By: TONI ROSARIO Director of Recruiting & HR BIC Recruiting
BIC Recruiting: Professional Perspectives
Everyone wants to talk about the labor shortage when the market is slow. Nobody wants to talk about what happens to recruiting when the market is running at record levels.
Right now, it is running hot. Refiners are posting historic earnings. Turnaround backlogs are full. Facilities that spent the last two years managing costs are now managing capacity. And the companies that need to staff up to meet that demand are running into a different version of the same problem. Talent is not available. And the talent that is available knows it.
When everybody hires at the same time
The second quarter of 2026 was one of the most profitable quarters on record for Gulf Coast refiners. Chevron, Valero, ExxonMobil and Marathon Petroleum all posted numbers that reflected a market operating near its limits. That kind of performance does not happen without people. And when every facility in your market is trying to hire or retain the same pool of experienced professionals simultaneously, the dynamics shift fast.
Candidates who were open to conversations six months ago are no longer looking. The ones who are looking know exactly what they are worth right now, and they are right. Counteroffers are more aggressive than they have been in years. And the experienced operations, maintenance and reliability professionals who are genuinely available in this market are not available for long. A hot market does not make recruiting easier. It makes it faster and more competitive, and companies that move slowly lose people they had already decided they wanted.
What this market rewards
Speed. Companies with a clear, efficient process from first conversation to offer are the ones closing candidates. The ones with four rounds of interviews and a three-week decision timeline are losing to competitors who move in a week.
Compensation clarity matters more in a hot market than in a slow one. When candidates have leverage, ambiguity about salary reads as a red flag. Being direct about what you are offering and why it is competitive is not just courteous. It is a recruiting strategy.
The relationship matters too. In this market, candidates often choose between companies they have never heard of and companies they already trust. That is one of the things BIC Recruiting has built over 25-plus years in this industry. When we bring a candidate a conversation, they take it seriously because the relationship is already there.
The profile that is hardest to place right now
Mid-level operations and maintenance leadership is where the squeeze is tightest. Experienced plant supervisors, reliability engineers, turnaround coordinators and maintenance managers with a decade or more in the downstream sector are in higher demand than I have seen in a long time. These roles directly determine whether a facility executes a turnaround on schedule, and facilities that need them are competing for the same small pool of candidates.
What companies can do
Have the conversation before the position is open. The candidates you want in a hot market are almost never actively looking. Reaching them requires a relationship, not a job posting.
Know what you can actually offer. If you do not know where your offers land relative to what the market is paying right now, you will lose candidates at the offer stage. The data has shifted significantly in the last 18 months. Move when you find the right person. The delay between interview and offer is where companies lose people in this market. The process needs to be ready before you start looking.
The market will not run like this forever. It never does. But right now, the companies treating recruiting as a strategic priority are the ones building the teams that will define performance when conditions normalize.
For more information, visit bicrecruiting.com, email trosario@bicrecruiting.com or call (281) 538-9996.