Landed a support role with Xerox, Interview tips?

Alright guys, after talking with a recruiter for a couple days, I got an offer for desktop support at Xerox. Here are the details.

Job Title: Help Desk Specialist

Job Description
• Solve Customer problems over the phone (software installation, networking, etc.)
• Provide support to internal/external sales personnel, resellers, and end user customers
• Set up and maintain data bases for customers and resellers in back office systems
• Accomplish tasks without considerable direction and /or supervision

Skills:
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel , Microsoft Office, and data bases. Knowledge of network operating systems and network setup
• Strong telephone communication skills.
• Excellent phone support and troubleshooting

Experience:
• Prior work experience in Help Desk Support, Customer Service and or Technical Support environments
• Prior administrative experience, with an emphasis on working with databases.

Any interviewing tips? This is my first interview for an IT job so I'd like to prepare and ace it. Also, what kind of interviewing questions should I be expecting? I'd like to prepare for those as well.

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Comments

scaredoftests

Is it Phone Interview or Face to Face?
Questions they could ask: How to deal with Technical Issues? How would you deal with an irate user? What do you feel customer service is? questions like that. Bring a notebook full of questions for them...

OmniTech

Alright got it. I'll keep those in mind. The interview is actually face to face. I plan on bringing a padfolio of questions and copies of my resume with me also.

What questions should i be asking them? One i've come to mind are things like, how's the environment, what are opportunities for expansion, typical day, etc..

scaredoftests

OS-What versions (do they have a variety?) What type of servers? What type of database (Oracle? Mssql?) Running Queries? Reports? How many people to support? How many people working with you? Who do you report to? Is there a turnover? New position? Questions like that.

OmniTech

Fantastic thank you. Those are perfect.

What about those "why are you leaving your last job" and "why us" type of questions? Should I expect those? I have sound reasons but, they're just dreading.

scaredoftests

Yes, I am sure you will be asked that. Don't dread it. Relax....

OmniTech

Ok, will prep for those as well.

kohr-ah

Don't dread it at all. Every interview is a new opportunity.
Tell them why you are leaving just dont bad mouth your current company.

"There isn't really any room to move up"
"I am trying hard to accelerate my career I cant get the help I need to get there"
etc

Dont:
"Ugh my boss is such a pain who rides me all day"

Only positive reasons for going. Tell them issues you may have if they ask but dont bash the current place.

OmniTech

kohr-ah wrote: »

Don't dread it at all. Every interview is a new opportunity.
Tell them why you are leaving just dont bad mouth your current company.

"There isn't really any room to move up"
"I am trying hard to accelerate my career I cant get the help I need to get there"
etc

Dont:
"Ugh my boss is such a pain who rides me all day"

Only positive reasons for going. Tell them issues you may have if they ask but dont bash the current place.

I was just thinking the same thing. Thanks for the insight. I plan to elaborate it as such.

However, should I mention the money? Like "not only is this my main interest and passion, but it's also a very lucrative one." or something? lol or no?

Mike-Mike

you should ask about how the company just split into 2, read up on it and ask about it, shows you did some research

kohr-ah

Mike-Mike wrote: »

you should ask about how the company just split into 2, read up on it and ask about it, shows you did some research

Yeah I have a Xerox, well ATOS engineer, that works with me at my current work.

Guy has literally gone from account -> ACS -> Xerox -> ATOS in here career so far :P Not a bad thing still happy there but literally went outsourced -> work for outsource -> got bought out by -> who split to

OmniTech

Alright thanks for the tips guys. Now, what types of questions should I expect to be receiving? Since this is an end user support role, I expected them to be how to handle users, etc. But what are your suggests?

scaredoftests

Computer issues..what happens if something doesn't print? What should you check first? The same with email. Is it a workstation issue? Cabling? network down? What would you check? Things like that.

Drekko

if you are not familiar with papercut, maybe read about it
They might ask you some stuff about it

Lots of companies use papercut as a cost/print tracking solution

Just a tip

OmniTech

scaredoftests wrote: »

Computer issues..what happens if something doesn't print? What should you check first? The same with email. Is it a workstation issue? Cabling? network down? What would you check? Things like that.

Ok, that's something (troubleshooting) that I'm quite familiar with and I'm confident in answering. However, I'm here currently quizzing myself for my A+ and currently getting annoyed by the little "spec" questions. I hope they don't ask stuff like how to calculate clock frequencies and such.

scaredoftests

I never had that question. I'd check my watch. <groan, too early?>

OmniTech

Alright guys a quick follow up. So I had the interview on last Thursday, and I'd say it went pretty good. The perfectionist in me says a couple of my answers could've been better, but I feel I recovered well. I ended up interviewing three people actually (tech lead, business lead, and operations lead) at the same time.

The guys there were fantastic; very cool and laid back. They asked some simple tech questions, which I'm sure i answered thoroughly. The customer related questions were pretty good, although i think i fumbled a couple questions because the situations thrown at me were pretty tough, so i paused a little.

I can tell from their reaction we were getting along quite well, and had some agreements (nods) in what were discussing after I answered their questions. I also highlighted my huge interest in the company, and were delighted by my knowledge of its history, etc.

They told me they'd contact my recruiter on Friday with feedback on the interview and what the status would be, but i haven't heard anything from my recruiter since. I got a call from my recruiter the same day as well after the interview stating the same thing, but no call, e-mail, etc.

Would it be safe to say i wasn't considered? Or should i wait? I sent an e-mail to my recruiter a few minutes ago asking for the status, so I'm at least waiting on that.

scaredoftests

Sometimes, these things take awhile. Glad you emailed the recruiter, I hope you hear back soon. Waiting sucks.

OmniTech

Day 3 and still no response. This is aggravating. It doesn't take much to respond to an e-mail. Thankfully I have local recruiting agencies to meet up with I plan on doing. Hopefully I can pair myself with someone who isn't two-faced.

TheNewITGuy

How did this go? I'm assuming this is in Webster right?

OmniTech

Was told to receive feedback a little while ago, and haven't received anything. No response for this particular recruiter. Have been looking elsewhere. The interviewing experience was useful and good though, so I at least know the procedure.

scaredoftests

Good attitude.

abelamorales

OmniTech wrote: »

Alright guys, after talking with a recruiter for a couple days, I got an offer for desktop support at Xerox. Here are the details.

Job Title: Help Desk Specialist

Job Description
• Solve Customer problems over the phone (software installation, networking, etc.)
• Provide support to internal/external sales personnel, resellers, and end user customers
• Set up and maintain data bases for customers and resellers in back office systems
• Accomplish tasks without considerable direction and /or supervision

Skills:
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel , Microsoft Office, and data bases. Knowledge of network operating systems and network setup
• Strong telephone communication skills.
• Excellent phone support and troubleshooting

Experience:
• Prior work experience in Help Desk Support, Customer Service and or Technical Support environments
• Prior administrative experience, with an emphasis on working with databases.

Any interviewing tips? This is my first interview for an IT job so I'd like to prepare and ace it. Also, what kind of interviewing questions should I be expecting? I'd like to prepare for those as well.

Having interviewed candidates for these types of support roles, there are three things that stand out to me:

1. Customer Service and Personality - this is a position that is customer facing and ensuring you are able to satisfy the SLAs in place is critical. In addition, you need to be approachable.
2. Technical Aptitude - I look for whether or not you can critically think and can figure issues out on your own.
3. Soft skills - What kind of documentation do have you created, project management skills, and communication. Can you write an e-mail to a user that's professional?

One of the best things I have done in an interview is understand what is the pain point of the organization and hiring manager. This gives you the opportunity to demonstrate what you can do to solve that pain point.