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Okay, I have a couple of interviews up coming and I want to make sure I’m asking questions appropriate for the level of person. I want someone with basic IT knowledge but my biggest area of focus is customer service, customer service, customer service. I don’t like working with geeks (PM me if you want to know how I define “geek”) so technical knowledge isn’t that important but I don’t want them to just stare at a broken computer when it comes in.

My ability to evaluate entry-level candidates isn’t as good as I thought. So I need some help. Here are some over all question I came up with. Honest appraisals, please.

  1. Computer Hardware–What’s a good entry-level question?

*2. Active Directory—*A contractor calls you from the cubicle next door and says that he can’t connect his home laptop to the file server and he can’t ping any servers by name on the network. What problem is he having?

  1. Customer Service Skills—Describe an incident you had with a difficult user and how you resolved the issue.

  2. Communication Skills—How would you describe the difference between memory and a hard drive to my grandmother? I’m looking for this person to illustrate it in layman’s terms which shows that a) they have a good basic technical understanding of the subject matter and b) they can speak in a concise and coherent manner.

  3. Problem Solving Skills—The CEO has an important meeting in 5 minutes and he needs to print something on the network really quickly but his computer crashes, he calls you, what do you do? Shamelessly stolen from someone here on SW. It’s a good damn question for it’s purpose, I think. Let me know what you think.

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So you want a help desk tech that isn’t technically minded? How would this person even know how to “connect [a] home laptop to the file server and ping servers by name.”

Just your jargon alone would require someone with more than a basic understanding of computers.

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For computer hardware I would give them a box of PC parts (hard drive, RAM, CPU, power supply, video card, etc.) labeled with numbers, and a sheet of paper. Have them write down the name of the part and a short description for each one. It will give you an idea of their understanding of the inner workings of a PC.

I think you have a good start with the other questions.

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“2. Active Directory—A contractor calls you from the cubicle next door and says that he can’t connect his home laptop to the file server and he can’t ping any servers by name on the network. What problem is he having?”

I like this one, for me this would be a trick question here the problem would be that he wouldn’t be allowed to plug his HOME laptop into my network.

I like most of the other questions though.

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It’s my opinion that you should simply take technical questions and “spin” them so the candidates can’t just give you the how-to-fix-it response. I like questions 3, 4 and 5. That’s how you take a technical situation and give it a human face, so to speak. With question 2, I would ask them how they would explain the issue to the caller, not just an, “Oh. He’s having problem x.”

In each of the questions, make it about how they explain things to the end user. Of course it needs to be correct in a technical sense, but just because they know what’s wrong doesn’t mean they have the skills of someone in customer service.

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I just value customer service over technical proficiency. All they need to have is a tech foundation and they can learn the rest. It’s harder to teach a geek how to show good customer service.

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I recently interviewed for a Help Desk position and one of the questions they asked me was “What does customer service mean to you?” I think anyone with good customer service skills will tell you that the goal is repeat business. In retail, you want the customer to leave satisfied so they come back. In IT, you want the customer to hang up the phone knowing their issue is resolved so they are reassured that in the future, they can count on their IT department.

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I have always defined good customer service regardless as finding a solution to a problem. Whether it’s through yourself or other resources. It’s just the business of finding solutions.

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we do the following, an example question such as

  1. One user tell you “the internet isn’t working”

what are likely/possible causes of this

a)

b)

c)

what do you communicate to the end user at each of the steps above as you work through them

a)

b)

c)

obviously we find this better spoken than written, basically its a role play without the embarrassment i guess :slight_smile:

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  1. Computer Hardware–You start a computer and hears beep sounds …what it could be the cause ?

  2. Active Directory—A contractor calls you from the cubicle next door and says that he can’t connect his home laptop to the file server and he can’t ping any servers by name on the network. What problem is he having? . good one ! but not for a help desk starter…

  3. Customer Service Skills—Describe an incident you had with a difficult user and how you resolved the issue. IMHO, Typical interview question and they will definitely prepare for that.

  4. Communication Skills—How would you describe the difference between memory and a hard drive to my grandmother? I’m looking for this person to illustrate it in layman’s terms which shows that a) they have a good basic technical understanding of the subject matter and b) they can speak in a concise and coherent manner. +1 for this

  5. Problem Solving Skills—The CEO has an important meeting in 5 minutes and he needs to print something on the network really quickly but his computer crashes, he calls you, what do you do? Shamelessly stolen from someone here on SW. It’s a good damn question for it’s purpose, I think. Let me know what you think. No doubt its a brilliant Qn. but i would suggest you to add that CEO calling from same location, from another floor or end room, etc…

How do you prioritize tickets ? my answer is “based on company policy…”

one user in a cubicle calls you and tells he don’t have internet. what will be your approach ? there are a lot answers but i will check whether other users near him have internet connection and can he access file server or intranet

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While I agree with you; I see this particular brand of decision making on the rise with the escalation of BYOD. It’s a great question and in fact one that I answered Tuesday last.

