Total investment in data center infrastructure worldwide rose has grown rapidly during the pandemic, driven by the growth of hyperscale customers, such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Alibaba, creating a larger need for real estate staffing agencies. As a result, we’re seeing real estate developers, debt providers, private equity investors in real estate actively investing in data center projects, especially in the last 24months and the long-term growth trend is positive. As a real estate staffing agency, we anticipate seeing the appetite for data grow thanks to increasing digitization, wider adoption of the cloud, more use of 5G technology and increasing use of artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles.

All types of data centers (hyperscale, colocation, edge and carrier hotels) have the wind at their backs. The key is to be in the right location: where the end client wants to be that has access to fiber and power.

According to Cushman & Wakefield’s 2022 Data Center Global Market Comparison, Asia Pacific is set to become the world’s largest data center region over the next decade, with an anticipated need for real estate staffing agencies to fill roles. Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney are ranked among the top 10 data center markets in the world; and we’re still seeing more greenfield/brownfield developments in markets like Japan, Korea and the emerging economies of India, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand etc.

Due to the heterogeneous nature of the Asian markets, creating supply at scale continues to be challenging and represents an opportunity for growth and differentiation for data center operators able to execute consistently and deliver to global quality standards across markets. The investment momentum could be losing its steam as global financial conditions tighten which sees data centre players switch focus to development and onboarding customers.

​

Real Estate Staffing Agency Job Creations: Skills that are Hot in Demand

As a real estate staffing agency, we have seen data center investments drive growth and job opportunities. Job creation becomes apparent during the construction phase, the purchase and installation of various electrical components and the day-to-day operating expenses of the facility. Each DC facility creates high-value jobs in data security, network engineering, operations, project management and more. It is estimated that each hyperscale data center facility will generate around 800-1,000 jobs over 15 years, creating a demand for real estate staffing agencies to find talent.

​

We are starting to see the emergence of a new skill gap, in the form of following job functions:

• Programme management

• Site selection & new narket development

• Data center sales & solutions engineering (product management)

• Electrical, mechanical & cooling engineering

• Energy management / sustainable technology / ESG 

With a tightly held pool of skilled data center professionals in APAC, Aurex’s real estate staffing branch has also witnessed candidates from other mission critical environments making a successful transition into constructing and operating data centers. The practical experience is highly transferable given the requirement for highly resilient infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted critical services that enable businesses and operations to function efficiently, effectively, and above all, continuously.

At Aurex, we’re constantly on the lookout for skilled talents who are  keen to explore career in building the future-ready DC infrastructure, please get in touch with our specialist recruitment team members for future opportunities in real estate and real estate investment.

​

Sources:

• https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/data-centres-energy-digital-economy-jobs-sustainability-2550996

• https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/insights/global-data-center-market-comparis​

Jing Leong

Principle Consultant​

​

+65 3165 0710

jing@aurexgroup.com

​