A 25-year industry veteran couldn't get her own son and nephew callbacks from her company's HR department. If that doesn't expose our hiring problem, nothing will.

We're staring down 300,000 unfilled data center positions this year, with projections showing 1.6 million vacant roles by 2030. Yet we keep screening out exactly the people we need most.

The myth of the perfect candidate

The root of this problem lies in how we evaluate talent. Here's what I learned after transitioning from teaching middle school to leading HR for data centers: resumes don't hire people. Conversations do. A piece of paper tells you someone once operated a UPS system. A 20-minute discussion reveals whether they'll thrive when that technology becomes obsolete next month.

The data center professionals who excel share one trait: relentless curiosity about how systems work. Technology that exists today may not have existed two months ago. What they'll need to understand tomorrow might not exist yet. This constant evolution demands people who get energized by learning, not frustrated by change.

When evaluating candidates, I focus on fundamentals: What do you enjoy doing? What drains your energy? Is this an environment that you’ll enjoy working in – and even thrive in?

If someone wants to work in data centers but hates frequent disruption and prefers routine, that's valuable intel for both parties. Better to discover misalignment early and place the person in a more suitable role or environment up front before either party invests time and money in training.

The hidden workforce everywhere

Most people think ‘the cloud’ floats somewhere in the atmosphere. They don't realize it's buildings packed with servers requiring skilled operators. This disconnect explains why kids don't graduate dreaming of data center careers – they simply don't know these jobs exist.

This represents massive opportunity. The curiosity we need exists across industries: teachers who adapt lesson plans on the fly, ex-military personnel who master complex systems under pressure, banking professionals who troubleshoot financial technology.

The key lies in helping people recognize how their existing skills translate to data center environments. That's why I build diverse interview teams. While I understand data center operations, I need technical experts to assess whether candidates possess the foundational knowledge and learning capacity for success. This approach benefits candidates too, since they're interviewing us as much as we're evaluating them.

We need coordinated education efforts across the sector. Getting into schools, creating accessible training programs, demonstrating that data center careers offer stability and growth in an industry that shapes our digital future.

At JLL, we're partnering to develop training programs that give candidates foundational knowledge for success. These aren't just recruitment initiatives – they're career pathway creation for people who might never consider our industry otherwise.

Redefining talent recognition

The talent crisis isn't about scarcity. It's about recognition. We have an abundance of curious, adaptable professionals across sectors. What we lack is the creativity to find them and the processes to develop their potential.

Data centers offer something unique: diverse career paths within a single industry. You work engineering, finance, sales, operations or HR while contributing to infrastructure that powers global commerce.

We need to stop hiring for yesterday's requirements and start building teams for tomorrow's challenges. The question isn't whether talented people exist. It's whether we're ready to recognize talent when it doesn't arrive in the package we expected.