Job Interview....what scenarios should I know?

[celticglory]

Hi there folks, looking for a bit of advice here, I've just been accepted for a Job Interview over the phone, obviously checking my phone manner, and he said he would like to arrange an interview next week......The job is for 1st/2nd Line Support of which I have minimal experience in a professional workplace, although I have done it on a placement.

He said, when we meet at the interview we good go thru' a few scenarios. Anyone got any idea what these would entail,......or any sites where I can pick up some hints.....

thanks

[Potato-Peeler]

Im guessing they will just say things along the lines of:
Some-one rings up saying they can't pring, what would you do?
A PC is not logging on, what would you say?
etc etc. They may also ask you how to choose one call over another, aka whose is more important.

[gibbo_ap]

if i remember what i got asked one was like;

"if i came to your office with a problem and you were in the middle of something what would you do"

remember dont say "ill be down in 10" then think *by that time they will be on their way back up to tell me its "fixed its self" so i can stay on my asssss* lol :P

[sippo]

I've been asked many a time...something along the lines of:

'If the head needs a job doing, you have students that can't log in and a printer that needs a toner, which do you do first and why...'

[srochford]

Quick fixes are always good. I've asked a question many times which said something like "payroll computer is not working; what do you do?" and I want an answer like "get them to log on to another machine, all the data will be on a network server" - very, very few people get that right even when you're adding to the scenario with "she's now in a real panic because she's got to get the payroll done today; how can you quickly get going again"

Show that you know how to tease out info - question is "user says printer isn't working" so you need to think "what do I ask" - things like "is it not printing anything?" "is it printing the wrong thing" "is it the right thing but very faint" and so on. Users just know "it's broken" and rarely give all the info so you need to be able to prompt!

Show that you can do time management - again, classic question is about a big, unmovable deadline (external moderator coming in tomorrow; need xyz setting up ready) and a range of other things. You obviously need to show that you can prioritise jobs but what would you do if you really can't cope? I give extra points here to people who say "I ask for help from someone else" (you may not know who else works there but it might be that you've got admin staff who can help or caretakers etc even if there are no IT staff. Key thing is that you're showing you won't just let the deadline sail past while you collapse in a heap!)

"How do you keep track of what needs doing" needs answering with "what help desk system do you use" - if they look blank at that point then either run screaming from the room or say "Well, first I need to set up a help desk system and then I use that to track jobs" etc etc

There are loads of other things which might be asked; I tended to pick something which had happened recently so you can't just learn a set of scenarios. What the interviewer is trying to establish is how well you would cope with a real problem, how structured is your approach to problem solving and so on.

Don't be afraid to take in a notepad - if nothing else it can buy you time. You're asked a question, you want to think through your response so you can just say "let me just make a few quick notes" eg - "internet is down" so you're going to make notes like "check known web site", "check DNS", "check router pingable", "check external known IP pingable" or whatever - the exact things don't really matter; it's more that you're showing a logical approach to thinking through "what could go wrong" and then finding what has gone wrong!

Wow - that was too much typing but I'd guess it must be nearly beer o'clock :-)

Good luck!

[celticglory]

Hey steve, thanks very much.....that ws very helpful.......much appreciated.......as with all the replies

[mossj]

I've been asked many a time...something along the lines of:

'If the head needs a job doing, you have students that can't log in and a printer that needs a toner, which do you do first and why...'

This is a constent one in education....

What industry is the job interview in?