You’re Not Hiring. You’re Guessing.
You’ve got process for leads. Stages for pipeline. A CRM to track deals. But when it comes to the one pipeline that powers everything—your people—you’re guessing.
Most MSPs still hire like it’s 2015: panic post, resume screen, skill-based interview, rushed offer.
You don’t have a hiring process. You’ve got roulette.
And even when the person is talented, they fail silently—because your funnel wasn’t built to measure belief or trajectory. It was built to plug a hole.
What’s Inside?
The 5-stage People Funnel (and where MSPs break it)
How to flip your hiring from bandwidth-buying to belief-building
Why your next hire isn’t a tool—it’s a framework
The one question that exposes your culture bottleneck
A playbook to recruit people who grow faster than the role
The Context Pyramid: Why Clients Stay Or Leave
You built a system that asks for loyalty, ownership, and performance.
But no one told you that without a people operating manual— you’re just tossing bodies into a machine and hoping they figure it out.
So let’s rebuild it like it actually matters:
Recruit for belief. Can they see the mission before they see the paycheck?
Qualify for trajectory. Don’t ask where they’ve been. Ask where they’re going.
Activate with clarity. Assume nothing. Spell out the win.
Retain through development. If they’re still doing what they did on day one—that’s on you.
Multiply through culture. One aligned hire isn’t enough. The system has to scale.
No one wins when the manual is missing.
The only question is: would you thrive inside the system you’ve built?
What To Do Next: Build a People OS
1. Stop Selling the Job. Start Testing for Fit.
Your interview shouldn’t be a pitch deck. It should be a mirror. Are they aligned with your mission? Can they grow with the role?
2. Architect for Belief.
Don’t just ask about experience. Ask about momentum. Ask what excites them. Ask what legacy they want to build.
3. Make Success Obvious From Day One.
Define what success looks like at 30, 60, and 90 days. Don’t assume they know. Show them.
4. Audit for Clarity + Coaching.
If you expect performance without support, that’s on you. Great culture is built in the gaps between expectations and enablement.
5. Fix the One Question That Exposes Everything: “If I sold this MSP tomorrow, would I enthusiastically rehire every person on my team?”
If the answer’s no—you don’t have a people problem. You have a process problem.
Dive Deeper with Video
Whiteboard Breakdown:I walk through how to fix your People Funnel from the inside out—and why your hiring process is your culture in motion. [Watch Here]
Full Damien Stevens Interview: Hear how Damien built a hiring system that attracts belief-driven talent, filters for trajectory, and scales culture on purpose. [Watch Here]
Final Thought: You Don’t Hire for Today. You Hire for Legacy.
You want top-tier talent, not just task-takers? Then build a hiring experience that makes them say:
“This culture sees me. This mission is mine too.”
And that’s how you stop hiring out of hope—and start building with intent.
Talk soon,
Jeffrey Newton
MSP INSIDER