Interview Questions

[the real slim shady]

I have an interview on Friday for Desktop IT Support Engineer/Network Support.  Apparently the interview will be followed by a written competency test..

I haven't had an interview in a while so would be a bit rusty!!!!

Would anyone know what kind of questions to expect in the interview???

Cheers

[Yer Ma]

Apart from the obvious ones regarding your experience you might get the other generic ones -

When have you worked well in a team/on your own?
Demonstrate problem solving skills?
When have you shown initiative?
What will you bring to the company?
Why do you want to work for us?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I'd draft responses in your head to these and they may help fill gaps in other questions too.

[parttimeexile]

Have you ever had a disagreement with your boss? If you did what was the out come?

[lfdown2]

30 seconds to tell us a joke!!

tough under pressure, not to offend anyone/thing

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Killer one -

How do you deal with conflict in the workplace?
or
Give us an example of when you've had to deal with conflict in the office, and what did you do??


This question or variations of it are becoming very common in interviews, as employers try even more to cover their asses.
It's almost a banker.

[The Gs Man]

3 positive personality traits, 1 negative.

Negative one can be tough, although most people say....."impatient for results"

[Treasurer]

www.irishjobs.ie and monster.ie to name but two have sample questions.  Last interview I had didn't come up with any of the "standard" stuff but went more into technical scenarios and "what would you do if...?" type questions 

[myball22]

What are your weaknesses?

-> You are too hard working and sometimes get frustrated when you feel others aren't pulling their weight 

Also what would you say if I said this interview is not going well?

Don't lose the head, just say you would like to know what was wrong, gain feedback for other interviews.....

[the real slim shady]

Anyone any of idea of the kind of techy questions they might ask??? its for 1st line desktop support

[The Gs Man]

"Well Mr Shady.  We've just had a look at your Bebo.  Care to explain yourself?"

[imtommygunn]

Do a google search for desktop support common problems. I'd guess you should find a few. Go through a cross section of them if there are too many and just think what you would do in each scenario. If you've no idea then do further googles / post here to figure it out!

I'd guess as this is a support job you'd need to work through the "logical" steps first. They would involve the power on, broadband connected, broadband functioning etc etc. Then you'd maybe need to ask what version of windows they're using - are they up to service pack levels, virus checkers virus checker levels etc etc. I'm not experienced in this area of IT but guess this would be what they might ask. Also not sure what exact applications you're supporting but what they are could determine the questions Basically, from what I see of support, it's a matter of logical thought process to hone in on where a problem would be.

Anyway no expert so guess a google search would help. Logical thinking can solve a lot of problems too - especially support type ones - so try and approach anything they ask from that angle. There sound to be some people on here with some experience who could be of more help.

[Aaron Boone]

How do you see the role of desktop support developing?

[Tyrones own]

  -what would you say is your greatest weakness in the work place, (careful with this one)
 
  -how did you handle the last problem you were faced with at work and what was the outcome.

  -tell me why i should hire you ( this one you should be prepared for anyway)

  I'd say these are the most common nowadays, It's also a good idea to research and gather
  as much information as you can on the company because if you can slip something of
  note out during the interview it tells him you've done a bit of homework and thats what they're
  looking for,
  Smile and look them in the eye when you meet and greet them and keep the eye contact during the questioning process
  also resist the temptation to talk too much, a common trap especially when your nervous, keep it short and clean.....
     

[stephenite]

Anyone any of idea of the kind of techy questions they might ask??? its for 1st line desktop support

1.Can you demonstrate your knowledge of networks and office connectivity? Talk about DHCP and how to reserve IP ranges on the server etc. Also Cabling etc.
2. What would be your experience with Windows desktop operating systems - can you give specific examples of OS issues and how you resolved them.
3. Have you any experience with software deployment tools ( SMS, Altiris etc.) note: find out if they use images of standard OS to deploy
4. Desktop support normally involves printer support ( is it just a laser printer environment or do they use any dot matrix (especially if they're a freight/transport/airline company etc )
5. Email support - calendar issues, delivery failures, resource and calendar sharing
6. Dealing with users over the phone - be prepared with examples of particularly inexperienced users and how you resolved.

They can really throw anything at you, but they're some rough examples of questions that I would ask. It can be very dependent on the type of company it is - is it inhouse IT Support for users in a specific company or you joining a firm that is outsourced support and off site?

[heganboy]

In all support positions that I have ever been involved in the hiring process for the only 2 things I/ we have actually cared about are :
1. If you don't know the answer immediately have you the cop on to be able to find it out and get back to the poor sod who called it in
2. Have you the patience of a saint to deal with dumb asses, grumpy feckers and people like me who phone support just to piss them off about their crappy product or crappy personnel.