Switching To a Managed Service Provider: A Guide to Prepare Your School or District

Is your school or district considering switching to a managed service provider (MSP) to help with your growing staffing needs? Staying on top of every aspect of your hiring process can be overwhelming and may make it more difficult for you to prioritize student success. Whether you currently work with a singular staffing agency or use traditional in-house staff procurement methods, switching to a managed service provider (MSP) could benefit your school by reducing the administrative burden of managing your staff.

When considering making the switch to an MSP, it’s critical to identify how your hiring process will change and what your school or district needs to prepare for this transition. The unique timeline of school staffing often requires a flexible plan for finding the right professionals at the right time to ensure minimizing interruptions for your students. Let’s break down what an MSP can do, the potential benefits for you, and how to prepare to switch to a managed service provider.

How Managed Service Providers Help with School Staffing

A managed service provider (MSP) is a workforce solution that streamlines your entire staffing process, taking over everything from sourcing and onboarding to billing and contracting. An MSP works with a variety of staffing vendors all managed under a single framework, allowing for access to a wider candidate field through just a single point of contact. MSPs also handle the candidate credentialing process, helping to ensure new hires are prepared and qualified to work in an educational setting.

Benefits of Working with a School Staffing MSP

• One point of contact who manages communications with multiple staffing vendors
• Simplified access to candidates, workflows, and billing through your MSP contact or technology platforms
• Access to a large and diverse candidate network that can help with hard-to-fill positions
• Can reduce administrative burdens and staffing procurement delays
• Help finding cost-effective solutions for your staffing challenges
• Regulatory upkeep to ensure candidate quality and proper credentialing
• Access to dedicated program managers who work to fully understand your school or district’s culture and how to meet your unique needs

Signs You May Need Help From an MSP

• Struggling to manage multiple agency contacts
• Feeling overwhelmed by the administrative load of in-house staffing procurement or handling of staffing agency relationships
• Playing catch-up to fill your open roles during the school year or summer
• Inconsistent candidate quality for specialized positions
• Looking for help managing staffing related billing and invoice demands

Finding the Right School Staffing MSP Partner

When starting your search for an MSP, it’s important to understand what characteristics will best support your school’s needs and ensure staffing continuity for your students. Here are some considerations to think about when evaluating a potential MSP partner:

• Education Staffing Experience:An important aspect of working with an MSP partner is finding one that understands the unique complexities of school staffing and has experience in finding candidates for all specialties needed in the school setting. Since the yearly school cycle is distinct rom other industries, it often requires constant proactivity through a specialized staffing solution. An MSP with extensive school staffing experience should know how to anticipate the needs of your school and can tailor a specific strategy for finding high-quality professionals to fill your vacant roles as quickly as possible.
• Tailored Technology:Finding an MSP partner that offers technology solutions that align with your current processes can be vital. Rather than implementing a completely automated, AI-driven system that might overwhelm your team if you’re used to simpler processes, look for a platform that can integrate with your existing workflows while providing one centralized place to manage your extended workforce. This unified platform should help you better keep track of every step of your staffing process, including billing, payroll, candidates, credentials, and contracts, without requiring a dramatic shift from your current comfort level.
• Vendor Pool:Managing your school’s different staffing needs can be inconsistent or unpredictable when working with individual agencies or sourcing candidates yourself, so having access to a diverse source of staffing vendors can help. When considering a potential MSP partner, try to prioritize ones that work with a wide and diverse network of vendors. This can help with finding qualified and properly credentialed professionals for schools or districts with limited candidate pools in their regions. Having access to a larger candidate pool by working with multiple vendors can also help with filling harder-to-fill specialized positions like Special Education teachers and speech-language pathologists (SLP).
• Implementation & Regulatory Upkeep:With the wide range of credentials and regulatory checkpoints required for educational staffing, staying on top of your various administrative tasks can be challenging. Two key features to look for in an MSP partner are if they can provide strategic staffing implementation plans, and if they have the ability to quickly adapt to regulatory changes. To maintain compliance with district regulations, candidate credentialing, and education plans, an effective MSP should follow a consistent process that keeps them ahead of evolving regulatory requirements and eliminates the need for schools to manually track and update credentials.
• Realistic Implementation Timeline:Be wary of any MSP that promises to take over your staffing process in just a week. A thorough implementation should typically take 45 to 90 days to ensure proper setup, training, and transition of your staffing processes.

How to Prepare to Switch to a MSP

After deciding to work with a school staffing MSP, you can begin preparing for the switch away from your current staffing process. Consider the following recommendations to help you make a smooth transition:

Plan the process
Create a comprehensive plan with your MSP partner that includes detailed checkpoints and realistic timelines. Gather all your administrative information and ensure it is prepared for handover, while also making sure that your team understands what changes are coming to their duties.

Communicate thoroughly
Make sure you fully understand the implementation process, next steps, and what to expect throughout the transition. Clear communication with your MSP partner is essential for a successful switch.

Inform stakeholders
Communicate the upcoming changes to department heads and key staff members throughout your school district. Keeping everyone informed can help ensure buy-in and smooth adoption of new processes.

Prepare your team
Each MSP may have their own platforms or processes, so train your staff on any new systems and help them understand how the changes will benefit their daily work and allow them to focus more on core responsibilities.

Making the Switch

When evaluating your staffing options, your school or district should consider what features of an MSP will best support your unique staffing needs and the future of your staff and students. Not only can working with an MSPhelp increase your teacher retention and fill-rates, it can also enable decreased overall spending on staffing, allowing your school the opportunity to allocate more financial resources to helping your students thrive. If your school is struggling to meet your staffing demands, considering a strategic workforce solution, like an MSP, can help you optimize your school staffing process and invest in providing a high-quality educational environment for years to come.

Interested in working with an MSP? Learn how a partnership with Sunburst can help your school thrive.