It is a known secret that MSPs favor hiring candidates with prior MSP experience over those who don’t, especially for higher-level tech positions. The pace of work and the scope of responsibilities are drastically different from an internal IT role; most people find it difficult to adapt, and some don’t even last more than 2 weeks.
A big challenge is the level of knowledge and experience required to immediately work on tickets and projects on their own, especially when you don’t have the capacity to train them. You expect this person to know the ins and outs of different technologies and have some experience with the tools that we use. Some could never keep up with the concept of working simultaneously on different client systems and networks. Admittedly, this is a field that not a lot of people will thrive in.
You can train someone in everything (assuming you have the capacity for it, which is not something many MSPs have), give them a reasonable amount of time to learn and adjust, then have them realize that they are not cut out for this. The risks are magnified.
However, when you filter out resumes without MSP experience, the candidate pool is reduced almost instantly. You will spend less time screening candidates, but it also means you won’t have many candidates to choose from.
When talking to our MSP clients for a new position, we discuss the pros and cons of keeping the MSP experience criteria as this could affect the time it takes us to fill the position we’re hiring for them. We try to identify if their situation would allow us to make it a favorable preference rather than a requirement.
This does not mean we will send them every candidate who lists all the right things on their resume. We look for other experience/soft skills that tell us they will succeed in an MSP environment. Here are a few:
- Experience comparable to the MSP industry. They must at least have either supported multiple external end clients, multiple domain environments, SMB technologies, or SLA-driven environments.
- Customer service experience. If a candidate has worked in the retail, food, or call center industry, there’s a good chance they are good at client-facing roles.
- Task and time management skills. Ask about the ticketing software they have experience with and how they used it. If they have a good habit of working on tickets and documentation, it’s usually a good sign.
- Loves challenges. This one is tricky as most candidates would say that they do. A good question to ask: “During downtime or when things are slower than usual at work, what things do you do to keep yourself productive? Cite an example.”
- Level of experience. It sounds like it’s a no-brainer to go for someone who has XX years of IT experience. Just keep in mind, some highly experienced techs may be stuck in their own ways and find it hard to follow a different process.
- Career growth (either vertical or horizontal). While it is easy to conclude that someone has been stagnant in a position or company, or that they are a job hopper who can’t seem to hold a job longer than two years, it’s important that we see to it that we understand the why behind it. What you really want to know is how much value they brought to the table to their previous companies and see how it would translate to yours.
By carefully assessing these factors, we can identify talents who are likely to thrive in the MSP environment, even if they lack direct MSP experience. Striking the right balance between strict MSP experience criteria and broader skill assessments can lead to successful hiring.
This requires more time and attention spent on the recruitment process. You will also need to gauge if their technical skillset is on par with where you need them to be. On top of all that, you want to make sure that this person will fit into your work culture and is aligned with your values and goals, which is arguably more important.
Keep in mind that hiring a new employee is almost always a gamble. It is on us to lessen the risks involved whether it meant keeping MSP experience as a requirement or not. Either way, the MSP Hire team is here willing to take care of that for you so you can focus on running your business.