Demand for data center skills is high, but the industry currently faces a talent shortage. In an effort to close the skills gap and broaden the talent pool, Yondr is participating in the Digital Futures Programme – a partnership between four University Technical Colleges and data center industry players, bridging the gap between education and employment. As part of this UK initiative, Yondr has brought students living near to its Slough campus into the workplace, to learn more about the data center industry. This forms part of Yondr’s aim to be a welcome neighbour in the communities where we operate, and attract talent from a wider pool. 

Five new recruits joined Yondr from 30 June to 4 July. The students, aged between 16 and 18, are part of the Digital Futures Programme – Their schedule included a trip to a local data center, presenting a site selection case to Yondr leadership and meetings with team members across the company. Students exercised their technical and soft skills and were assessed on the Yondr values throughout the week. For many, it was their first time experiencing the corporate environment and travelling to London during commuting hours.   

On Monday, the young Yondr-ites were set for a site selection challenge, where they had three London-based options to choose from and a business case to build. Throughout the week, students reached out to different teams to build their site selection case – discussing fibre, utilities, sustainability and financial modelling. Students built connections across all corners of the business, getting to know Yondr-ites from commercial management, operations, HR, energy, sustainability, and development. Autonomy was encouraged, and students took ownership of the challenge, introducing themselves to new people and getting stuck into the work.  

On Tuesday, students visited Yondr’s Slough data center campus, which included access to a data hall. Here, they learned about cooling systems, equipment, security measures and the suppliers and vendors who help keep the site running. There was also an opportunity to speak with an apprentice (in collaboration with CBRE), who shared insights on the opportunities available for young people in this sector.  

At the end of the week, the students presented their business case to Paul Hood, COO – Global Data Center Operations, and other subject matter experts, explaining why they picked a specific site, and the sustainability initiatives they’d put in place. The students’ energy was palpable, and their confidence grew enormously over the week. One student mentioned a particularly useful conversation with the sustainability team: 

‘I spoke to Eddy and Athina who were really helpful in improving my part of the project, by incorporating green walls and water retainment. Eddy helped me a lot on carbon, telling me about Yondr’s aims to be carbon neutral and how I can link to the project. James also had some great tips on presentation skills which I can carry on in any career path.’ 

The experience was designed around giving students a true to life view of data center roles – balancing technical sector insights with cross-company collaboration. Getting a backstage view of a live data center hall was a real highlight for students. One student said it was their favourite part of the trip, adding: 

‘Seeing a data center in person was so fascinating, especially the cooling systems and how strict the security measures were.’  Yondr-ites were also impressed by the quality of work and progress students made in a short space of time. Paul Hood, COO, said:  

‘Having the five students present to us on Friday was so rewarding, knowing the amount of work they had to do in such a short space of time with very little background knowledge to go from. They all spoke with confidence and clearly knew their part of the presentation really well, not once reading from the document.’  

Pascal Janssens, Talent Director at Yondr, said: 

‘Plugging the industry skills gap involves giving people insight into the sector and a real life look inside data center companies. For us, that means getting the whole team involved and connecting people from across the business with new talent, giving them a challenge, and putting Yondr forward as an employer of choice.’