Liz Gray, CEO, The Bergaila Companies

In an interview with Invest:, Liz Gray, CEO of staffing agency The Bergaila Companies, outlined how the Houston-based workforce solutions firm has built nearly four decades of success in the energy sector by pairing operational flexibility with a human-first approach to recruitment. “We sell opportunity. That is what we do, and that is what we are proud of. This is not just a job; this is a career,” Gray said.

What major industry changes have most significantly shaped hiring and workforce needs?

One of the great benefits of a contingent workforce firm like The Bergaila Companies in today’s economy is the flexibility we offer employers in an uncertain and volatile marketplace. There are many reasons to be positive about the domestic oil and gas and energy markets, though global developments have shifted recently.

If anything, that underscores the value we bring — we allow clients to be flexible and meet demand, whether that’s for a fixed period or for long-term manpower initiatives involving significant headcount growth in a new part of the country or at a corporate office here in Houston. We’re able to do that across a broad class of professionals, from administrative staff to accountants, finance professionals, project directors, and various levels of engineers.

What advantage does Houston offer when it comes to building and supporting a strong energy workforce?

In the 21st century, even when a corporate office is based in Houston, oil and gas companies have resources all over the country and all over the world. A company may be headquartered here but supporting projects in the Gulf of America, managing downstream assets in other parts of the country, or running international projects from multiple centers. It’s rare that a role stays entirely contained to one office without travel or engagement across time zones.

That said, the beauty of being based in Houston is that it remains a highly sought-after city, particularly for young professionals looking to grow or strengthen their craft. Houston has always been well positioned to support the developing professional — you can build a career, start a family, and take those important early and mid-career steps here. That remains true today, and it continues to attract people who are serious about building something meaningful in the energy industry.

The Bergaila Companies is a mid- to large-sized firm, and I believe the reason we’ve been successful across four decades is that same ability to be flexible: domestically focused, working all over the United States, and consistently driving home service excellence with our internal employees, our contractors, and our clients.

Where are you seeing the strongest demand for talent across the energy sector, and which skills are most sought after?

There is still a strong and growing need in the facilities engineering space — mechanical, process, chemical, and electrical engineers with experience in onshore unconventional projects, particularly upstream oil and gas in areas like West Texas. If you’re in that three- to 15-year range as a professional and have worked around pipelines, compressors, and similar infrastructure, that is a highly sought-after profile right now.

The second area is project controls — planning, scheduling, cost, and estimating — particularly within upstream and midstream unconventional oil and gas. And the third is automation: process controls, instrumentation engineering, and professionals with hands-on experience with programmable logic controllers and distributed control system hardware. If you can program and implement the automation used across the oil and gas industry, that demand is going to continue. It’s a trend we’ve seen building over the last 10 to 15 years, and it is not slowing down.

How is the integration of automation and new technology changing the types of roles clients are seeking?

We used to have many manual operators out in the field, at drilling sites, plant sites, and similar locations. Now automation is coming in to monitor those same sites remotely. But you still need a human in some type of control center, overseeing what the automation is producing, whether that’s a well or a compressor. What we’re seeing is a shift where seasoned field professionals are moving into control room environments, working alongside the automation systems rather than being replaced by them. The professionals who can bridge traditional expertise and emerging technology are the ones in the highest demand.

How are your clients approaching workforce planning, and what does the project-based staffing model mean in practice?

It depends on the size of the company. For smaller to midsized private oil and gas companies, the project-based model is often the most efficient way to manage front-end labor costs. They’ll enlist The Bergaila Companies to hire a defined number of engineers or project support professionals, who are then placed on site for several months. That relieves both the short- and long-term burden for companies that are not certain what comes next once a project wraps.

One thing we’re especially proud of is our direct hire conversion rate. Over the last couple of years, 40% to 50% of the contractors we place have transitioned into direct, full-time roles with the client company. That tells us we’re putting the right people in the right places, and that both the client and the worker are finding real, lasting value in the relationship.

What are the top priorities for The Bergaila Companies over the next two to three years?

Service excellence has always been the foundation of everything we do, and I mean that in a deeper sense than just a corporate tagline. I have always believed that service is sales. They are one and the same. That philosophy runs through every layer of our organization, from the recruiter who is the first touchpoint with a candidate, to the account managers we’ve embedded in regions across the country to meet the daily needs of our clients and contractors on the ground.

Looking ahead, the priority is applying that same standard to our technology infrastructure. We are in the process of implementing the right applicant tracking system to find candidates faster and serve our clients more efficiently. What we will not do is remove the human element from the process. We were recently pitched an AI chatbot that would screen candidates on our website and green- or red-light them before they ever spoke to a recruiter.

We said absolutely not. The technology has to be molded to our business model, not the other way around. Our goal is to use it to help our recruiters search more efficiently, not to replace the relationships that have defined this company since its founding in 1987.

We sell opportunity. That is what we do, and that is what we are proud of. This is not just a job; this is a career, and that is something we will continue to drive home across everything we do.