We have a few projects we want to accomplish but are too short staffed to finish by our deadlines, so we have decided to hire an IT Student for the month of July, possibly extended into August. My question is, what types of questions would you put forward to a student that has expressed interest in working with you? The interview is this afternoon, so prompt replies would be great!
Be mindful, this is a term position, and the candidates are students. Little to no experience with IT other than what they have learned so far in school.
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ross
(Ross42.)
2
Might help if we know what the projects are?
Ask about their knowledge of the specific products / technologies the project will involve.
Ask questions about their work ethic like what will come first, doing a difficult piece of homework or being at work on time.
Find out how well they work with others and pick up on new things.
Windows 10 Pro upgrades from Windows 7 Pro. Really a matter of backing up user data, performing the upgrade, reinstalling apps, configure user profile, restore user data.
Deploying new PC’s already configured - shuffling other PC’s around.
Printer inventory
Some minor day to day desktop support
Really, just enough to get their feet wet.
Ask them how they approach a problem. Doesn’t have to be IT related, but good to understand their thought process behind any challenge/problem.
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Ask them to tell you about a time where they had a personal conflict or difficult interaction with another person. Again, doesn’t have to be IT related, but good to understand what techniques they use for handling interpersonal problems.
Ask a follow up on how they might have handled it differently if they had it to do all over again.
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We usually ask varied questions to see more about how they respond or how resourceful they are to obtain an answer. If someone pulls out there phone and googles it rather than guessing we are definitely ok with that. Mostly we focus on attitude and if they can research and solve problems on their own. Nothing worse than someone bugging you every 5 minutes about dumb problems that google solves in like 2 minutes.
It’s a really good idea to ask what is motivating them to apply for the position. Curiosity and wanting to learn is a good indicator of motivation. Obviously they need to know what they are doing too, though…
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Ask about current IT updates.
Hmmm,
I ask all candidates to “talk to me about DHCP”.
-I once had a prospective job candidate from deep woods Alabama answer that it was “Down Home Country Pie”. That was quite fun. I was with HP at the time, HP & I parted ways long since. I hired that guy, he today runs a goodly chunk of their printer business. Actually, not sure that part of “HP” is HP anymore… Haven’t been following their drama for a while.
For your specific needs, stick with asking mainly personality questions, (i.e., ‘are you taking this job to avoid REAL work?’, or ‘2 part question, 1.) do you own a goat, 2.) Does the goat tell you to when/how to upgrade Windows 8 to Windows 10?’, etc.), or mebbe some stuff about how get printer meters.
You could also ask every candidate to list 10 wonderful things about Windows 8, then leave the room for 3 hours, just long enough for 18 holes and/or a long martini lunch. That would be my maneuver, but I understand this may not suit all needs. 
~Happy Hiring!
