> This is the markdown version of https://www.classet.ai/use-cases/data-centers/columbus > Learn more at https://www.classet.ai Data Center Staffing in Columbus # Staff Your New Albany Build Before Intel Does About 25,000 construction workers are already on data center sites in the New Albany business park, and Meta chose Columbus for its trades academy because the shortage was already at crisis level. Joy interviews your applicants within minutes, day or night. [Get a Demo](/demo)[Try an Interview](/interviews) Get Started 5.0 on G2 Deploy in minutes 24/7 screening Active Call 02:34 ![Joy AI Recruiter](/_next/image?url=%2Fimages%2F_avatars%2Fjoy.png&w=256&q=75) ### Joy AI Recruiter #### Recent Interviews AI-screened candidates ![Marcus](/_next/image?url=%2Fimages%2F_avatars%2Fconstruction_glasses_lady.png&w=64&q=75) Marcus Data Center Electrician Shortlisted ![Sarah](/_next/image?url=%2Fimages%2F_avatars%2Fsupport_lady.png&w=64&q=75) Sarah HVAC/Mechanical Tech Shortlisted ![David](/_next/image?url=%2Fimages%2F_avatars%2Fmanufacturing_guy.png&w=64&q=75) David Facilities Technician Consider 15 candidates screened today Skilled Trades Success Story ## How Goodsmith Doubled Hiring Efficiency With AI Phone Screening ![Goodsmith: How Goodsmith Doubled Hiring Efficiency With AI Phone Screening](/_next/image?url=%2Fimages%2Fuse-cases%2Fdata-centers-hero.png&w=3840&q=75) Watch: Goodsmith Customer Story Goodsmith needed to hire skilled tradespeople fast across multiple locations. Joy replaced the manual screening process entirely, doubling their recruiting performance at a fraction of the cost. > “The Classet tech completely replaces a recruiter or office admin and doubles our recruiting performance by scraping the internet for candidates at a fraction of the cost. The value prop is very obvious — you're saving us so much time and money.” ![Goodsmith](/_next/image?url=%2Fcustomer-logos%2Fgoodsmith-logo.png&w=96&q=75) Morgan Booth CEO, Goodsmith [Get Started](https://app.classet.ai/signup/) ## The Columbus Data Center Hiring Problem Central Ohio is the fastest-growing data center hub in the Midwest. About 114 data centers operate around Columbus, Ohio ranks sixth nationally with more than 200 facilities, and a University of Virginia analysis expects roughly 77 more statewide by 2030. The New Albany International Business Park alone has opened 40 data centers since 2010 with 28 more planned or under construction, and roughly 25,000 construction workers on site. The New Albany International Business Park has drawn roughly **25,000 construction workers** across 40 completed data centers and 28 more planned or under construction. Statewide, Ohio's data centers created about **22,300 construction jobs** against roughly **4,500 permanent** ones as of 2024, a five-to-one ratio. IBEW Local 683 has grown its apprenticeship from about 200 to 600 registered apprentices with a target of 1,000, and its business manager describes "a dramatic need for workers." A Meta training partner put it more bluntly: Columbus had a workforce shortage before the boom, and now it is "almost at crisis level." The competition sits in the same townships. Intel's Ohio One fab in New Albany is still bringing on workers toward a 2030 start, the Honda-LG battery plant in Jeffersonville finished in June 2026, and Anduril's Arsenal-1 in Pickaway County rolled its first aircraft off the line in July. All of them hire the same electricians and pipefitters your rough-in phase needs. ## Who Is Building in Central Ohio - **Meta "Prometheus," New Albany**: planned gigawatt-scale campus with two on-site gas plants; a Meta partner bought a $42 million parcel on Clover Valley Road in December 2025 - **AWS, New Albany and Licking County**: $6.2 billion invested through 2024 and a further $10 billion planned for Ohio by 2030 - **Vantage OH1, New Albany**: $2 billion, 192 MW across three buildings on 70 acres; Turner Construction as GC - **Cologix, Johnstown**: 154 acres, eight buildings, up to 800 MW; plus the $1 billion, 120 MW COL5 in Lewis Center - **QTS, New Albany (Beech Road)**: about $1.5 billion, 222 MW planned across four buildings; Gray handled MEP fit-out on two earlier QTS buildings (612,600 square feet, 78 MW) - **Microsoft, Licking County**: $1 billion across New Albany, Heath, and Hebron; Heath and Hebron construction resumed in February 2026 with Ames Construction on New Albany site work - **Google**: $1.7 billion across Columbus, Lancaster, and New Albany, part of $20 billion-plus in Ohio since 2019, with Holder as GC on the New Albany campus Electrical contractors with named local data center work include Mid City Electric (New Albany campus with Holder, including prefab and modular), and Eagle Electric and ESI on Local 683 dispatches to the Dublin data center, "Project Cyprus," and Cologix Lewis Center. ## How Joy Helps Central Ohio Contractors and Operators ### Calls Applicants the Moment They Apply