How MSPs Can Fix Their Staff Recruitment Problems

It’s tight and it’s tightening… and that’s a global situation.

You’ve got skill shortages, you’ve got rising candidate expectations, and you’ve got a demand for instant productivity once somebody’s on board.

The sector is predicted to have 13% year-on-year growth¹—which is fantastic, but it means recruitment will become even more important.

MSPs are becoming much more interested in skills and experience than qualifications, because they need people to hit the ground running.

Also, we always used to have first-, second-, and third-line styles of seats. That still happens, but more MSPs are bringing in hybrid second lines that can encompass the first line.

So, most of the opportunities are around that second line, senior engineer level. And cybersecurity is a big focus.

We haven’t seen a lot of AI roles, but it will start happening. Clients want to use AI, and MSPs want to use it to handle the clients.

However, there’s still a sense that people like to deal with people. If a VIP user is routed to an AI agent, it’s just not going to work.

Sadly not! For example, there is a real issue around how long hiring takes.

MSPs have elongated interview processes and lose talent because people want decisions fast. The MSP industry is all about speed of reaction and service. But when they hire, they seem to take forever. If the process takes too long, without clear communication, the best people will be snapped up by the competition.

It’s a challenge for MSP leaders who are focused on doing their day job, but the fallout from a slow recruitment process can be massive.

Use recruiters wisely. Let them write the adverts and do the technical tests and initial interviews. They can record interviews for clients to review. That means MSPs are spending their recruitment time in a very focused way to identify the right candidate.

Of course, MSPs can manage the whole process themselves, but they need to be sure that such a hands-on approach benefits the business in the long term.

Retention after hiring is a big issue—so make sure you’ve got a good onboarding plan. That starts before Day One. I call it pre-boarding. It’s the danger zone when somebody’s got to hand their notice in and could get a counteroffer.
And there needs to be strategic workforce planning. Develop talent in-house and you’ll have people there that are ready to step up, that are culturally aligned, have the right skills, the right attitude and can slot in.
The alternative is the panic hire. Those people often leave quickly, or stay but damage the culture because they’re the wrong fit—and that can be worse.

Increase your professional development. If you offer professional development, you can often reduce the salary slightly because you’re investing in your people.
You’re paying for their certifications; you’re helping people develop—but you’re also helping your MSP because you’re upskilling people and those people will stay.

From what we see, it’s those that have specialized and focused on a niche.
A lot of MSPs that don’t specialize continue to grow, but those that do work in a niche grow exponentially because there’s a demand for that expertise.
The generalists tend to get to a certain size and then get a little bit stuck.

Look at your whole hiring process from the candidate’s point of view.
Would you want to work for your business having gone through the process? If not, review the way you are working—including how you develop your talent.