Quick heads up: this one's in-office. We're based in the Birmingham area (our office is over in Pelham). We work remotely on a regular basis, but we're in the office more than we're out of it. If that's a dealbreaker for you, no hard feelings, but this probably isn't your spot.

A few quick yes/no questions

• Are you tired of being a cog in the machine of an uncaring corporation?

• Do you have an inner drive to grow yourself and the people around you?

• Do you believe people should be treated with care and compassion?

• Do you want to work someplace that actually wants, asks for, and listens to your feedback?

• Do you love dogs and are totally cool with them being at the office sometimes?

• Does working someplace with a position called “Hamster Herder” sound like your kind of place (note there are no actual hamsters involved)?

• Do you want to work somewhere that has a real core value of “If you're a jerk, it ain't gonna work,” and applies it to teammates as much as customers?

• Do you get bored working on the same thing day after day?

Hopefully you answered yes to all of that. If not, you probably want to click on to the next posting and try them instead. No hard feelings.

Who we are (and what an MSP even is)

We're Sawyer Solutions (SawyerSolutionsLLC.com), a small but growing managed services provider, and we're looking for a Level 2 tech to join us on this adventure. We don't do things the “normal” way, and we aren't looking for “normal” teammates. If you don't know what an MSP is, we're basically the outsourced IT department for small and medium businesses and non-profits. That means we deal with a lot of different things, in a lot of different environments, every single day.

If you hate the color blue, you probably don't want to work here, since that's our color scheme. Heads up there.

What we're actually about

We're on a mission to change the way people relate to tech support. Too often, someone calls for help and the person on the other end is a jerk. Condescending. Talking down to them because they didn't happen to know what a firewall is. That's unacceptable to us. Everyone has worth as a human being, and nobody deserves to be talked to like that. You can have competent tech support that actually supports you as a person, lifts you up, and treats you with care and compassion. If that resonates with you, keep reading. If you're that condescending jerk, this definitely isn't the place for you.

A couple of honest heads ups

This is a help desk role at its core, so you'll answer the phone and work tickets. If you think you're too senior to pick up a ringing phone, mosey on to the next spot.

Our hiring process is on the long side, on purpose. We'd rather take our time and make sure it's a great fit both directions than rush it and get it wrong.

And there's some required screening (a background check and a drug screen). No surprises. It's all spelled out at the bottom.

The actual job

In MSP speak this is usually called a Level 2, and I'm after a solid, fresh one. Someone who's been around the block a few times but isn't a grizzled veteran. The bar I care about: you can knock out around 80% of the tickets we see without needing to tap someone on the shoulder. The other 20%, you lean on the team for, and that's totally fine. Nobody here knows everything.

Day to day, the heart of it is simple: come in and nail tickets. A steady stream of them, across PCs, Macs, networking, wireless, and the cloud (mostly Microsoft 365). Doing that well, all day, is the whole game.

A few things that come with it:

• You'll read ticket severity and impact and get it right. We triage like an ER. The chest pain gets seen before the stubbed toe, and you've got to feel that difference.

• You'll bring a security mindset. Keeping our clients safe is the first promise we make them, so I want someone who notices the risky stuff and speaks up when something looks off.

• You'll talk to real people, from the front desk up to the CEO, and put things in plain language so they actually understand their options and feel good about the plan. Slowing down to make sure the person on the other end feels taken care of isn't a distraction from the job. It is the job.

• You'll own what's in front of you. If you spot something broken that isn't technically your ticket, you flag it or you fix it.

On servers: we don't run many of those anymore, so this isn't a heavy Hyper-V or VMware role. You'll bump into one now and then, but your days are mostly endpoints, Microsoft 365, and the people behind them. We don't sell printers, but we still have to wrangle them sometimes. We're also getting into selling phones, so that'll be part of the mix going forward.

