How to conduct a technical interview

So now I'm on the other side of the table...

My company just hired a manager to run the helpdesk and desktop support functions to take the pressure off of my boss and to relieve myself and the network engineer from having to answer the phone and fill in on support. Nice guy, this manager, but come to find out he is a manager and not so technical. He has experience running support departements so I don't see this as being much of a problem if he made it through the same gauntlet of interview that I did.

Anyway, he approached me today with the need to have someone technical to interview some desktop support candidates this week. I am happy to help but it seems like forever since I was "entry level" or have been around entry level techs, and it's hard for me to think along those lines for some reason. I'm not sure what kinds of technical questions would be appropriate for me to ask.

For those of you who conduct technical interviews, what are some examples of questions that you would ask a prospective desktop support tech?

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Comments

RavenSpawn

Look at exactly what type of help desk support your company is providing, what that person would be hired to do and base the questions with what you feel the candidates should know as basic knowledge. You can also throw in a few trick questions in there. My last interview, this manager asked me the following as a trick question.

You're completely in the dark and the only thing left to finish getting dressed are your socks. In your drawer, you only have black and blue socks. What's the minimum number of socks you need to grab to make sure you have a matching pair?

Trying to remember some technical questions, I was asked what do you need to automatically assign IP addresses, what does DHCP stand for, what VPN stands for, if I have experience with it. You get a caller that's at a hotel room and can't connect to the internet, what steps would you take to solve the problem. Take a look at what the majority of calls you get for and ask how they would troubleshoot that scenario. If they know how to prioritize work, maybe to test them, tell them 2 or 3 different problems that they would get at the same time and which one they would try to resolve first. I think to get the best feel for the candidate's ability is to ask many types of questions along with scenarios being the majority of the questions since it is a help desk position.

Hope this helps.

malcybood

blargoe wrote:

For those of you who conduct technical interviews, what are some examples of questions that you would ask a prospective desktop support tech?

Hi Blargoe,

I am currently making the cross from a desktop tech to a network eng. It is 2 years since I worked on the Helpdesk but the scenarios are still pretty fresh. You should maybe ask Helpdesk candidates a few questions/scenarios along the lines of the below (phone troubleshooting)

A user phones up and reports.........what would you advise them to do?

1. .....I switched my machine on and the screen has gone blank? (check monitor cabling, boot into safe mode & upgrade driver etc)

2. ....I cant print to the sales network printer.......(Ping/telnet to printer, check queue for jobs, check other users can print to it)

3. .......I can't login to the network....(Ask what the error message is and depending on this, check correct domain in MS network or Tree/Server in Novell network depending on your environment, also password)

You get the idea.....now Desktop:

1. Can't connect to network but helpdesk have checked user password ok and can ping workstation.......(Try repatching in patch panel and doing a port and cable test on current patch and cable)

2. PC Won't boot passed XP screen and boots in a loop.....(boot into safe mode and do a system restore to an earlier time that machine did work OR install an XP partition, rescue the local data and then reimage the machine once you have the backup)

3. My connection to the server is really slow (All users on one site with local server).....Check the server is set to auto negotiate/full duplex and also the server switch port is also set to auto negotiate/full duplex or a conflict may occur.

4. ......I can't access the internet.....(check IE proxies OK if use a proxy server, ping proxy server, check default gateway on machine is correct etc)

These are a few ideas but these are the type of questions/scenarios I would pose to someone if I was hiring. By asking this kinda stuff you can usually gauge how much someone knows as they'll tell you more than required or try to dodge the answer. Someone who says "I don't know" to one question out of 3 is a better choice than someone who tries to blagg teir way through all of them.

Hopefully I've given you some ideas and it will jogg your memory and you can expand yourself.

Regards

Malc

strauchr

malcybood wrote:

2. ....I cant print to the sales network printer.......(Ping/telnet to printer, check queue for jobs, check other users can print to it)

I had that scenario one time and I politely asked the user, as I always did, if anyone else had trouble printing to that printer. Common sense would say that you would check with your colleague before calling IT, but anyway.

She very promptly and rudely replied "Isn't that you're job? Shouldn't you know" (of course we are all psychic!) I got a bit stuck at that time and luckily someone told her in the background that the printer wasn't working so she says to me "Can you tell me when it will be fixed". I looked up the job number and the rest proceeded as normal.

Apart from being a funny storey which enraged me at the time I think this would be a good scenario to produce to a potential employee. See there reaction, throw them off a bit and see how they deal with it. They may not have the right answer but they should be able to calmly think about it and come up with some suggestions.

One or two of these questions would be a good idea. guages their technical and customer service skills in one question.

RavenSpawn

strauchr wrote:

malcybood wrote:

2. ....I cant print to the sales network printer.......(Ping/telnet to printer, check queue for jobs, check other users can print to it)

I had that scenario one time and I politely asked the user, as I always did, if anyone else had trouble printing to that printer.

I agree, one of the first things you want to find out is if its affecting 1 user or a group to determine the severity of the problem. Also I would've asked if she can print to another printer as which would help determine if its a problem with the local machine.

sprkymrk

I like to ask them which is closer, China or the moon.
The moon. Why? Well duh, you can see the moon from here.

malcybood

strauchr wrote:

Common sense would say that you would check with your colleague before calling IT, but anyway.

No don't be silly, everything is IT's fault.....all we do is tell people to restart their machines....along with putting quarters in and pedalling like mad to keep the servers going

I think the problem in your particular scenario was probably between the desk and the chair!!!!!

strauchr

Hehehe, I know. Its always a fun storey I like to tell. I mean its the lowest level of common sense. Right up there with 'my computer won't turn on' ..... 'is it plugged in'

strauchr

RavenSpawn wrote:

strauchr wrote:

malcybood wrote:

2. ....I cant print to the sales network printer.......(Ping/telnet to printer, check queue for jobs, check other users can print to it)

I had that scenario one time and I politely asked the user, as I always did, if anyone else had trouble printing to that printer.

I agree, one of the first things you want to find out is if its affecting 1 user or a group to determine the severity of the problem. Also I would've asked if she can print to another printer as which would help determine if its a problem with the local machine.

Nah I should have known that too.