However, given the primary requirement for CS, CS, CS and CS; you aren’t likely to find someone with the required technical ability and hi level of CS skills in the job pool available unless you are offering a decent wage with benefits, training opportunities and the potential for advancement.

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If you are looking for a person who is more customer support and less technical, I think they would have a really hard time… Also none of the questions are specific enough.

  1. Active Directory—A contractor calls you from the cubicle next door and says that he can’t connect his home laptop to the file server and he can’t ping any servers by name on the network. What problem is he having? This question would be very difficult for someone who has little or no experience in an office environment.

  2. Customer Service Skills—Describe an incident you had with a difficult user and how you resolved the issue. I dont know that there is a question I hate more than this one. Not to mention that it is extremely easy to google this question and make a story up.

  3. Valid question but I think maybe have them explain it to a family member instead.

5. This question however good has alot of variables and requires alot more experience then someone just coming out of school would have. Also there is a serious lack of detail. Is both the file and the printer on the network? or is the printer local and file is network or vice versa. What kind of security access does the PC guy have? Would he be able to go to the CEO’s directory and print it to the closest printer?

During my last interview it was for entry level end user support I was asked…

1.How do you check if a computer is (turned on/connected to the network) without getting up?

  1. Explain an I.P. address to and end user as simply as possible.

The other thing you can do is look for a person who has experience in other industry’s where they would have had to serve customers.

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I edited my post to reflect a misunderstanding. I said I wanted someone with basic “computer knowledge”. What I meant was “IT knowledge”. There’s a big difference. The former implies that the user knows how to use a computer. The later implies that they have a basic foundation in IT. My bad. I’m not looking for a network or systems admin guru.

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On number 4 I didn’t want to trigger anything personal like the recent death of a grandmother or other family member. I guess I could substitute it for “a family member”.

  1. On number 5 there’s no right answer I’m looking for. I just want to get a glimpse of how their troubleshooting process works and how quickly they think on their feet. Personally, I would just have him log into my machine and print the document from there.

And ooooooooh! I like your last two questions better. I might incorporate one or both of them. Thanks!

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I’ve been on the hunt for a helpdesk/entry level tech for a couple of months now, and essentially I’ve found that I’m not looking for someone who knows a lot, but I want someone who is eager to learn and is excited by technology. I’ve had too many interviews with people who have been to tech school and graduated top of the class, but they don’t have any ability to put any of their knowledge in practice and still think they’re the best. The interviewees that have sounded the best to me have been the ones that have worked somewhere (even if not tech related) for a couple of years and are ready to start a career, and have a bit of side experience but show a willingness to learn. And I’m finding this via questions that aren’t technical in nature at all - most interviewees are more than willing to share what they know in the general HR questions, and some who have had 12 jobs in 10 years but can’t give a reference from any of them are easy to weed out.

I guess what I’m getting at is for entry level, technical questions aren’t really needed. You’re wanting to know if someone wants to solve problems, how easily frustrated they are, and if they are willing to learn. Now if I were hiring an Exchange admin, I’m sure I’d go about things much differently!

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I’m with your Christoper. Fortunately I have a couple of candidates that have technical experience.

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I think you’re off to a great start with the questions you’ve outlined already. I’ve had great success with the Behavioral Interviewing technique. Past performance is the best predictor of future performance. To prepare I sit down and list out the Top 10 or so desired qualities in a future employee:

Customer Service
Technical Knowledge
Interpersonal Communication Skills & Teamwork
Motivated
Organizational Skills
Analytical
Problem Solver
Coping Skills
etc…

Then I spend some time thinking about (or searching the interwebs) questions that would most likely draw a candidate out on these subjects. Best to make up your own questions though.

Quality: Analytical
Question: Describe a situation where you made a decision that was overturned. What were the consequences? Did you do anything different as a result?

Just my $.02

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For question 4, that might be a good time to throw them off guard. Bring in someone from the office to just sit there and ‘play stupid’.

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And I just got notified we have another accepted offer! Now if he’ll make it to orientation…the last 2 called the day of/before orientation and claimed to have had better job offers.

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Here’s some questions I have as part of the application process.

A. Describe your experience with using a Help Desk ticketing system and the system you used.

B. A computer cannot access microsoft.com, yet other computers near it can. What could be wrong? List two causes and what you would do to resolve them. Please list any tools you would use.

C. What role does Google play in IT Support?

D. What is a .wim file and where would I find one on a brand new computer?

E. John Doe calls you because a pop-up from a website is stating “Anti-Virus 2013 is out of date”. The Pop-Up gives him two buttons: “Update” or “Dismiss”. What do you tell John to do?

F. You are trying to install software on a Windows 7 computer but it fails. We know the software install works correctly because it has been installed on other Windows 7 machines in the past. Give an example of something that could prevent the software from installing on this computer.

G. What is the fastest way to install a shared printer on a client PC?

H. Why would be want to use a Virtual XP machine on a Windows 7 computer?

I. Give an example of one of your greatest IT related achievements.