TwoZeroAlpha Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Well, I've just formally upset the SMT (and staff) here by handing in my notice having had a better offer. I'm staying in IT but going corporate rather than Edu (so I'll be around on here, just less - if that's possible). Quick question for the assembled masses of greatness, I'm currently using my last weeks to fully update my site bible, tidy my office and tie up any loose ends, but next week it's interviewing my replacement so I'm needing some quick easy ICT tasks to test them with. I'm thinking of a theory and practical part, So far Theory questions 1) PC POSTS but won't boot, what do you check? 2) What is DHCP? 3) What is DNS 4) How would you change a user's password in AD? (maybe practical?) Practical test 1) PC off a mains (not immediately obvious) why won't it turn on? (idiot filter) 2) Teacher having a smartboard/projector issue 3) Student can't login (network cable unplugged) Any comments / suggestions etc most welcome.
36Degrees Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Congratulations on the new job! but next week it's interviewing my replacement I had to do that once when I resigned, after amending the job description and person specification, proof-reading the advert and going through the application forms with the HT! It always made me laugh that as I doubt it would happen anywhere else. My usual question is one about priorities e.g. "Nobody can print in Room A and you are about to deal with it when you are told 2 pupils can't log in in Room B next door. Which do you deal with first and why?" People may have a different idea of which should be first but it's more about their reasoning where priorities are concerned. 1
FN-GM Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 (edited) The Smartboard one might be a little unfair as you might have people who have never seen one. They might have not come from a school background. A test i know someone uses is that they put a little bit of paper under the motherboard battery so it cant make contact. Thats a little mean though Ask them to explain DNS. Ask them about backups and how they would do it. Ask them about customer service skills. good luck in your new job! Edited January 5, 2011 by FN-GM 1
El_Nombre Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 (edited) I put in a couple of personality questions alongside the technical questions, although in my position I was taking on a technician and so I'd have to live with them. Most were multiple choice and a couple went: Ham or cheese? -Ham -Cheese Who was the best singer with The Misfits? -Michael Graves -Glenn Danzig -Jerry Only -Dr Chud Is Star Trek any good? -No -No -No -No I think all of my tests were multiple choice infact aside from the final question, which was to describe the probable causes/symptoms and troubleshooting process of a user reporting no internet access. Edited January 5, 2011 by El_Nombre
BatchFile Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Some good ideas here: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/educational-jobs/35835-hands-tasks-interview-day.html 1
penfold Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 That sounds about right. I have used similar questions to 2 & 3 on the theory but was actually looking for a non technical answer due to the fact that a lot of time would be spent dealing/explaining things to people with non tech understanding and so the ability to explain technical problems in a non technical way was essential. Also used scenarios simiar to your practical tests, but candidates where asked to walk us through a scenario of how they would attemp to solve the problem (rather than take a practical task). There was no right answer, it was just to ensure they had good troubleshooting skills. Those that did well, started with the obvious check all cables and power etc before moving onto the more advanced troubleshooting. So if you haven't got time to set up the pratical tests, you could try something similar? As your tests aren't too complex, any candidate should be able to talk you through steps they would follow and why. 1
INeedAUsername Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 funnily enough I am going through the same thing; test and a presentation on one simple item for our new senior it tech post I have the presentation sorted - explain one new feature of word 2007 and how it may help our admin team, but the test is abit tricky cause of the timescales involved ill keep an eye on this post
penfold Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 funnily enough I am going through the same thing; test and a presentation on one simple item for our new senior it tech post I have the presentation sorted - explain one new feature of word 2007 and how it may help our admin team, but the test is abit tricky cause of the timescales involved ill keep an eye on this post Actually because similar to you, we had quite tight turnarounds for the interview candidates, we sent them 2 scenarios with the interview letter which they were expected to be able to answer when they attended. They were fairly generic scenarios, but went along the lines of 3 people asking you to do 3 different things at once with the demands on your time being pushed by all requests. The candidates where then expected to explain how they would deal with these situations and what priority they would carry out the requests. Again there was no right or wrong answer it was just to get an idea of peoples mind set. Although I was suprised by a couple of the answers.