How to throw your hat in

I'm looking for a detail person, so if you made it this far, that's a good sign. Here's the ask: don't apply through the website, because we won't see it. Instead, email me at AwesomeJob@SawyerSolutionsLLC.com, attach your resume, and answer these questions right in the body of the email:

1. Why does Business exist?

2. What do you believe about people in general?

3. How do you define success at work?

4. What's the best way to get the most out of people at work?

5. What do you hope to learn from your next job?

6. Tell me about a time you had to explain something technical to a frustrated, non-technical person. What did you do, and how did it turn out?

One more time: email your resume and answers to AwesomeJob@SawyerSolutionsLLC.com. Anything sent through the website won't get looked at.

Cool. Now that the important part's out of the way, a little more about us.

Right now, we're in a season of change (and it's a blast)

Heads up: being a high-change shop is just part of our DNA, even on a normal day. We're always poking at how we work and hunting for a better way. And right now? The dial is turned way up, and honestly it's a lot of fun. We're growing, we're sharpening how we work, and we're starting to help our clients navigate AI and automation so they can work smarter and get more done. We're doing the exact same thing inside our own walls. What that means for you: you'll need a genuine tolerance for change, because the ground moves here. If everything staying exactly the same is what keeps you comfortable, this isn't your spot.

Part of that is becoming a truly process-driven shop. We're writing down how we do things so you always know what good looks like and you're not reinventing the wheel on every ticket. We're actively building and fixing those processes right now, and we'll keep tweaking them. So I need someone who can follow the process when it's there, and roll with it when it shifts.

We're a small, tight-knit team, so I want someone who helps hold all of us accountable, me and the other owners included. If you catch one of us skipping a step, I want you to be the kind of person who can say, “hey, you didn't follow the process there, let's fix that.”

And here's a part most postings would never admit: I don't want someone who follows the process right off a cliff just because it's the process. I want thinking people who get why the process exists, follow it to get consistent results, and then improve it when they spot something broken or a better way to do it. If you see something off, don't quietly suffer it. Speak up and help us make it better.

The flip side of all that: we try hard to match people with work they actually enjoy and are good at, so if there's a part of this you love, you'll probably get more of it.

Who crushes it here, and who doesn't

You'll do great here if you like the momentum of working a queue and clearing it, if you'd rather find the real root cause than just slam the ticket closed, and if you actually enjoy the part where you make a stressed-out client feel human again. You ask for help when you're stuck, you share what you know instead of hoarding it, and you can laugh at yourself when you whiff one. You will whiff one. We all do.

You'll be miserable here if “that's not my job” lives anywhere in your vocabulary, if you sigh when someone asks what a firewall is, if you need everything frozen in place to feel comfortable, or if you're too cool to pick up the phone. And if you don't have a sense of humor, or can't laugh at yourself once in a while, you definitely don't want to work here.

We take the client-experience thing seriously enough that we put our live CSAT score right on our website, so you can see we aren't just messing around. It all rolls up into three promises we make our clients: we keep them safe, we treat them with care and compassion, and we respond in a timely manner. If those three, especially that middle one, sound like the way you'd want to treat people, we're going to get along.

The boring but required stuff

Every tech here goes through this, so no surprises: a hair-follicle drug screen, and an FBI background check (fingerprints and all). You'll also head out to client sites, so you need a valid driver's license and a reliable vehicle that can haul a little gear. Think a couple of doors and some room in the back, not a two-seater.

The details

• Job Type: Full-time

• Pay: $27 to $33 per hour, depending on experience

• Schedule: 5x8 (five 8-hour days)

• Work Location: In person, Birmingham AL area (our office is in Pelham)

• Benefits: Health, dental, vision, and life insurance, plus paid time off

Still with me? Then we might be your huckleberry.

Thanks for sticking with me all the way down here. That alone tells me something good about you. If all of this sounds like you, and it sounds like the kind of place you want to spend your days, then email me your resume and answers (not the website, remember), and I'll look forward to reading them and meeting you.

Talk soon,

Benji

Pay: $27.00 - $33.00 per hour

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person