Why Your MSP Should Hire Bartenders Before IT Pros

Jack Lincourt's MSP help desk handles 85% of tickets with technicians who'd never touched IT three months earlier. He'd rather hire a Dunkin' Donuts drive-through veteran than an experienced MSP tech — and he has the numbers to prove it works.In this episode of How to MSP, Andrew Moore talks with Jack Lincourt, VP of Service Delivery at Microtime Computers, about the hiring assessments, ConnectWise template library, and certification compensation model that built one of the most disciplined help desk operations in the MSP industry. Jack also explains why he won't hire from other MSPs, why he reviewed 5,000 historical tickets by hand, and why he hasn't yet adopted AI tools — even with vendor pressure to do so.What you'll learn:•       Why customer service skills and chaos tolerance beat IT credentials when hiring a help desk technician•       How Microtime gets new hires to 85% ticket coverage and on-call rotation in 3–4 months•       The certification bonus model that turns a $38,000 starting hire into a $70,000 tech in 3 years•       How Jack reviewed 5,000 historical tickets to build a template library that runs the help desk•       Why slow tool adoption (Rewst, Cyft) is the right pace for a process-driven MSP — and why AI shouldn't come firstMentioned in this episode:•       The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28930640-the-ideal-team-player•       Journey on Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/artist/0rvjqX7ttXeg3mTy8Xscbt•       Microtime Computers — https://microtime.com/•       Rewst (automation for MSPs) — https://rewst.io/•       Cyft (AI ticketing for MSP service desks) — https://www.cyft.ai/•       Criteria Corp HireSelect (assessments) — https://www.criteriacorp.com/About the guest:Jack Lincourt is VP of Service Delivery at Microtime Computers, an Andover, Massachusetts–based MSP. He brings 30+ years of experience leading client services, technical support, and operations teams — and has built a help desk with effectively zero turnover.Read the full show notes: https://www.ridgeviewadvisors.com/blog/why-your-msp-should-hire-bartenders-before-it-prosWatch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@howtomspLearn more about Ridgeview Advisors: https://www.ridgeviewadvisors.com/Subscribe to How to MSP for weekly conversations on growing, scaling, and exiting your MSP.Key topics: MSP help desk hiring, MSP technician training, ConnectWise templates, MSP certification bonuses, Rewst automation, Cyft AI ticketing, service delivery management, MSP operations.#MSP #ManagedServiceProvider #HelpDesk #ITHiring #ServiceDelivery #MSPOperationsAbout How to MSPHow to MSP is the weekly podcast for Managed Service Provider owners and operators who want to grow, scale, and exit on their terms. Host Andrew Moore — Founder of Ridgeview Advisors — interviews MSP operators, advisors, and investors on the topics that actually move the business: EOS implementation, valuation and exit strategy, sales and marketing, service delivery, M&A, financial benchmarks, and operational excellence.Watch full episodes on the How to MSP YouTube channel.How to MSP is produced by Ridgeview Advisors and hosted by Andrew Moore.