4 min
Do you run an MSP and struggle with finding the right IT experts for your business? The truth is that your MSP business needs IT talent.
As the name managed service provider implies, running an MSP is about service. On the one hand, you deliver technology services to your clients. In addition to providing software service products, you need to deliver exemplary human service.
As a result, the IT experts on your team are essential to this mission. Learn more about IT company culture and recruiting and retaining employees.
So, how do you find the best IT experts for your business? What types of employees can help you differentiate your team to achieve more? Where can you recruit the cream of the crop?
This article covers the answers to these questions. Furthermore, it aims to help strengthen your MSP as a desirable employer. Read on for all the tips on recruiting the best IT experts.
1) Target IT experts wisely
The first thing to consider is targeting the best candidates for your team. Choosing someone who might be a good fit for your team can be challenging. However, it’s a lot easier when you keep things in perspective.
- Begin with a baseline. For instance, you should identify must-have skills to look for in employees. You can use your internal tech stack, current customer profiles, and market trends to inform these requirements.
- Accommodate your clients’ future demands – even if you don’t know their upcoming plans.
- Strive to cultivate a well-rounded workforce. Don’t just target team members with direct knowledge of specific technologies or tooling.
- Expand your search to incorporate higher-level managers and team leaders who understand the broader technology ecosystem. This makes it easier to stay on your toes as demand evolves.
Check out our tips on IT company culture for more details.
2) Know where to look
Broadening your hiring search is an intelligent idea. For instance, many IT companies are turning to freelancers to meet various goals, like adjusting to the remote work trend and hiring flexibly during seasonal surges. Watch LinkedIn, IT help forums, and other professional websites to see who’s looking and who’s worth considering.
It’s also worth noting that employing people temporarily can mitigate labor costs. By building relationships with talented workers on-demand, you can get to know the field – not to mention leave yourself open to permanent hiring at a later date.
In addition, you can widen your reach by asking your current employees to spread the word- and help you find the best IT excerpt for your business.
3) Find out what attracts IT experts
How do you attract IT experts? To find the right IT experts, you’ll need to research what motivates them and how to attract them to your team.
Every employee is different, but here are some of the universal perks all IT experts crave:
- Great working environments that let them build their skills and keep their career paths open.
- Competitive benefits that let them focus on their work without worrying about their health, work-life balance, or future.
- The chance to work with a team that does something positive and meaningful.
- Workplace systems and practices that are interesting and intellectually challenging instead of routine or outright dull.
In short, create an IT corporate culture that your current employees love – and then promote it.
Give prospective candidates (and customers!) an inside look at your company lifestyle by posting on social media and the web. Nothing breaks the ice, like showing how happy people are about working with you.
4) Choose the best IT expert for the role
We’ve already mentioned setting a baseline for the minimum acceptable talent – but remember that aptitude comes in many shapes and sizes.
It may be helpful to rewrite your job postings to reflect a more flexible stance. Instead of requiring a particular degree or set of certifications, open the door to candidates who’ve earned real-life skills in different ways. For instance, you might ask for people’s GitHub repositories or institute an interview testing program involving live coding.
One standard HR power move is to use an applicant tracking or vetting system. These tools can filter out applicants quickly, making reviewing thousands of applications and resumes easier. They can also integrate with your onboarding system to ease the transition and simplify your hiring processes.
There are some other ways you can easily improve your processes! Adopting a network management software like Domotz can help you quickly prospect, onboard and retain your customers.
5) Attract top talent to your team
The same factors MSPs use to attract workers can help keep them on board through tough times. Implement incentive programs and awards that recognize a job well done. Gather regular feedback with surveys and staff-centric reviews. Place increased focus on workflow improvement – The more time you spend optimizing and automating workflows, the less rote work your teams and new hires will have to handle. However, you shouldn’t stop at ergonomic corporate environments and competitive benefits.
Also, think about these four ways to attract top talent:
- Company reputation – Make your company a place where people want to come, stay and develop.
- Company culture – Prioritize developing an IT company culture that promotes belonging and growth.
- Talent strategy – Build an intelligent talent acquisition and development strategy. Examples of talent development include individualized growth plans, mentorship opportunities, and more.
- Be honest – Any way you use to attract talents would impact your current employees. Your words and actions to attract top talents must match your employee experience.
Your workforce recruitment strategy is the foundation of everything you do. Implementing capable tooling that eases common pain points is essential.
Applicant tracking systems and outreach frameworks are only part of the equation. Hiring is highly complex, so it pays to invest in smart workflow tooling, especially if you’d rather not distract your team from their regular tasks.
You can read a good example of how to automate your recruitment process with Make, a no-code tool for creating workflows. This software helps you engineer better hiring, retention, and upskilling workflows with Make. Our network monitoring software also has a handy integration with Make to build complex workflows without coding – leaving more time for decision-making.
To sum up, so many things are essential when hiring an IT expert for your company. You need the right skillsets and the right attitude, but most of all, you have to find people who are passionate about what they do. The best IT experts are those who are heavily passionate about their work. When you find such people, make them feel valued and create a sense of belonging among your team. In addition, you might also offer flexibility to integrate work with their personal lives.
Further reading:
Share via Social Networks