Interview

stevcha

Hi guys! I have a face to face interview setup for Tuesday of next week. The position is for a Network Engineer at a small Marketing Firm. A former manager of mine who's with this firm now recommended me for the position. I had a phone interview with the company's recruiter this past week and now I have a face to face with the hiring manager and the director of the area. I'm a little nervous b/c of some of the technical aspects that they're looking for. For the past 8yrs I've worked for a large telcom company. For about 4-5 yrs I worked in the NOC providing level 2 & 3 support for Cisco based clients. Then the latter part of my career there I did project management for new VPN service deployments. Here's a list of the skills from the job posting:

SPECIAL SKILLS:
• In-depth knowledge of PC networks, PC hardware and software, communications between networks, Data transfer protocols, LAN switching, IP networks, converged IP Telephony, advanced elements of network security, DNS, domain name management, SSL certificate management, and IP Telephony systems.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills
• Good organization skills
• Excellent presentation skills
• Able to effectively communicate technical matters to executive management

Now obviously the hiring manager looked at my resume and this is what I had listed for my previous NOC position:

• Provided Tier II & III technical support for over 700 Cisco IP based Enterprise to Medium-Scale Network Clients
• Supported critical and sensitive accounts to ensure client retainment
• Served as 24x7 Escalation Manager for critical accounts and vendors
• Performed advanced WAN troubleshooting on physical layer circuits such as ISDN, DS0, DS1, DS3 and data link layers such as ATM, Frame Relay, Point to Point
• Provided technical support on Cisco 2500, 3600, and 7500 series routers
• Provided technical support on Netpath 64 & 100 CSU/DSU, Larscom Access-T, Mega-T, Orion MUX, Kentrox CellSmart, Paradyne Frame Saver
• Performed loopback testing on DS0, DS1, and NxT1 circuits with telco and hardware vendors to resolve client connectivity issues
• Provided technical support on ISDN backup solutions
• Ensured network outages were resolved in a timely manner in order to meet Service Level Agreements
• Worked with vendors and internal technical groups to resolve complex network issues
• Reported to management and executives on critical account items such as mean time to repair, length of outage, and number of trouble tickets
• Provided root cause analysis for client network outages
• Served as Operations Project Manager for new Products, Services, and Systems Applications that were implemented into the Operations Support Center
• Provided user training and created desk level procedures for new Products and Services deployed into the Operations Work Center


I've been brushing up and studying for my CCNA but I'm a little nervous regarding the network security DNS, domain name management, SSL certificate areas of the job. I know I can definitely learn this stuff but how should I deal with them in the interview? Any other suggestions or pointers you guys can offer would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Pash

Say they arent your strongest areas but you have a good grasp of the technology and you are willing to learn more. Always be honest about your skills, you can never remember or know absolutely everything.....it's how well you source the information when needed.



Good luck mate.

networker050184

Pash wrote:

Say they arent your strongest areas but you have a good grasp of the technology and you are willing to learn more. Always be honest about your skills, you can never remember or know absolutely everything.....it's how well you source the information when needed.



Good luck mate.

+1 and I think you already have a good shot with an inside recomendation. They know you are a good worker and fast learner or you wouldn't have been recommended.