EXPERT OPINION

The skills shortage is an ongoing issue in the data centre industry and attracting younger talent into the workforce is key to resolving this . Steve Hayward , Senior Director , European Operations at CyrusOne , tells us why data centre organisations need to invest in their future workforce to ensure data centres don ’ t become a thing of the past .

to worsen . he data centre industry is experiencing a critical skills shortage and if it doesn ’ t evolve in time , it is only set

Recent stats suggest that half of existing engineering staff will retire by 2025 , yet the number of staff needed to run the world ’ s data centres will grow from around 2 million to nearly 2.3 million by 2025 , according to the Uptime Institute . With businesses struggling to recruit the right talent , the time is now for organisations to get creative on ways to both maintain their current workforce and help grow their talent pool for the future .

So , what new approaches and perspectives can organisations within the data centre industry adopt to combat this ongoing skills shortage ?

Uncovering talent in untypical places

The current state of the industry needs to be addressed and met with a mindset shift towards looking for candidates that possess comparable skills in sectors that lie outside of the data centre sector itself .

Organisations need to rethink their selection criteria for candidates and adjust their requirements and qualifications to recognise candidates that possess the specialised skillsets needed to become first-class data centre engineers . It is essential that the data centre industry identifies the key generic skills required for the foundation of an exceptional data centre engineer .

Once organisations fully understand the key skillsets required of a data centre

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