Job Interview questions and tasks

[jonathan.lees]

Hopefully I'll be interviewing for an IT technician soon. Can anyone share their killer questions to ask such as "What would you do if a backup failed".

Also we have to test their practical skills, they each have 30 mins to complete a set of tasks such as resolve why the printer doesn't print etc. Can anyone share such tasks that will clearly eliminate the bad from the good.

thanks

[theeggmaster]

When I interviewed for a technician a few years ago, I set up a PC with some common faults that would happen in a classroom, such as bent pins in a PS/2 mouse, network cable unplugged, keyboard keys switched around etc, then gave them a few minutes to get the machine logged on and working. Just try and make it a real-world example that you would troubleshoot regularly.

[greenfieldsupport]

Ask the question " what is DHCP ... "

You'd be suprised at how many have no clue whatsoever...

I agree with theeggmaster, go for a real life situation...

[acrobson]

I agree with the eggmaster too, I have 1st hand experiences with his interview techniques!

I would suggest such questions as 'What is the difference between TCP/IP, IPX/SPX and NetBios/NetBeui'.

Also, try changing the keys around on the keyboard and get them to re-arrange them in the correct order, just like what the kids would normally do in a school environment.

I have had a 45 min written exam in one of my interviews as well as a test inc the above scenarios as well as being given a bunch of cables and being asked to tell what the differences are, such as EIA/TIA standards for cat5e etc.

Another one was where there were MS office icons missing from the programs menu and links failed, what would you do etc. They could copy them back from the program files, run a repair from the CD in case their are any underlying issues or depending on time etc, re-ghost the machine with a ghost cast image that from experience only takes 15 mins inc config time.

I hope that’s some food for thought for ya.

[Friez]

To be fair most of the time you just need to quiz them about obvious things like:

What does HTML stand for?

In your opinion what is the best way to arrange a RAID? (this could get some colourful answers if the interviewee is computer illiterate!).

It'll become blatently obvious who's a computer bod and who's "just after another job innit guv".

Also ask them what they would do if they recieve a screensaver file in an email as an attachment, the clued would understand it's likely to be a virus and therefore eradicate it asap.

[enjay]

What does HTML stand for?.

Really? I would rather have some who was technically competent, handled themselves well under pressure, could switch quickly between modes, e.g. speaking to children, teachers and Headteacher, and had a good analytical problem-solving mind. Obviously I would be concerned if they didn't know that HTML was the language used on web pages, but I wouldn't mind as much if they couldn't break that, or other, industry-standard acronyms down.

[Scotmk]

[quote="NickJones"]

speaking to children, teachers and Headteacher.

This is just as important as knowing IT (well nearly as important)

[acrobson]

[quote="Scotmk"]

speaking to children, teachers and Headteacher.

This is just as important as knowing IT (well nearly as important)

Customer service in general.