Desktop Support / Desktop Administrator Interview Questions

Rockets34Life

Well, my "problem" got resolve from this thread - http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/110699-need-help-job-dilemma.html. He was offered the position in another suburb (which I knew he was going to go for), so he will be completely gone from our location.....thank goodness!

Now I can move on to finding someone else to replace him. Need help with tough and gritty desktop support interview questions. I can come up with some good technical questions, but I'm looking for more scenario / situational questions so I can see how they would handle the problem and weed out the wannabes.

I do not want to go easy in the interview process....need someone who knows their stuff and can handle pressure when a VP / Director / Sr. Manager is having issues.

markulous

PC won't boot - The user says an error comes up of "Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device", what do you do? Should be a simple answer of ensuring there's no flash drives/external hard drives plugged in or dvds in there. Easy question, but should help weed out people.

Malware Scenario - You have a user that is complaining of slow performance and pop ups to **** websites, what do you do? I'd want to see how he thinks it through and what steps he takes. I'd rather him work through it and check a few things than say something like, "I'll walk right up to it and run malwarebytes".

Exchange/O365 Scenario - You want to create a distribution group in Exchange, how would you do that? Also, bob@bob.com wants to be added but he's an outside entity, how do you add him?

Outlook Scenario - A user is complaining of slow load times and performance in Outlook, what steps do you take to resolve this? I'd want to see them ensure that it's just the one user, see how large their ost file is, see what type of connection their on, etc.

Or are "technical scenarios" not what you're wanting? If so, my apologies.

techfiend

One of the most difficult things I find with desktop support/sys admin is prioritizing issues. I don't know the environment so can't go into much technical detail but maybe give a few scenarios like customer service has an issue that knocks out half the employees, sales has an issue affecting 2 users and an exec has an issue that's affecting himself. In what order do you prioritize the issues and why?

GreaterNinja

In desktop you need to find out their experience with mobile device support, manager to executive support, how their software/break fix/reimaging/migration/wifi/network/windows/servers/desktop/Mac OSX/iOS skills are. You need to check their customer service skills in person and remote (phone, remote viewer, etc.)
You also need to ascertain whether the individual is lazy, forgetful, cocky, arrogant, or a total team player.
Remember desktop is a team environment...so you need someone who can mesh with your team...this includes tolerating current intolerable personalities on the team, etc. The key things in desktop is they have to be competent, friendly, able to learn, able to perform without much supervision, and a team player.
Sorry to be brief, but I gotta go back to frying my own fish :P.

Rockets34Life

markulous wrote: »

PC won't boot - The user says an error comes up of "Reboot and Select Proper Boot Device", what do you do? Should be a simple answer of ensuring there's no flash drives/external hard drives plugged in or dvds in there. Easy question, but should help weed out people.

Malware Scenario - You have a user that is complaining of slow performance and pop ups to **** websites, what do you do? I'd want to see how he thinks it through and what steps he takes. I'd rather him work through it and check a few things than say something like, "I'll walk right up to it and run malwarebytes".

Exchange/O365 Scenario - You want to create a distribution group in Exchange, how would you do that? Also, bob@bob.com wants to be added but he's an outside entity, how do you add him?

Outlook Scenario - A user is complaining of slow load times and performance in Outlook, what steps do you take to resolve this? I'd want to see them ensure that it's just the one user, see how large their ost file is, see what type of connection their on, etc.

Or are "technical scenarios" not what you're wanting? If so, my apologies.

No, these are good. Thanks markulous. Unfortunately, we don't have access to Exchange, so he won't have to worry about creating distros or troubleshooting Exchange issues. We will be getting Office 365 into our environment, so I can come up with a few basic questions to see if they already have their feet wet with it. But the others are great.....if you have any others, please add on to this thread!

techfiend, that scenario is on the right track. Prioritization is key to the job. So that scenario will definitely make them think and it will let me see how they handle things.

GreaterNinja, thanks for the points. I think when I look for the right person, it's going to be 60% personality...how they jell with the team and 40% technical. I hope they are technical and are willing to do whatever it takes to find the answer, but the personality/communication/humbleness of the person is going to be very important. I need someone who is willing to work with me as a team and know that the overall goal is to make the business run smoothly.....and my manager won't hear any complaints from us.