The Best of 2018 Revisited
2018 was a great year for most Managed Service Providers. Growth in both revenue and Customers abound, as well as improvements in IT Service Delivery metrics. For those that remember the Millennial New Year and those that have been dubbed Millennial, we are bringing back our best article of 2018, based on views, reads and click throughs. This article was originally posted back in early April, and my guess is most everyone either missed it or forgot it. Enjoy revisiting 2018 one more time before moving on into the new year.
4 keys to Hiring and Retaining Millennials for IT Support
Recently in an MSP-Ignite Service Managers Peer Group , the topic of hiring came up, and as I network throughout the industry, hiring quality Techs is a recurring theme. A few months ago, in Darren Hardy’s training program, he spent considerable time focusing on hiring and managing Millennial's. While I cannot replace or reproduce Darren's message, I hope this article provides the main points as they apply to our IT Support Industry. Neither Darren Hardy (if I can allow myself to speak for him) or I present this material as disrespectful or manipulative of the Millennial generation. If you are a Millennial or in sync with them, feel free to move on to spend your valuable time on something else. Both Darren and I, however, are reaching out to our generation and screaming at the top of our lungs that the old-school way of hiring and managing (not only for Millennial's, but people in general) needs to change. Here are a few key points on hiring and retaining Millennial's from Darren Hardy’s training program and some thoughts on how they apply to IT Support: In general, Millennial's are passionate, collaborative, social, and comfortable with technology. Most of these are probably already understood (duh), but to the level that they are, these things and how they apply to business is much deeper than surface recognition. Years ago, I remember a conference speaker saying, "When hiring Millennial's, be prepared to teach them business email protocol. Some of them may have school email accounts, but most will still prefer to text." I hate to admit it, but today I find that I stay in better contact with co-workers and others by texting than in any other way short of face-to-face communications. However, I do not text to the person across the table from me in restaurant as we old schoolers swear Millennial's do. How does this apply to IT Support? Well, it starts with the job opening description and posting locations. For the job opening description, you need to start from a Millennial’s perspective. In other words, talk about how the job will allow them to relieve the pain of end users; how they will be working with a team to resolve complex problems; and how they will be working directly with Customers communicating before, during, and after they relieve the end user’s pain. Being a technology company, they will be equipped and have access to the latest technology and advanced training on how to use technology more effectively. In a different MSP-Ignite Service Manager Peer Group monthly conference call, a member mentioned they received great results by pinning the job opening on Pinterest with to a job opening on InDeed. Outside of it being one of the many icons embedded in emails and websites, I had no idea what that was. (Perhaps this is a definition of “old school.” I used to embrace old-school even before I was one. Now that I find that I am one, however, I wish I could keep up with these changes faster -- but I digress.)
Passionate:
When it comes to managing, it is the same approach: Remind Millennials and all Employees often, as Jack Welch says, and keep reminding them of how they are benefiting the world by relieving pain one end user at a time. Rather than reporting on the number of tickets completed today, report on the number of end-user pains relieved today. What about scrolling the names of the contacts with completed service requests across the dashboard displays in the NOC or Help Desk areas? Then we will see that we are helping real people, not just fulfilling some statistic? (All of us love to go to a bank where the teller knows our names, not just our account numbers).
Collaborative:
Another conversation from one of the MSP-Ignite Service Managers Peer Group meetings was a situation where the IT Support team was moving to new office space. The question was, “If employees have great digs, what did they do to make them great?” Half-height cubes seemed to be the overwhelming best response because it allowed the Techs privacy. To collaborate, however, they just needed to stand up and talk across the cube wall. Half-height cube walls allowed them to determine the best way to relieve a Customer’s pain. It was also mentioned in a different conversation that Techs hang on to tickets too long because they are unwilling to admit to management that they are stumped. Half- height cube walls and love of younger Techs to ask for a gut check or collaboration when stuck also came up.
Social:
From my experience, managing Techs to contact the Customer before, during if needed, and after each engagement is like pulling teeth. If there is any reason an IT Support Manager should embrace hiring Millennial's, it is this one: They love to be social. If we framed it correctly, they would naturally want them to build relationships with Customers by talking with them often. My gut says Millennial's will step up and embrace the expectation. Recently Continuum put out an article indicating that 56% of Customers leave a Managed Service Provider because they do not feel the love (defined as a conversation before, during, and after each engagement, along with updates when not engaged). HDI Support Center Analyst training puts the number closer to 80%. Keeping Customers informed is important to reduce churn, and if Millennial's give a competitive edge, enough said.
Comfortable with Technology:
and having the latest toys might not go hand-in-hand. From what Darren Hardy says and from my own experience, Millennial's are so comfortable with technology that they do not even think about it. Offering the latest is not impactful to them because it is a baseline expectation, just like Customers’ expectations that their favorite Technicians should be standing by and waiting for their calls. I hope this has provided you with a glimpse of how to improve your ability to hire and retain quality IT Technicians. By no means is this an exhaustive article on the subject. It is just a high-level overview and something to drive your thinking in new areas as we all wrestle with how to staff an IT Support Center.
Please connect with me on LinkedIn if you are not already connected and follow me at www.SBuyze.com
For more information on MSP-Ignite Service Manager Peer Groups
Feel free to reach out to Darren Hardy or at least sign up for Darren Daily
Visit Continuum
For Information on HDI training