School Tour Questions?

[tailor]

Am applying for a ICT Network Manager job and I've got a school tour. ATM am a senior Technician in a School and wanting to move to the next step.

 

I've made up a list of things to ask on the tour...Just wondering if anyone wanted to add anything else valid to ask.

 

How many Pupils ?

 

How many Staff?

 

What kind of network are you running? 1gig? Fibre? Cat 5?

 

How many Physical servers do you have?

 

Do you have any virtual servers?

 

How many domains do you have?

 

How many domain controllers do you have?

 

Do you have an exchange server?

 

Do you have a wireless setup at the school?

 

Do you use a VLE system?

 

How do you manage registration? SIMS?

 

Cheers

[Steve21]

My personal opinion, but shouldn't the majority of that already be answered in the job advert? Normally asks for knowledge in.... blah blah blah, which should give answers. e.g. Knowledge in SIMs, suggests SIMs as MIS.

 

Personally I'd prefer to go along the route of what they want to get out of their network, Is there anything that is currently lacking/wanted, e.g. BYOD blahblah

 

Are they looking to move into any linux/mac etc etc.

 

End of day best thing the school would be looking for is someone who can move them to the stage they want to be at, whether that's something "simple" like 03 to 08, or full pc to VDI etc.If you can tailor yourself towards that end, much more helpful than just asking what they currently do in every area. But as I said personal opinion

 

Steve

[tailor]

Cheers Steve.

 

I see where your coming from,

 

Maybe questions like -

 

What improvements would they like to see? what new equipment would help teaching?

[Steve21]

What improvements would they like to see? what new equipment would help teaching?

 

Aye, That's the kind I'd personally go for, but others may disagree End of day you're trying to sell yourself as the almighty god who'll fix everything for them! (Ok, maybe not quite like that, but you get the point )

 

If for example, they say they want millions of iPads, at least you can start discussing with them during interviews even if it's not "directly" related. e.g. I know lots of your staff are looking at getting mobile devices within their departments, and one of the first things I'd change is your wireless, as it couldn't cope with XYZ... etc etc

 

Again, just getting onto the fact you're looking at progress the school, fix the old issues, and bring in the new stuff.

 

Steve

[elsiegee40]

It does very much depend on who conducts the tour. it might be a member of the current network team... which is good because they'll use this as an opportunity to see if you're the kind of person they could work with... or it could be done by a member of SLT, someone from HR... or even a couple of the kids.

 

Stuff on how many pupils, etc you should be able to glean from the school website and Ofsted reports. So asking those questions could be seen as you not having done your homework before you get to the school.

 

Do look at the school's specialism(s) and think about how your role might help them with those specialisms... it's a pet question at the school where I'm governor. Also make sure you are comfortable with safeguarding and data protection questions that might be thrown at you.

 

Information about the school can be found here:

School and local statistics - Schools and Local Statistics ,

Ofsted | Find an inspection report

Parent View results | Ofsted Parent View

 

You need to use the tour to get a view from whichever angle on how things are going at the moment, what could be improved and what needs to change... and in what timescales.

[Danp]

Ask if they have any helpdesk style software in place for reporting issues? Something I asked in my interview.

[tailor]

Thanks guys. Some good and valid points. It's this afternoon so I'll let you know how I get on.

[FN-GM]

The chances a member of the SLT will be involved who is a teacher. They love to hear about teaching & learning so i would ask some questions about the school as well as the IT system.

[AngryTechnician]

Definitely tailor your questions to the person giving the tour: I was shown around by a member of SMT, so technical questions wouldn't have been appropriate, as they were more interested in how I interacted with non-technical bods. Also, ask questions about what you're being shown. For example, if you get shown IWBs in every room, ask how well used they are by staff.

[broc]

What works well, what doesn't? Plans for BYOD, if any? Numbers of students with access to computers at home. Communications with parents, attitude of parents & staff towards biometrics, eSafety & child protection. School software licencing policy, equipment replacement strategy. Any School budget pressures? Falling rolls, or increasing?

 

Without wishing to sound patronising, think like a network manager

 

Good luck....

[Oaktech]

switch infrastructure (cisco, HP etc.)? Vlans? Wireless provision - guest, student, staff?