How to improve chances for a job at GeekSquad? THANKS

GamingCrazy

Ok guys, instead of waiting till mid college or when college over I'm trying to obtain a job at geeksquad.

Distinctions: State Finalist in Cyber Security
State Finalist in Networking Solutions

Pending: A+ and N+

I really want a job working on computers, and or helpdesk for GeekSquad or of something of that tier.

My question to TechExams: What else will help increase my chances of a possible job with Geeksquad or (Insert Here)? Thanks!

Your input is worth a million dollars thanks!

N2IT

GamingCrazy wrote: »

Ok guys, instead of waiting till mid college or when college over I'm trying to obtain a job at geeksquad.

Distinctions: State Finalist in Cyber Security
State Finalist in Networking Solutions

Pending: A+ and N+

I really want a job working on computers, and or helpdesk for GeekSquad or of something of that tier.

My question to TechExams: What else will help increase my chances of a possible job with Geeksquad or (Insert Here)? Thanks!

Your input is worth a million dollars thanks!

Make sure the email address you list on your resume is professional.

[Deleted User]

GamingCrazy wrote: »

Ok guys, instead of waiting till mid college or when college over I'm trying to obtain a job at geeksquad.

Distinctions: State Finalist in Cyber Security
State Finalist in Networking Solutions

Pending: A+ and N+

I really want a job working on computers, and or helpdesk for GeekSquad or of something of that tier.

My question to TechExams: What else will help increase my chances of a possible job with Geeksquad or (Insert Here)? Thanks!

Your input is worth a million dollars thanks!

I know there are a couple of guys here who started out at GeekSquad and may encourage it. I think you could seek out a local repair shop also if you are interested in having a role similar to GS. I've heard from a couple of old high school friends that work in the GeekSquad that the position isn't always just IT.

My recommendations would be along the lines of what you already know. Go after the A+ and then start looking for a job right away. Since you are in school, your best bet really is going to a local computer repair shop or a company like Best Buy with flexible hours. I think you are on the right track.

Devilsbane

I had a friend who worked at Geek Squad and he put in the good word for me. Plus I had A+, Net+, MOS 2007, and 2 months away from an AAS and they never even contacted me. I also had a professional email address, and several outstanding references. But they never contacted any of them.

GamingCrazy

Sorry about the multiple references to GeekSquad, that's just a common place.

I here of a lot of people that start out on the floor of geeksquad and transfer, does that seem more reasonable? I'm tired of working fast food and restaurants, that was then, this is now!

Thanks guys

Devilsbane

I know some people transfer over, but I refused to move from one retailer to another retailer, I wanted to get right into IT. Didn't have the time to spend 6 months as a best buy cashier. Glad they turned me down now though, I found a better job, making more money, and actually digging into the corporate IT world.

Daniel333

Geek Squad is not just a desktop repair shop. It's mainly sales. Snag your A+ cert, make sure you sales and customer service skills are well demonstrated.

Make sure you can recite the sale process from heart.

loxleynew

Basically if you show how to rip people off and lie you will most likely get the job. Haha but no seriously ^^ is true. Ive heard of so many stories of people that goto geek squad and they lie about so much stuff and say it costs about 50x the price it should cost to fix anything really.

If I were you, you should go to a local repair shop or find a help desk to work at. Screw geek squad where it is 10% work and 90% b.s sales lies.

Devilsbane

loxleynew wrote: »

Basically if you show how to rip people off and lie you will most likely get the job. Haha but no seriously ^^ is true. Ive heard of so many stories of people that goto geek squad and they lie about so much stuff and say it costs about 50x the price it should cost to fix anything really.

If I were you, you should go to a local repair shop or find a help desk to work at. Screw geek squad where it is 10% work and 90% b.s sales lies.

I've heard stories before where they tell you that you need a new hard disk or something. I try not to classify all of geek squad on a few bad eggs, but Geek Squad is about making money. They overcharge for their services (I think it was just under $100 to reinstall a pc, and if you don't have the disks they will sell you the os off their shelf. Even if the license label is on the side of the case. Which is funny since computers don't come with discs anymore and most people don't create them.)