Journeymen apply from the truck on 161 at 6pm and from home in Newark at 9pm. Joy calls within minutes, at any hour, and runs the structured interview while they are still interested. - Phone first, with SMS and email follow-up - 24/7, including the after-shift hours when 55 percent of trades applications arrive - Same speed for a 30-person opening or a rough-in peak ### Verifies Experience Directly, Since Ohio Licenses Contractors, Not Journeymen Ohio's OCILB licenses electrical contractors, not individual journeymen, so a resume line proves little. Joy asks about the work and the credentials that do exist. - Years in commercial and industrial electrical, and under which OCILB-licensed contractor - Medium-voltage (15 to 35 kV), UPS, generator paralleling switchgear, commissioning - OSHA 10/30 and NFPA 70E status - Local 683 or 1105 apprenticeship, ABC Central Ohio, or an out-of-state journeyman license ### Asks About Travel, Per Diem, and Commute Local 683 runs data center calls on 5-10s and 6-10s with double-time overtime and takes travelers on Book 2. Joy asks where the candidate is based, what per diem they expect, and whether a 6am start in New Albany works in January. - Traveler or local, and where they are staying - Per diem and housing expectations - Shift and rotation fit for operations roles - Interviews in 25+ languages ### Writes Into Your ATS Summary, recording, and transcript land in Greenhouse, Workday, Lever, Bullhorn, iCIMS, or Classet's built-in candidate management. When Vantage's second building or Cologix's next hall opens, the electricians you screened for the last one are yours to call first. - Knockouts route candidates without medium-voltage experience to a separate stage - Superintendent reads five summaries before the 6am start - Bench stays warm between phases ## Results Data Center Employers Can Expect 88% Complete the phone screen within 20 minutes of applying 55% Of candidates apply outside business hours 3–8x Improvement in apply-to-interview conversion ![Cox-Powell HVAC logo](/_next/image?url=%2Fcustomer-logos%2Fcox-powell.jpg&w=256&q=75)skilled-trades > This has been a fantastic partnership. I am happy 150%. You guys do all the hard work for me. I have not hired a single tech anywhere else since we started using you. ![JD](/_next/image?url=%2Fcustomer-logos%2Favatars%2Fjd.jpg&w=96&q=75) JD Service Operations Manager at Cox-Powell HVAC ## Wages, Licensing, and Training in Columbus **Wages.** Ohio's electrician median is $64,700, the highest of the five major data center states, with a 90th percentile of $99,280 (BLS, May 2025); HVAC mechanics median $62,510. IBEW Local 683's inside agreement pays journeymen $40.50 an hour base and $66.06 with the package (rising by $3.60 in each of the next two contract years), with foremen at $44.55 and general foremen at $46.58. Data center calls commonly carry about $2 an hour over scale plus double-time overtime. Publish your rate against those numbers. **Licensing.** The Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board licenses commercial electrical contractors statewide (five years as a journeyman, an exam, and $500,000 in liability coverage for the qualifying individual). There is no statewide journeyman or master electrician license; Columbus runs its own Skilled Trades Review Board for local registration, and a few municipalities require journeyman cards. Contractor reciprocity exists with North Carolina. Practically, your screen carries the verification load a license card carries in Virginia or Texas. **Training pipeline.** Local 683's Electrical Trades Center runs a four-year apprenticeship with 720 classroom hours and has grown from 200 to 600 registered apprentices. Licking County, where the New Albany and Intel parcels sit, is primarily Local 1105 jurisdiction. Google's five-week STAR program with Columbus State feeds its New Albany build, and Google is funding the electrical training ALLIANCE in Ohio. Meta's America's Workforce Academy graduated its first Columbus cohorts in August 2026 with an NCCER credential and guaranteed placement on a Meta site. Columbus State's AWS-backed data center technician program pays apprentices about $22.50 an hour while enrolled, and ABC Central Ohio runs the largest non-union multi-trade training program in the region. **What is changing.