3 Smart Strategies to Find and Hire Quality IT Technicians, From an MSP-Ignite Service Managers Peer Group
I remember back in January of 2013, Systems Engineering hired seven Engineers in a single day. We had just brought on an internal recruiter three months earlier with the sole directive to find the best IT technicians that fit the Systems Engineering culture.
Hiring Quality IT Technicians Presents a Challenge
It surely felt like we lowered the bar to find the personnel we needed. I remember the Director of Engineering at the time saying he doubted they would all be with us in nine months.
About nine months later, however, there was a day when he asked me to be ready to clear the schedule for one of hires. I was standing in my cubicle when the Director’s office door flew open, and the hire in question appeared. That Engineer is still with us and pulling his weight every day.
Wondering if All Seven of Those Engineers Are Still With Us?
No. One did something unacceptable at a Customers’ site and was released. Another moved on to other opportunities and since then has moved on three more times; maybe he should have stayed. The rest are still with us and contributing more and more every day.
I was reminded of these stories in a recent MSP-Ignite Service Managers Peer Group. The challenge of hiring quality technicians was brought up. Here are the highlights of the discussion.
(Background: The need to hire an on-site technician with every new client takes 142 days on average to hire, and new contract calls for on-site support is 60 days)
3 Smart Suggestions to Hire IT Technicians from the Peer Group:
Look to retail, specifically Geek Squad and Staples. More than half the Peer Group reported great success in hiring these types of technical people.
Start the process of hiring when the opportunity is 60 to 75% probability. There is nothing wrong with posting for a job that does not exist yet. Feel free to go through the screening process. Be honest with the candidate. There is no obligation until an offer is made.
Hire a road warrior who can be parachuted into a new Customer site until the right candidate is hired and onboard. (The added benefits here are that the road warrior does the onboarding and instills the company’s culture to the remote new hire technician.)
For more information on MSP-Ignite’s Service Manager Peer Groups Click Here
For more information about Stephen Buyze Click Here