Per Scholas’s Chief Revenue Officer, Caitlyn Brazill, Discusses Bringing Diversity to the Data Center Industry in Bisnow Feature
Per Scholas’s Chief Revenue Officer, Caitlyn Brazill, has been featured in a Bisnow article highlighting innovative solutions to address diversity challenges in the booming data center sector.
The data center industry remains predominantly white and male despite its rapid growth and increasing demand. The sector faces challenges in recruiting diverse talent, with women comprising only 8% of the workforce and many major firms report being about 75% white. The industry’s labor shortage and rushed hiring practices have further exacerbated the diversity problem.
In response to the data center industry’s unprecedented growth and increasing demand for skilled technicians, Per Scholas partnered with TEKsystems to launch a workforce development program that trains diverse candidates for data center technician roles. This initiative aims to create new opportunities for underrepresented communities in the rapidly expanding field of data center technology. The program has now launched in five locations across the U.S., has placed three-quarters of its graduates into data center jobs, and 80% of those graduates have been racially diverse.
As the data center industry continues its explosive growth, with global inventory doubling in just two years and annual investments exceeding $250 billion, Per Scholas’s initiative addresses a critical need for both diversity and talent in the sector. This program not only opens doors for individuals from underrepresented communities but also helps solve the severe labor shortages facing the industry. By focusing on entry-level technician positions, which typically don’t require a college degree but do need specific technical certifications, Per Scholas is creating a vital pipeline of diverse, skilled talent for the data center workforce.
“It’s been really successful in achieving the kind of diversity we like to see,” Caitlyn said. “Data centers right now have an opportunity to create that flywheel that can get more people of color, more women in the door, succeeding and seeing that economic ability they are looking for, and that will lead to greater word-of-mouth recruitment that can diversify the workforce over time.”
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