Laura Lara

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: Laura Lara 

Meet Laura Lara, a Technical Recruiter specializing in Talent Acquisition for data center and mission-critical construction. With a foundation in corporate recruiting and a specialization in technical construction hiring, she brings a relationship-driven, high-accountability approach to every search.

Her work centers on connecting skilled professionals with opportunities across construction management, safety, QA/QC, commissioning, project management, engineering, and other critical infrastructure disciplines.

Laura believes recruiting is strongest when it is both strategic and deeply human. Beyond resumes and interviews, she focuses on understanding motivation, recognizing transferable experience, building trust, and creating alignment between talent, leadership, and long-term business needs.

She is especially passionate about mission-critical hiring, veteran and military-transition recruiting, early-career talent, and creating strong candidate experiences. She brings curiosity, energy, advocacy, follow-through, and purpose to her work—and believes in building futures by human connection.

Laura’s adopted recruiting motto: “We don’t have to be the technical expert in the room, but we should be curious enough to recruit like one.  Stay curious.”

Q: What do HR and TA leaders most often underestimate about this talent market—and how do you help hiring managers get it right? 

Laura: The biggest lesson technical recruiting has taught me is that a job title rarely tells the whole story. A Construction Manager on a hyperscale data center project may have very different experience from someone with the same title in another environment. Owner’s rep versus GC experience, construction versus operations, mechanical versus electrical depth—those distinctions matter.

My transition into data center recruiting required me to become a student of the industry. This is where I thrive!  The challenge, the mission, the pursuit.  As a result, I’ve learned enough about QA/QC, commissioning, MEP systems, safety, and construction workflows to ask better questions and understand what sits behind a candidate’s title.

For TA professionals, I think that’s the opportunity: we don’t have to be the technical expert in the room, but we should be curious enough to recruit like one. The better we understand what success actually looks like, the better we can advise hiring teams—and recognize great talent that a keyword search might miss.

Q: How do you balance speed and accountability with understanding a candidate’s motivation and building trust? 

Laura: Technical recruiting moves fast. Projects need people, hiring managers need qualified candidates, and great talent often has multiple opportunities. But I’ve learned that speed and candidate experience don’t have to compete.

I can evaluate technical alignment while still asking: What are you looking for next? Why now? What matters beyond compensation? Are you truly comfortable relocating or traveling? Those few extra minutes often tell me more about long-term alignment than another technical question would.

For me, trust is built through consistency: do what you said you would do. Follow up. Prepare people well. Be transparent when there isn’t alignment. And stay connected even when the answer is “not this role.” Not every conversation results in a placement, but every conversation can still build a relationship.

That philosophy has become a big part of how I approach recruiting: Stay curious.  Stay connected.

Q: What practices actually work when translating veteran, military-transition, and early-career experience? 

Laura: Learn to translate experience, not just match terminology. Military professionals and early-career candidates may not describe their experience using the exact language in our job descriptions. That doesn’t mean the capability isn’t there. Leadership, safety, accountability, technical aptitude, project coordination, documentation, and performing in high-consequence environments can all translate incredibly well.

Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to meet both transitioning military professionals and college students face-to-face. Those conversations reinforced: recruiting is more about discovery.

Our value as recruiters isn’t only finding the obvious match. Sometimes it’s recognizing potential, helping candidates articulate it, and helping hiring leaders understand how that experience can translate into business value.

Thank you so much for thinking of me and for gifting me the opportunity to share my perspective. I’m proud to be part of the SHRM San Antonio community, and I’m looking forward to continuing to learn from and connect with fellow HR and Talent Acquisition professionals.

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