Spire highlights career opportunities during Careers in Energy Week

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- This week in October marks Careers in Energy Week for Spire.

Careers in Energy Week highlights jobs in the energy sector, especially as the need for skilled trade workers rises.

Spire has been working throughout the St. Joseph community, including replacing old steel pipes in the ground with new plastic pipes. 

Katie Shirey is a corrosion specialist for the St. Joseph region. She is responsible for inspecting underground steel mains and monitoring them for signs of corrosion.

"Going around town, reading different spots all over the main, and if I find any issues, I come up with plans to eradicate the corrosion that is happening," Shirey said. "Build some plans, get a crew out there, we dig it up, and we make repairs."

Shirey has always been a hands-on person and applied to Spire one night just on a whim. She had no prior experience, but Spire does training and makes sure you know everything before you start.

"I went to training they teach you everything that you need to know. They kinda build you into the job you’re going to be in," Shirey said. "I thought that was really cool."

Safety is Spire’s top priority, especially when it comes to its field workers.

"We start off with safety checks. You're always going to want to be safe out here on the job a lot of things can happen, anywhere from traffic control to personal protective equipment. Just being aware of your environment and keeping an eye for everybody all the time," Shirey said.

In 2024, women constituted 26% of the Natural Gas Fuels workforce, similar to the energy
workforce share of women. Shirey hopes to encourage more women to pursue careers in the energy industry.

"There's room for us out here and we're needed. There is only two of us here in St. Joe right now that works in the field," she said. "Me and another girl who is actually a foreman, and she's like killing it."

Shirey talks about her favorite aspects of the job.

"I really enjoy getting to meet new customers. i meet new people every single day. Where always working close to different contractors, home builders out here in the community. It's really cool and I meet a lot of cool people," she said.

Spire offers more than field positions, with a variety of office jobs that help keep the company running behind the scenes.

There are career opportunities in corporate communications and marketing, customer experience, engineering, finance, human resources and other fields.

Nicole Fondren is Spire’s talent acquisition manager. She oversees recruiting efforts across the company’s operations in Missouri, Alabama and Tennessee.

"I also handle a lot of the workforce development side," she said. "Which is different from recruiting. It is more of the strategies and initiatives around building our talent pipelines around the entire organization."

Spire offers opportunities for high school and college students interested in entering the energy industry, including college internships, high school career discovery programs and registered apprenticeship programs for technical school students.

Fondren said the biggest challenges facing the natural gas industry is finding good talent.

"It's being able to find individuals that want to be a part of your organization. That fits the culture of the organization," she said. "The labor market is a little hard, and I think that's a common theme for any organization. I think it's just being able to find those qualifying candidates that can work alongside you and build your organization."

Fondren said she likes Careers in Energy Week because it showcases the other careers that are in the energy industry.

"We just don't do out in the field, but that is an option, but there are other opportunities and other jobs you can do that we need as well that supports how we thrive as an organization," she said.

Careers in Energy Week ends on Oct. 23.