Pre-interview techie tests.

[Halfmad]

I've resigned from my current post and have agreed to write a "manual" as best I can to hand onto whoever takes over from me. I am however fairly keen for it to be someone who's reasonably decent, I put a lot of work into the setup here and the staff are nice and frankly deserve not to be landed with a plonker.

 

All IT interviews I've ever gone for have had some form of quick 10-15 question multiple choice questions to answer prior to the interview, personally I like this as it keeps my mind off the interview and tends to relax me as I know I'm getting a good start (tend to do well on them).

 

Anyone got any suggestions for good questions to put on the questionaire? I'll do the usual, 2x network related, 2x DOS related and 2x permissions questions.

 

Leaves me 4! Any suggestions?

[djm968]

I wouldn't worry too much about multiple choice questions, the level of technical ability of candidates that apply will be proportional to the salary offered.

 

If you pay peanuts you have very little chance of attracting anything other that a monkey.

 

I got lucky once…… found a guy who had an MCSE but no experience. He only stayed with me for a year but he was a star.

 

He now has my old NM job!

[Halfmad]

Nah this is actually a reasonably well paid job for a network manager and in all honesty is a fairly cushy job for £21-24K pending appeal.

 

It's more to stop any muppet getting the post who can "talk a good job" which is something I've noticed many IT staff have, the ability to make themselves sound good, when in fact they're not.

 

As I won't be interviewing and the chances are those who are interview know very little about I.T. I just want a little buffer, if someone can't answer a few of the simple questions correctly (personally i'd say 50%) then they really shouldn't even be considered for the post.

[GrumbleDook]

1x DNS

1x User interaction

1x Office fault

1x coding (html, general scripting ... whatever is appropriate)

 

I would also make the DOS questions more generic to the systems used in the school (eg windows, mac OS, etc) as some good admins may never touch DOS or a CMD shell.

[Halfmad]

Good point Grumble, I don't want to put off or stop any good candidate from getting the post!

 

nice suggestions - particularly HTML/scripting, I hadn't thought of putting that in as it's quite vital they have some basic knowledge even if they're only editing existing scripts that I use.

[broc]

I would roll in a couple of AD questions too, plus some general systems management policy type stuff, covering backups, data protection, health and safety or similar.

[djm968]

If you are running a vanilla Windows server environment, knowledge of AD - GPO and VBScripting are a must. Knowledge of RIS and your imaging software will also be useful.

[Halfmad]

Cheers peeps,

 

Think I'll look at my duties and take a question from each, fairly simple and easy questions that anyone with even a very basic knowledge will know the answer too. I'm not using it to make people feel stupid, purely to filter out anyone who's obviously talking out of their bottoms!

[ICT_GUY]

I klike the ones that involve something not to do with the network.

 

Something like every morning the admin network goes down for 15 minutes but is up and running again when you get there, what do you check?

 

Answers should include asking if someone is moving stuff around / unplugging stuff. The comunication side of things is very important.

 

Also,

 

I need a logon script written, what steps would you take to complete it.

 

I would expect an honest reply to include looking up on the internet to see if someone has written one before. Anyone who says that they will sit there and puzzle it out the hard way would be a be a bit of a no no.

 

Also, I would throw an unanswerable one in there too, something that no sane person would attempt to see if the come through with the bull or the honesty. But then again I am an evil sod.

[mattx]

Also, I would throw an unanswerable one in there too, something that no sane person would attempt to see if the come through with the bull or the honesty. But then again I am an evil sod.

 

The worst one I got was:

 

" Why are man hole covers round ? "

 

I responded with a quick guess of 'so they don't fall in the hole.....'

 

You could ask the classic:

 

" Whats better - software or hardware ? " ;-)

[Face-Man]

Personally I prefer a practical test to writtern one. Our last tech flew through it but struggled on writtern and interview due to nerves. It also sorted out thouse that could talk and write from thouse that can do (a far more useful skill in my book).

 

Basically we set a standalone pc up that was physically disconected from the network gave the applicatant the relavant passwords and said get it working on the domain. Anyway over 50% couldn't do it even though there CV said they could.

 

If you want to be really sneeky you can get them to change IP address setting as well it depends on what skill are needed.

[Halfmad]

Face-man, I'd love to do that but sadly won't be here to set it up and nobody else in the school could reliably do it.

 

It's part of the reason that I need some form of test, even if it is basic to split up the good from the bad to a certain degree. The chap they had before me was awful, they've already said they don't want a repeat of the time he was here.

 

No doubt i'll be blamed for everything the instant I leave though

[mattx]

What also makes me laugh is 'spuds' interview in Train Spotting.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vhWpuU1b_8

[mattx]

And this one:

 

http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/mba0393l.jpg

[Halfmad]

class mattx lol!

[FN-GM]

I got a question that i found hard:

 

"Please state an ICT related bad & good point about yourself"

 

Z

[mattx]

"Please state an ICT related bad & good point about yourself"

 

Arrr, the silly clichéd what are your weaknesses question.

This is the king of "I wish for world peace" questions. Ask a clichéd question and you get a cliché answer....

[gwendes]

Something practical ideally...

 

I've sat a few of those paper tests and you can usually tell they've been written by a geek... something like "What is the voltage of an AGP 4X graphics card?" or "What is the clock frequency of an AMD 2200XP CPU?"...

 

Do you have to leave 'right' answers? I'd go for multiple choice and include a couple of "Which is best, hardware or software?"

[KarlGoddard]

I had a written test for my current post and that was mainly centred on the school's network setup.... 2003 / XP, AD, Exchange etc

 

This was coupled with some IP /DNS questions, if I remember right and a prioritise a list of jobs based on importance...

 

There were a smattering of general IT questions which I thik were put in to see if the candidates had a general interest in IT beyond the workplace (always a good thing IMHO)

 

I didn't get the highest score for the test :oops: but gained the post through my previous school based work experience

[Halfmad]

I've done the test, I don't think any of the questions are hard. Multiple choice too so should be fairly straight forward for most people.

 

It's not there really to test people, purely to weed out those who frankly couldn't do even the basics of the job. What program would you use for troubleshooting a PC, what info is needed for DHCP reservations, prioritise this list, ghosting, one DOS command question, AD, permissions and shares questions.

 

Really nothing particularly taxing, but all of which I think are day to day basic tools of the job.

[gwendes]

Am I the only one who really wants to take the test?

[mattx]

At the end of the day, all tests find out is what you DON'T know. Same as exams. Pointless.

 

Do you ?

 

A: Agree

B: Disagree

C: Don't give a toss

 

Doh !!

[Halfmad]

Am I the only one who really wants to take the test?

 

No chance, I know some of those that will apply read these forums!

 

I'll post it once I've left and the post is filled.

 

It's very basic, along the lines of "why is it best to apply permissions to NTFS rather than at share level?" etc.

 

then multiple choice.

[Halfmad]

At the end of the day, all tests find out is what you DON'T know. Same as exams. Pointless.

 

Do you ?

 

A: Agree

B: Disagree

C: Don't give a toss

 

Doh !!

 

Yup although if you set a low bar, I'm saying around 7 out of 10 and say anything beneath that isn't particularly encouraging then you're not really hammering people for getting stuff wrong. This exam is VERY simple after all, it's not meant to make the majority struggle.

[mossj]

No chance, I know some of those that will apply read these forums!

 

I'll post it once I've left and the post is filled.

 

It's very basic, along the lines of "why is it best to apply permissions to NTFS rather than at share level?" etc.

 

then multiple choice.

 

You never posted!