Before you post a job ad, you must know what you are looking for. An MSP with 10 employees has different needs than one with 50. In the early stages, you need generalists who can do a bit of everything—from desktop support to light networking. As you scale, you need specialists who can manage specific functions like Security Reviews, project implementations, or dedicated account management.
- Level 1 Support: The front line. They need speed, empathy, and the ability to follow SOPs accurately.
- Level 2/3 Engineers: The escalations team. They need deep diagnostic skills and the ability to mentor juniors.
- Project Engineers: These individuals focus on deployments. They need to be organised and capable of managing client expectations during transitions.
- Account Managers / vCISO: The commercial bridge. They don't need to be the most technical, but they must understand risk and value.
When Luis Navarro was growing Totality Services, he realised that he wasn't the "technical guy." His strength was sitting between the technical team and the client, translating bits and bytes into business impact. When you are MSP hiring for client-facing roles, you are looking for that same ability: the knack for making a client feel safe and understood without drowning them in jargon.
A haphazard interview process leads to "bad hires," and a bad hire in an MSP can cost up to three times their annual salary in lost productivity, client churn, and recruitment fees. You need a repeatable framework.
Do not rely on a conversation alone. A candidate might be great at talking about technology but struggle to implement it. Give them a short, practical test. For a Level 1 role, this might be a simulated ticket where they have to prioritise three different issues. For a senior role, it could be reviewing a mock network diagram and identifying security flaws.
Ask questions that reveal how they think about the business. For example: "If a client asks for a shortcut that makes their system less secure but easier to use, how do you handle that conversation?" You want to hear an answer that balances client satisfaction with the necessity of maintaining security standards. This is where MSP hiring separates the technical hobbyists from the professionals.
MSPs are high-pressure environments. You need to know if the candidate can handle the pace without burning out or becoming toxic to the team. Ask about their favorite tools, how they stay updated on technology, and what they do when they realise they've made a mistake that affected a client. The best candidates take ownership; the worst ones point fingers at the client or the software.
If possible, have the finalist spend two hours in your office. Let them sit with your current team. Observe how they interact. Do they ask intelligent questions? Do they seem overwhelmed by the ticket volume? This small investment of time can prevent a very expensive mistake.
You’ve found the perfect candidate, they’ve signed the contract, and they show up on Monday. If you just hand them a laptop and say "start on the tickets," you have failed. Proper MSP hiring includes a structured 30-60-90 day onboarding plan. They need to learn your way of doing things, even if they have 20 years of experience elsewhere.
- Tooling Mastery: Training on your PSA (Professional Services Automation) and RMM (Remote Monitoring and Management) tools.
- Documentation Standards: Show them where the "source of truth" is and how to contribute to it.
- The Client "Who's Who": A briefing on your top 10 clients, their quirks, and their specific business needs.
- Security Protocols: Your internal MFA policies, password management, and how you handle sensitive data.
At MSP Agenda, we believe that standardisation is the key to profitability. If your new hire doesn't follow your standard operating procedures from day one, they will introduce variance that kills your efficiency. Onboarding is your chance to set the standard.
One of the hardest parts of MSP hiring is finding technical people who understand that the MSP is a business that needs to be profitable. An engineer who spends six hours perfecting a script for a $100/month client without authorization is a liability, not an asset. They need to understand the concept of billable utilisation and the value of project work.
When your team understands the commercial side, they start to see opportunities. A Level 2 engineer might notice a client's server is reaching end-of-life and flag it to the Account Manager as a project opportunity. This isn't "selling"; it’s proactive service that protects the client and generates revenue for the MSP. This mindset is what Luis Navarro championed while scaling his business to a point where it became an attractive acquisition target.
The market for IT talent is incredibly competitive. You aren't just competing with other MSPs; you are competing with internal IT departments and large tech firms. To win, you have to offer something different.
You might not always be able to pay the highest salary, but you can offer a better environment. Many engineers leave internal IT roles because they are bored. In an MSP, they will never be bored. Highlight the variety of work, the exposure to different technologies, and the career path from support to architecture or leadership.
Burnout is real in the MSP space. If your MSP hiring strategy is constantly active because people are leaving every 12 months, you don't have a hiring problem; you have a management problem. Ensure your team has the right tools to do their jobs effectively. Tools that reduce friction—like standardised Security Reviews—allow your team to focus on high-value work rather than tedious admin, which keeps them engaged.
How do you know if your MSP hiring was successful after six months? You look at the data. Most PSAs will give you the metrics you need, but you have to look at them in context.
| Metric | What it Tells You | The "Red Flag" |
|---|
| Ticket Closure Rate | General productivity and efficiency. | Consistently lower than team average. |
| First-Time Fix Rate | Technical accuracy and quality of work. | High closure rate but high "re-open" rate. |
| Documentation Updates | Commitment to team processes and scalability. | Zero or minimal updates to the internal KB. |
| Client Feedback (CSAT) | Soft skills and relationship management. | Consistent negative comments on communication. |
Scroll the table horizontally to see all columns →
In MSP hiring, the best candidates are often already employed. To attract them, your MSP needs to look like a professional, growing organisation. This starts with your online presence but extends to how you conduct the interview. If you are late to the interview or don't have a clear job description, a high-quality candidate will assume your client service is just as disorganized.
Showcase your success. Mention your growth, your client retention rates, and your commitment to modern technology. If you use a structured approach to client management—like the one we advocate for at MSP Agenda—tell them about it. Engineers love working for companies that have their act together.
Cybersecurity is no longer a "niche" skill; it is a fundamental requirement. When you are MSP hiring, every candidate must be a "security-first" candidate. They need to understand that every ticket is a security opportunity. If they are setting up a new user, are they following the principle of least privilege? If they are fixing a VPN, are they checking for unauthorized access logs?
At MSP Agenda, we help MSPs move away from 40-page technical reports and toward clear, actionable Security Reviews. Your new hires should be able to support this transition. They should be able to look at a security vulnerability and explain why it matters to the client's bottom line. As Luis Navarro often says, a recommendation the client doesn't understand is unlikely to become a project. Your team needs to be the ones making those recommendations understandable.
