I have a working interview next week. What should I do too prepare?

Hi guys,

I have a working interview next week for a System Admin Helpdesk role, and I'm not entirely sure what I should do to prepare.

Here is the job posting.

You make our clients’ computer-based technologies run smoothly from our remote “home-base”, and if there’s a hiccup, you patiently walk them through the solution. Because this position is mostly completed by phone and /or email; the candidate filling this position must be someone who has a strong command of the English language and the first-rate communication skills to be able to assist our clients and their needs as quickly and easily as possible.
-2 or more years working experience in a Network Support role with recent Server Administration
-Microsoft certification (minimum for this position: MCITP — Server Administrator)
-2+ years of network support
-Escalated MS Server 2003/2008 (SBS, Exchange, Terminal Server etc) support experience
-In depth knowledge of networking principles (Sonicwall, Cisco, Fortinet etc)
-Working Knowledge of virtualization (HyperV, vmware)
-Mobility management experience (BES, IOS, DroidOS)

I spoke with HR and asked what if there was anything I could become familiar with to help make the interview run smoother, and they replied: "Here are the top 3 areas of technology our Systems Administrator Help Desk role usually deals with. You will possibly be exposed to some of these areas during the phone interview.

1) Network Connectivity (Mapped drives, password resets, adding people to delivery groups)

2) Desktop Software

3) Email Issues"

Are there any specific scenarios I should practice before going to the interview? I appreciate all of the help you guys are willing to provide. I really would like to get this job.

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Comments

lsud00d

1) Network Connectivity (Mapped drives, password resets, adding people to delivery groups)

Remember your OSI layers. Remember the simple CLI tools at your disposal--test DNS (forward and reverse resolution), ping, tracert, ipconfig, etc.
Research how drives are mapped through GPO and also through scripts so you understand how it can be done. Also GPO's hold a lot of information so learn how to locate the Group Policy Manager utility and properly locate what GPO is being applied (if it's not mapped through a startup script or some other program)

2) Desktop Software

This will be something you learn on the job. I'd advise you to ask at the interview what type of software you'd be supporting, write them down, then as a parting remark let them know you're going to go and research the software, including but not limited to: watching training videos, installing demos, browsing the vendors KB, etc.

3) Email Issues

Not quite sure the extent of this. I'd imagine it's somewhere between troubleshooting desktop/client-side issues and working with Exchange in a sys admin capacity. Regardless, get familiar with Outlook if you haven't used it before, and read up on Exchange concepts. Understand roles in Exchange, how mail flows, and how to use troubleshooting tools.

RedGaiter

I spoke with HR, and the desktop software will primarily be Microsoft office and outlook

ande0255

What previous experience do you have? Here are my suggestions to prepare:

1. Spend half the time going through youtube videos of stuff like "How to setup an Exchange server," as those are usually pretty to the point without having to learn the fundamentals of how they work. I to this youtube troubleshooting or setup videos while at work if I'm not sure about a system I am working with.

2. Spend the other half or whatever you can spare to finding vendor troubleshooting forums like Cisco has for all it's products, and read through threads, and get some ideas of break / fixes for those products. I would probably review troubleshooting forums during the videos on youtube, find some common themes people post about and youtube that, etc. Maybe spend a night every different product you think you might need.

3. Prepare or at least think of some scenarios in your life where you've performed troubleshooting of just any mail system in general, Microsoft products, and generally anything. If you do this in your free time, you will have a great safety net for when you're hit with something you cannot hardly comment on technically.

The art of interviewing with very little to no experience is learning how to blend these three approaches together, especially after I found out I had to survive technical interviews to make it across the finish line for IT positions that many qualified candidates are competing for.

Good luck on the interview!!

iBrokeIT

Get a good night's sleep, prepare your clothes the night before, take a shower and be well groomed before the interview. Either you'll know the answers to the questions or you won't. If you don't know the answer admit it then tell the interviewer how you would go about finding the solution. You don't want to come off as being fake and go on blathering about technologies you actually have no clue about. Be honest, friendly and confident about things you actually know.

ande0255

I don't think demonstrating an understanding of the products they are interviewing on would be considered blathering, unless you're just nonsensically filling dead are with complete BS, and not allowing the interviewer to absorb your answer and move onto different topics.

iBrokeIT

If your only knowledge on a subject is from a youtube video you watched the night before I would consider that blathering. Admit you don't have experience with the technology but would love the opportunity to learn and move on. They won't expect you to have experience with every single technology they have listed.

