This job fair is great. They got a really good turnout.”
More than 100 applicants packed into the library to seek substitute teaching jobs.
“We’ve seen many applicants today. This is a stepping stone to later on get hired as a teacher with the district,” said Patty Gutierrez, program coordinator for substitutes in Human Resources.
The district recently passed a major milestone by hiring the 1,000th substitute but, Gutierrez said, the district needs more.
Over in another part of the job fair, Sylvia Abrego, public information officer for the UISD Police Department, said they are trying to recruit police officers and security guards.
“We have had a variety of applicants for security guard positions. We wish we had more for police officers but the pool that has been coming in for security guards is young enough to send to the police academy,” Abrego said.
“There have been several really good candidates, some who had already applied and some just need to upload reference letters,” she added.
If you missed the UISD job fair, please get in touch with the district’s HR department by calling 956-473-6273 or stop by the office at 301 Lindenwood Dr.
Left to Right-David Canales, Associate Superintendent for Human Resources, Anabelle Ramos, HR Coordinator/Recruiter, Carla Rivera, HR Program Certification Coordinator, Jeanette Gonzalez, Position Control Specialist, and Dariel Ramirez, HR Coordinator/Recruiter
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