About 10 years ago they forced their crappy antivirus on my mother claiming that it was the best. Well it wasn't, just constantly got in the way, but still let in stuff that spybot would find.

earweed

I've met several people who've had bad experiences as described from Geeksquad. Basically it comes down to the people at GS you're dealing with, some are actually competent and not just consumate liars. I have removed a few AV programs GS has sold these people and replaced them with free AV programs which worked better.

To the OP - I've heard that when you fill out the online app that you should either strongly agree or strongly disagree with everything and that will increase your chances of being called for an interview.

JBrown

GamingCrazy wrote: »

Ok guys, instead of waiting till mid college or when college over I'm trying to obtain a job at geeksquad.

Distinctions: State Finalist in Cyber Security
State Finalist in Networking Solutions

Pending: A+ and N+

I really want a job working on computers, and or helpdesk for GeekSquad or of something of that tier.

My question to TechExams: What else will help increase my chances of a possible job with Geeksquad or (Insert Here)? Thanks!

Your input is worth a million dollars thanks!

Visit your school's Computing and/or MSIS/OIT Department, they usually hire their own students for Computer Tech/ Help desk / some junior positions. At least that is what we do. We actually prefer hiring our own students rather than getting someone from outside.

GamingCrazy

Thanks guys! Basically, I'm trying to accumulate experience so when it comes time for graduation (Future predicting) I will have some experience in the field.
Is A+ Hard to obtain, I have Trainsignal and CBT Nuggets videos I recieved and was wondering if that is enough?

I took a semester (3 Hour Class) on IT and troubleshooting wasn't a problem. Laptops were the only weak area I had trouble in. And networking, well.. My Dad does that so I'm not to worried.

Any other recommendations?

Thanks again, you cannot put a price on this kind of advice!

Devilsbane

GamingCrazy wrote: »

Thanks guys! Basically, I'm trying to accumulate experience so when it comes time for graduation (Future predicting) I will have some experience in the field.
Is A+ Hard to obtain, I have Trainsignal and CBT Nuggets videos I recieved and was wondering if that is enough?

More than enough.

Michael.J.Palmer

If you've worked retail in the past and succeeded in some way in pushing sales or meeting any quota you may have had then make sure you mention it. As mentioned before, Geek Squad is actually more of a technical retail position than an actual IT desktop support position. Sure you may troubleshoot the occasional PC that comes in, but unless you're one of the agents that is sent on house calls or higher up the food chain then you'll mainly be there to sell Geek Squad service packages and products, so stress any retail experience that you may have had, it will definitely help you here.

GamingCrazy

Another quick question, am I more likely to be payed higher in a position at Geeksquad vs other repair shops? Thanks

Devilsbane

I think geeksquad starts at like $9/hr in my area. It may vary based on location and maybe even experience. I'm not sure what other repair shops pay, but help desk positions are usually in the $10-$15 range.

ipconfig.all

go with anything that will give you valuable experience and not money.

BradleyHU

as a former best buy employee, i'd say dont do it. Your better off trying to get something @ a computer repair shop or something. OR you could actually try and internship @ a company in your city, or work-study @ your school...those kinda look better on ya resume anyways.

Bl8ckr0uter

BradleyHU wrote: »

as a former best buy employee, i'd say dont do it. Your better off trying to get something @ a computer repair shop or something. OR you could actually try and internship @ a company in your city, or work-study @ your school...those kinda look better on ya resume anyways.

I 2nd this. I worked at FreakSquad as well. You are actually encouraged to gouge as much money from people as possible with bullshit upsells. I was actually told not to go above and beyond. They also like to screw you on hours if you aren't full time. I won't say everyone there is sub par IT wise but I will say that it is an place build around screwing people.