Jamman960 Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 (edited) Installing some faulty memory into a pc - enough to produce the dreaded 3 beeps could be a good one... see how quickly they start diagnosing ram issues I'd also throw in a few server practicals - setting up DHCP scopes maybe Turning down the contrast right down on a monitor can be a tricky one - some may declare the monitor as dead too quickly etc. not so easy on LCD screens though Edited January 5, 2011 by Jamman960 1
superfletch Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Not plugged in / switched on is the classic. Theory: Methods of deploying software remotely? Cloning machines. Practical: Wireless switched off on a laptop? Driver issues (ie give them a PC with no sound / network / etc) 1
pete Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Something slightly trickier like FSMO roles, slightly-broken AD and using diagnostic tools to check / mend them?
teejay Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Some bottles of Vodka, candidates round a table, last one to fall off their chair gets the job. Congrats on the new job :-)
K.C.Leblanc Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Is this an IT managers job? You need a section on tactfully explaining to people that ink cartridges don't grow on trees and you can't just pull a laptop out of your ####. 1
TwoZeroAlpha Posted January 5, 2011 Author Posted January 5, 2011 I'm not doing anything in AD more complicated than a password reset as I don't want them messing things up on our live system and I'm not going to be setting up a VM. Thanks for all the congratulations and suggestions so far, it should be a good day.
elsiegee40 Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Prioitisation is actually an important one... does the candidate have a grasp that "Teachingg & Learning " are the school's priorities? However there is a difference between a teacher can't teach and a teacher who "hasn't plugged it in"... The action that gets most students able to learn is usually the highest priority... explaining that to the HT whose printer's jammed when nobody can logon is a necessary diplomatic skill. 1
Disaster Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 I put in a couple of personality questions alongside the technical questions, although in my position I was taking on a technician and so I'd have to live with them. Most were multiple choice and a couple went: Ham or cheese? -Ham -Cheese Who was the best singer with The Misfits? -Michael Graves -Glenn Danzig -Jerry Only -Dr Chud Is Star Trek any good? -No -No -No -No I think all of my tests were multiple choice infact aside from the final question, which was to describe the probable causes/symptoms and troubleshooting process of a user reporting no internet access. ha nice one, but the Misfits.... surely not even debatable!?
tazz Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 I included getting the interviewee to phone a designated person whose "internet wasn't working" and get them to diag and solve (not connected to wireless) This showed both their communication and diagnostics skills. Also jumbled up the keys on a keyboard, as the little darlings do, gave valid credentials - and asked them to diagnose "people can't log on to this PC for some reason"
broc Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Installing some faulty memory into a pc - enough to produce the dreaded 3 beeps could be a good one... see how quickly they start diagnosing ram issues I'd also throw in a few server practicals - setting up DHCP scopes maybe Turning down the contrast right down on a monitor can be a tricky one - some may declare the monitor as dead too quickly etc. not so easy on LCD screens though or Set the screen refresh rate to something the monitor cannot handle... screen shows POST, Windows startup then goes black.....
sidewinder Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 or Set the screen refresh rate to something the monitor cannot handle... screen shows POST, Windows startup then goes black..... Most monitors display "Out of Range" or something similar though, makes it quite easy!
mthomas08 Posted January 6, 2011 Posted January 6, 2011 Funnily enough we did this here about 5 years ago, now the questions were best answered by a freshman out of Uni. We didnt actually employ him, we went for the one who did okay on the tests. We totally didnt regret the decision to take him on and has actually been a blessing. Some one experienced may not be so quick to answer questions spot on although would be able to do a range of things, some one fresh out of uni would probably do the questions in record time. Just a FYI for you. Must admit, I am surprised at your practical choices ;-)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now