Stop Hiring Roles. Start Building Capabilities.
Jane Matthews
Solving Hiring Chaos for UK MSPs | 90-Day Guarantee | Teams That Actually Stick | Founder @ Wildcat Careers
If your hiring strategy still starts with a job title, we need to talk.
The best MSPs aren’t just recruiting for vacancies but are building long-term capability one skill cluster at a time. In a world where tech stacks evolve monthly and client expectations change weekly, fixed roles are dead weight. Capable people aren’t box-tickers. They’re problem-solvers. Systems thinkers. Adaptable humans who move with your business.
Let’s break this down.
The old way: write a job spec, post it online, hope someone applies with three years’ experience in the exact tool you happen to use. The result? You end up hiring for familiarity, not flexibility.
The new way? Think in terms of outcomes. What needs to be done? What skills are required to do it? Which ones are teachable? Which ones are non-negotiable? Now you’re hiring to evolve, not just to plug holes.
Capability-first hiring looks like this:
From ‘Helpdesk Analyst’ to ‘Client Confidence Restorer’ Technical support plus empathy, communication, and curiosity.
From ‘Project Manager’ to ‘Systems Facilitator’ Someone who can translate between tech, ops and commercial goals.
From ‘Infrastructure Engineer’ to ‘Uptime Strategist’ Part guardian, part innovator, part automation architect.
It’s not about throwing job titles out the window, in fact, don’t. You need to redefine what they stand for. The label matters less than the leverage it creates. In the MIP model, titles are starting points.
To build a future-fit team, you need visibility on what your people can actually do, and what they're capable of doing next. That means taking a microscope to the skills already inside your organisation, then mapping how those skills align with the work that drives value.
Start building capability maps in your business. Don’t just look at what your team’s doing today. Look at what they could be doing with the right shift in tools, mindset, or mentorship. Identify where the skill clusters are strong, where the bottlenecks are forming, and where individual strengths are going untapped because the role is too narrow or the process too rigid.
This isn't about squeezing more from people, it's about unlocking more with them. Overlaps in roles might be slowing down delivery. Gaps in capabilities might be hiding in plain sight. And in many MSPs, your future lead tech, team manager, or product owner is already in the building. They just haven’t been given the right visibility, feedback, or challenge yet.
Where that potential exists, lean in. Create lateral movements. Build layered learning. Stretch roles sideways as well as up. Because capability is a living thing, and when you map it properly, it gives you the blueprint for growth.
Three practical steps to shift your hiring mindset:
Audit your team’s capabilities. What are they great at beyond the bullet points?
Write job specs that describe problems, not tasks,“You’ll be improving service quality through smarter diagnostics” beats “Respond to Level 2 support tickets.”
Create a skills wishlist, not a software checklist. Tools change. The ability to learn quickly and communicate clearly doesn’t.
The MSPs evolving into MIPs are already doing this. They’re not stuck on job titles. They’re building squads with layered skills, adaptable attitudes, and room to grow.
They’re hiring with foresight, not fear. They’re building resilience into their structure, and are moving beyond plugging gaps but preparing people to step into the future of work.
That’s how you stay ahead. That’s how you build capability that compounds. And if you're ready to move beyond job titles and start building your next-gen team, let's talk about what that looks like for your MSP.