** AEP Ohio's data center tariff took effect in July 2025 with minimum-demand charges for loads over 25 MW, and Jerome, Jackson, Pleasant, and Washington townships have passed moratoria. The campuses already permitted in New Albany, Johnstown, and Licking County keep building. ## Frequently Asked Questions How do I hire data center electricians in New Albany when Intel and the battery plants are hiring too? Be first and be specific, because central Ohio has more competing megaprojects than any of the other four data center markets. The journeyman who applies to a New Albany posting also applied to a Bechtel sub on Intel's Ohio One fab, the Honda and LG battery plant in Jeffersonville, and a Local 683 call the same week. Joy calls each applicant within minutes of the application, captures contractor history, voltage classes worked, UPS and switchgear experience, per diem expectations, and earliest start date, then puts a structured summary in front of the superintendent the same hour. Publish the rate and the phase schedule in the posting: Local 683's inside agreement puts journeyman wages at $40.50 an hour base and $66.06 with fringes, so a posting without numbers is competing blind. How do I verify an electrician's experience in Ohio without a state journeyman license? Ohio licenses electrical contractors through the Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board rather than issuing a statewide journeyman card, so there is no license number to look up for an individual electrician. Verification runs through work history instead. Joy asks how many years of commercial and industrial electrical work the candidate has, which OCILB-licensed contractor supervised it, what voltage classes and gear they handled, and whether they completed an IBEW Local 683 or Local 1105 apprenticeship, an ABC Central Ohio program, or hold an out-of-state journeyman card. Local 1105 covers Licking County, where most of the New Albany and Johnstown campuses sit. The superintendent then verifies with one reference call from the summary instead of a week of phone tag. Can Joy screen travelers coming into central Ohio? Yes, and central Ohio is an active traveler market. Joy asks where the candidate is based, whether they are traveling for the job, what per diem and housing they expect, and how they will reach a 6am start in Licking County in January weather. IBEW Local 683 accepts travelers on Book 2, and its board has carried more than 40 open journeyman calls at a time during peak, with data center assignments commonly running five 10-hour days or six 10s with double-time overtime. Licking and Franklin counties fall under the GSA standard per diem rate, which is $178 a day for fiscal 2026. Those questions belong on the first call rather than after a candidate has driven to a site interview. Does this work for 24/7 operations roles at central Ohio campuses? Yes. Operators across central Ohio use Joy for facilities technicians and critical environment technicians, the roles that remain after the construction crew leaves. Joy asks about rotation experience, 12-hour shift fit, commute distance to New Albany, Hilliard, or Johnstown, and on-call willingness, and it runs the interview at 7am after a night shift rather than during a recruiter's business hours. Uptime Institute recommends a minimum of one to two qualified operators on site at all times, which works out to 10 to 12 technicians for a two-on-the-floor rotation once turnover is counted. Graduates of Columbus State's AWS-funded data center technician program, which pays about $22.50 an hour during enrollment, apply through the same flow. How fast can a Columbus contractor be live? Same day on Starter or Scale. Paste the job description, Joy drafts the screening questions in seconds, and the contractor shares the interview link or connects an existing job board account. Applicants start getting calls that afternoon. A full ATS Sync integration into Greenhouse, Workday, Lever, Bullhorn, iCIMS, or another platform typically goes live in two to four weeks, which fits inside the lead time of most MEP rough-in phases. Starter is $249 a month billed annually with 50 completed interviews included; Scale is $999 a month with 250. For a contractor mobilizing on a New Albany or Johnstown campus, the screening layer is running before the first crew badges in. ## Add AI Recruiting to Your Team in 3 Simple Steps Automate interviews, engage candidates, and hire faster — without changing your workflow. ### Customize Your Interview Script Tailor interviews with zero code. Use templates or create your own script with tone, questions, and candidate FAQs, all tailored to your role. ### Engage Candidates Instantly Joy contacts candidates within seconds of the application. AI messaging via SMS and email qualifies candidates and guides them through your funnel automatically. ### Review & Hire Faster Get instant interview summaries, recordings, structured data and transcripts. Delivered straight to your inbox or ATS. ## Data Centers Recruiting in Other Cities Part of [Data Centers Recruiting](/use-cases/data-centers) [Atlanta, Georgia](/use-cases/data-centers/atlanta)[Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas](/use-cases/data-centers/dallas-fort-worth)[Northern Virginia, Virginia](/use-cases/data-centers/northern-virginia)[Phoenix, Arizona](/use-cases/data-centers/phoenix) Your Best Data Centers Candidates Are Applying Right Now. Every Day You Wait, They Take Another Offer. [Get Started](https://app.classet.ai/signup/)[Get a Demo](/demo)