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The event was a notable example of what the sector can do if it works together .
particularly rewarding to witness one student ask a Rising Star for their contact details so they could continue their conversation about career opportunities . Another student told me ‘ I ’ ve decided I now would like to get into tech for a career .’ Another said , ‘ I got to speak to some of the Rising Stars and ask about their journeys , which made me more confident and clearer on the path I want to take .’ It ’ s small wins like these that will make all the difference in the long term . We just need to replicate the event many times over across the country .
Steve Hone , CEO , The Data Centre Alliance , said he was immensely proud to have been at the latest Rising Star programme event in West London : “ It was fantastic to see some action directed to resolving the skills shortage in the data centre sector . There is a lot of work to do but the event was a notable example of what the sector can do if it works together .”
What are the other ways we can address the skills shortage ? we are not drafting job descriptions with realistic expectations , whether it ’ s multiple years of experience required for entrylevel roles or , at times , arbitrary inclusions such as ‘ degree preferred ’. There is no doubt that unconscious bias creeps in when we draft job descriptions . We need to put our trust in the recruitment experts . Our talent teams know how to word adverts and attract more diverse talent , so we need to listen to them .
Thirdly , we need to think about the current talent we have and how we can upskill them continually to help future-proof the industry . As businesses , we have a responsibility to continually reskill and develop our people to future-proof them in their lives and ensure that the industry continues to grow in the way we want it to . A person joining a company today will not be doing the same job in five years as the world is changing rapidly . Above all ,
Following on from that , we can review recruitment processes . Research suggests the average age of a data centre engineer is 60 years old . We also know the industry suffers from a lack of diversity , including age and gender . Often ,
Adelle Desouza , Founder , HireHigher
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