1

I’ve come across more and more online job applications that have a lot of questions associated with them. Seemingly more like interview questions than application questions, to me at least.

My issue is the questions are often painfully specific about things/situations/experience I either haven’t had the opportunity to do, had very limited contact with, or only did in school (so far). They are things I want to do and work with. The old Catch-22 of how can I get experience when no one will let me?

How do I answer these questions to effectively demonstrate my willingness to learn, highlight what I have done (without it sounding violently trivial), and expand my skills without making myself sound like an idiot?

6 Spice ups
2

The problem with interviews that require specific experience that you don’t have is one of two. Either you’re applying for something over your head or they aren’t willing to find someone who will learn.

I had that problem. I’ve been put in situations that make me look like an idiot who applied for something way out of my league. Reality is, if you keep getting hit with it, lower your goals. Having problems with SysAdmin? take a lower position, like desktop support, and learn the specifics, then apply for that position at a later date.

1 Spice up
3

Unfortunately, these employers are trying to weed out applicants up front by seeing what level experience you may have with a given technology. You never want to lie or exagerate. If they ask something like “What is your experience implementing/managing/administrating Exchange 2010 Server?” On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 meaning no experience, 5 being an Expert", and they don’t give you a text box to explain comparable experience or your desire to learn, there may not be much you can do other than answer honestly. Most of the time they are looking for someone that will answer 5 on everything, which most of the time does not exist anyway.

1 Spice up
4

I already do “help desk” for $11 an hour. I have a degree in Networking, but without the practice I’ve forgotten a lot. If I set my sights any lower I may just as well work at McDonalds when they start getting $15 an hour. I have been looking for a job for over a year. I’m at the point where I am, literally, throwing sh!* at the wall to see what sticks. Not like I can afford to move somewhere with better options. I can’t even pay for food and electricity (good news; weight loss, bad news; darkness).

Some of it seems like unreal expectations or bad job titles/descriptions. The job title in question is IT Technician. Duties are listed not too different my current position. However, one of the questions they ask is: Describe your network experience in overseeing a Microsoft SQL Server system. Um, wat?

5

Then I would recommend being very up front from the beginning of the interview. You have a degree and experience unrelated to networking. You have book smarts, you have no real world experience. You are eager to learn and move forward with your career.

Any specific questions outside of that would be asinine.

6

Unless you live in seattle, MacDonalds employees are certainly never going to be making $15 / hr. All you can do is keep at it. You’ll find something eventually. It took me 2 months to find this job when wanting to leave my last one.

7

I’ve hired a couple people who didn’t answer my interview questions correctly or didn’t have a lot of IT work experience because they fit other specific needs we had at the time. They had positive attitudes and were hungry to learn and to prove themselves. They’ve worked out very well so far. Keep looking and keep networking. Sooner or later you’ll find the right fit.

I think that with IT work attitude is often under-appreciated. If you have a positive can-do attitude and are eager to learn and hungry to succeed make sure it shows in an interview. If they rule you out before you even get to an interview they may have a good reason for doing so and it may not be what you think it is (it may not have anything to do with you either). Just keep trying (it’s part of the can-do attitude).

1 Spice up
8

Or you answer them with: “I haven’t personally experienced this issue. But this is how I might handle it <…>”. It shows that you understand the situation/question and your logical thought process to resolve the problem/conflict.

3 Spice ups
9

Trust me, the McDonalds employees around here think they should be making that much. Keep protesting and stuff. Just irritates me. I was making $15 an hour as a receptionist a few years ago.

The market around here blows, unless you have 20 years of experience or are willing to take $10 an hour. There’s really no way out for me. Or at least I am not seeing one, short of a miracle.

10

So you’re on help desk making $11 per hour, and the duties are not much different… which includes SQL? That’s a little hard to believe. Most people dealing with databases are making a little more. If you know the material but haven’t had experience with it though, I’d just say you haven’t had a lot of experience with it but what you would do and what you believe to be correct. Just don’t BS the answer though in hopes of getting close. I’ve interviewed too many people that tried to BS it and were so far off. Whereas other applicants with the same question simply said they didn’t have experience in that area, so they couldn’t accurately answer. I hope everything works out for you, sounds like you’re having it a little rough right now.