Obviously the company thinks OP has enough credentials and experience on his resume to be in consideration for the job. You don't want to muck it up by trying to project knowledge and experience you don't have.

ande0255

I have gotten interviews with absolutely no experience, and saying "I don't know" to every question you are asked makes for a short, unsuccessful interview. They may know he has no experience, and it's perfectly fine to admit that during the interview, but to be able to at least discuss the technology in general is a huge step forward.

To tell someone to just get a good night sleep so he can relax and say "I don't know" for 15 minutes is a terrible suggestion, I doubt the manager would probably continue to ask technical questions beyond 3-4 "I don't know"s without being able to offer some sort of knowledge on the matter. That's like not researching the company at all before going into the interview, and just saying "I've never worked here before, I don't know anything about your company."

You can't seriously think that is the best approach to take on an upcoming interview?

iBrokeIT

STRAW MAN ALERT!

"The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or misrepresented version of that position."

ande0255 wrote: »

saying "I don't know" to every question you are asked makes for a short, unsuccessful interview.

Do you seriously think they are going to call him in for an interview and quiz him for 15 minutes on only technologies that his resume shows he has never touched? Please point out where I said answer every question for 15 minutes with "I dont know".

ande0255 wrote: »

To tell someone to ... say "I don't know" for 15 minutes is a terrible suggestion

You clearly missed where I also said "If you don't know the answer admit it then tell the interviewer how you would go about finding the solution." as part of the discussion.

P.S. Please stop attacking that poor straw man pictured above.

Strawman.jpg

ande0255

iBrokeIT wrote: »

Do you seriously think they are going to call him in for an interview and quiz him for 15 minutes on only technologies that his resume shows he has never touched? Please point out where I said answer every question for 15 minutes with "I dont know".

To address your question, absolutely yes, especially if it's an interview setup by a recruiter there is a very good chance there be several technologies he is going to be interviewed on that he has never touched. It's happened to me more than once, and not doing even some quick research on the technologies was crippling during the technical portion of the interview.

And I apologize to the straw man, as you did not advise to say "I don't know" verbatim:

iBrokeIT wrote: »

Admit you don't have experience with the technology but would love the opportunity to learn and move on.

I suppose I condensed "I don't have experience with this technology, but would love the opportunity to learn more" to "I don't know," as that is what I would be hearing during a technical interview. Which again that is fine to say, but to advise that researching some of the technologies interview on is terrible advice, especially your attitude on this:

iBrokeIT wrote: »

If your only knowledge on a subject is from a youtube video you watched the night before I would consider that blathering.

At my job at an MSP, I support systems constantly that I have never worked with before, and maybe an hour or so of researching youtube videos and support forums can usually provide me the knowledge to understand the system enough to fix the issue. You don't need weeks and months of education or experience to understand how a system works, and to advise someone that brushing up on the unfamiliar technologies to be able to discuss them is equivalent to "blathering" during an interview, is terrible advice.

fredrikjj

ande0255 wrote: »

At my job at an MSP, I support systems constantly that I have never worked with before, and maybe an hour or so of researching youtube videos and support forums can usually provide me the knowledge to understand the system enough to fix the issue. You don't need weeks and months of education or experience to understand how a system works, and to advise someone that brushing up on the unfamiliar technologies to be able to discuss them is equivalent to "blathering" during an interview, is terrible advice.

You're doing this out of necessity, right, and not because you think it's a good idea?

ande0255

It began out of necessity, but now adays when I have free time but not enough to focus on my main study, I'll read forums and watch youtube videos on different technologies I've encountered or may encounter. If I am studying something particularly I have video courses and books to thoroughly learn the technology, but if I'd just like to know a little more about a subject, youtube is a great resource for quick examples of troubleshooting.

loxleynew

fredrikjj wrote: »

You're doing this out of necessity, right, and not because you think it's a good idea?

Youtube videos and support forums etc are the same as learning or reading from a book or someone in person teaching you. How is this bad? Would you rather someone read whitepapers all day? If you are learning it then implementing it by doing the above or by getting vendors to come in and teach you, is the same thing. Just depends how highly available the systems are to which avenue you would go.

As to the working interview. Sounds like a glorified helpdesk / entry level desktop role with a systems admin title. Most likely what they will be looking for is excellent troubleshooting skills. If you don't know an answer at first say "I don't know but I would look in this direction". Then give a few examples of where you would try find some solutions or what troubleshooting steps you would take to narrow down the problem. No one knows everything, but most interviewers want to see if you can troubleshoot in the right direction.