#  When Great Talent Isn’t Enough: Four Lessons from a Year of Hiring in Education (Hiring Series Part 7) 

 





*This is part of a series sharing what we've learned in more than 15 years of attracting and screening education data talent, and what it means in meeting the moment of today's hiring market.*



 

July 07, 2026

 

 

- [ Blog ](/news-categories/blog)
 
 

 

Over the last 8 months, we reviewed nearly 200 applications from jobseekers looking for ways to use their data skills in education. Of those, we took a closer look at 30 top candidates. We also spoke with more than 100 education organizations hoping to hire extraordinary data talent, screening more than 25 of them as they made the moves to join our network.

Across these conversations, one lesson stood out: successful hiring depends on much more than simply filling a vacancy. The strongest matches happen when capable candidates meet organizations that are clear about the problems they need to solve, the decisions they need to make, and the conditions required for data talent to succeed.

Here are four lessons we learned this year about setting up your team’s new data role for success:



 

 

 

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 See also:- [ Hiring Tips ](/tags/hiring-tips)
- [ SDP Blog ](/tags/sdp-blog)
 
 

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