Advice on setting technical task

[HappyAdmin]

Hi,

 

I'm shortly going to have to set a technical task for an interview for an IT Technician (who will be my number 2 in a small high school.) I've never had to do this before - does anyone with any experience of this have an suggestions? I'm more interested in technical aptitude and general attitude than whether they know lots of Windows server procedures.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks,

Ben

[kennysarmy]

Is there just one person being interviewed or do you need a test that can be quickly set up for others to have a go at?

[Patrick]

Perhaps show them your setup in school, and make general chit chat about it, asking if they have used systems like X before or what's your opinion on X?

 

Not a test I know, but should give you a base line idea on there technical skills (we can all spot a bullsh...er) and a friendly chat is a great way of figuring out someone's personality/attitude.

[HappyAdmin]

@kennysarmy - hopefully we'll be interviewing more than 1.

@ Patrick - sounds like a good start (there will be a formal interview as well), but I do like the idea of a real task, too. Some people shine at doing something who don't interview so well, if nothing else. (And others can talk the talk, but...)

 

Thanks for such quick responses!

[Oaktech]

I've done a few...

 

Fix this PC and show me google: The PC had various things wrong with it, bios battery not sat properly, HDD unplugged, PSU 4pole connector not attached. Network card disabled in bios, cable (obviously) damaged.

 

What's this and what do you do with it: Various IT related items starting from a stick of ram and getting more cryptic through POE injectors, an HP ILO card, a Protools security dongle etc etc.

 

Why can't this machine get the internet: Network card setup with static 169 address, no DHCP turned on, no proxy set etc. I was looking for the right sort of questions to find out if the guy knew what information he was going to need to fix it.

 

Talk me through setting up this network printer: Got one of my other techs to sit down with an interviewee and get them to talk her through finding mac, creating DHCP reservation, creating port on server, assigning a driver and what they would do to deploy it. That test not only demonstrated a level of competence it also examined how they worked with someone else and to a lesser extent their attitude to women. In an IT team with 2 women, an all female SLT and 80% female staff was really important.

[Patrick]

Maybe have a think what sort of day to day tasks they would typically do, and what would be a bit of a challenge for them? Such as troubleshooting a boot issue or imaging a PC, to set up a basic switch in a lab?

[Sagima]

We usually start with a pc and some peripherals and cables and told them to make it work (or play a file on the desktop with no further prompting) - almost half the people plugging stuff into the 4way adapter didn't check to see if said adapter was powered.

Then we put some tasks to them then interview them (sometimes the interview is first)

When we set technical tasks they are usually just an excuse to see if they will 1) ask for help and/or 2) use google to find the answer - or at least a plausible one if what they find doesn't actually fix it.

I once thought of having all of the ports on the wall by where they were working disconnected at the switch to see if they would go to the switch to see why it wasn't working but I was told that was cruel as they'll be under enough pressure.

[Zezima]

When I got the Job I had to play with Lego I did start as an apprentice tho

[Mako]

I set a technical task for interview.

 

PC set up on a desk. USB mouse, PS/2 keyboard. Keyboard was plugged into the PS/2 mouse slot. Network cable in the slot, but not pushed far enough to make a connection. VGA deliberately unplugged from the back.

 

No other instructions except "The computer has been reported as having a hard drive fault. Please power up the computer and run a chkdsk", and they're given an account to log in with. Observing the most-common problems they'll find with a computer and how they go about fixing them is what I want to see. Anyone who doesn't know how to run a chkdsk gets bonus points for using Google, rather than sitting there like a lemon, and either method of using a cmd prompt or the hard drive tools is acceptable, as long as it's done.

 

While the computer is running the chkdsk, they move on to the second part of the task which involves prioritising, and providing their reasoning for doing so, a list of tasks ranging from such examples as;

1) Teacher A has reported projector not working

2) Teacher B requires assistance with saving an e-mail attachment

3) Nobody can log into the IT suite

4) Support Staff needs guidance on how to duplicate reports for next week

5) Student has accidentally deleted their work etc

 

I originally wanted to slightly unseat a stick of RAM but time restraints meant I couldn't do it. All told I think I had 15 minutes per candidate so I had to keep it fairly short.

[HappyAdmin]

Thanks everyone - some really helpful ideas.

 

Mako, especially appreciate what you have there as those external "cables and connectors" problems are so common, are super-easy to set up, yet require being methodical in your problem solving. And the prioritisation talk-through is a great idea, too.