BradleyHU

knwminus wrote: »

I 2nd this. I worked at FreakSquad as well. You are actually encouraged to gouge as much money from people as possible with bullshit upsells. I was actually told not to go above and beyond. They also like to screw you on hours if you aren't full time. I won't say everyone there is sub par IT wise but I will say that it is an place build around screwing people.

the bold & underlined are SO effin true, its not even funny. They want you to push accessories & Service Plans on pplz. and if they dont want them, they want you to send them to GS so they can try to "convince" them of the "dangers" of not having a Service Plan. My mngrs always used to get on me, because i would never send pplz over to GS. If you ask me if I want the service plan, and you explain it to me, and i say no, that should be the end of it. Dont send me to someone else, so they can do the same thing. I might just leave and not buy anything if you do that. My 1st manager @ best buy, who turned out to be my cousin(didnt know until after like 2 months there) was a cool ass dude. He used to give the P/Ters decent amount of hours. But then he transferred to another store for a promotion, and the new mngr, was a str8 up douchebag. this focker cut P/T hours severely. like i used to get like 25hr/wk...i was at least making some paper....this battyfish cut P/T hrs to like 12hr/wk. our paychecks werent even worth the paper they printed them on. i signed my separation letter a few months later. it didnt help that the store sales manager was a class A douchebag as well. word to me, if i ever see either one of them 2 fuckers again, we gonna have a problem. granted this is 5 years ago, but i still got ill feelings towards that shitbag of a company & the mngmt in that store.

Michael.J.Palmer

knwminus wrote: »

I 2nd this. I worked at FreakSquad as well. You are actually encouraged to gouge as much money from people as possible with bullshit upsells. I was actually told not to go above and beyond. They also like to screw you on hours if you aren't full time. I won't say everyone there is sub par IT wise but I will say that it is an place build around screwing people.

That's every consumer electronic retail job these days, imagine my fun when working for both Blockbuster and Hollywood Video in recent years.

Bl8ckr0uter

BradleyHU wrote: »

My 1st manager @ best buy, who turned out to be my cousin(didnt know until after like 2 months there) was a cool ass dude. He used to give the P/Ters decent amount of hours. But then he transferred to another store for a promotion, and the new mngr, was a str8 up douchebag. this focker cut P/T hours severely. like i used to get like 25hr/wk...i was at least making some paper....this battyfish cut P/T hrs to like 12hr/wk. our paychecks werent even worth the paper they printed them on. i signed my separation letter a few months later. it didnt help that the store sales manager was a class A douchebag as well. word to me, if i ever see either one of them 2 fuckers again, we gonna have a problem. granted this is 5 years ago, but i still got ill feelings towards that shitbag of a company & the mngmt in that store.

I had to do that "seperation" letter as well. What was funny was how they ended up trying to hire me at another struggling store. At the time I was working at this job full time and the best buy store would be down the street. I was like cool, I can work both jobs and try to get some of that holiday money . I went to the interview and they were like, well you can't work anywhere else and we can't promise you hours. I walked out the interview. Best Buy is horrible for workers...

chmorin

Geek squad didn't pay attention to me until I got my A+. Once I got it, they gave me an interview all the way up to the store manager. Very annoying process. Once there he basically made my passions for information technology fall to the floor and offere my sales training and potential to advance to MAYBE doing support.

Needless to say, I turned him down.

That is the ugly truth from geek squad. Also worth noting is the people you deal with at geek squad don't know squat. The only people who know things are the mangers, and they HAVE to have their A+. Everyone else is a sales tactic, and trust me so is the manager.

Not worth it.

Bl8ckr0uter

chmorin wrote: »

That is the ugly truth from geek squad. Also worth noting is the people you deal with at geek squad don't know squat. The only people who know things are the mangers, and they HAVE to have their A+. .

It wasn't the managers, it was the lead techs AKA the full timers and they don't have to have their A+. Managers don't know ****. Some of the Geek Squad quasi managers might know something but the service managers (blue shirt) usually don't.

RobertKaucher

knwminus wrote: »

I 2nd this. I worked at FreakSquad as well. You are actually encouraged to gouge as much money from people as possible with bullshit upsells. I was actually told not to go above and beyond. They also like to screw you on hours if you aren't full time. I won't say everyone there is sub par IT wise but I will say that it is an place build around screwing people.

I have to say this must have been at the precinct where you worked. At the precinct where I worked and work again as a weekend job none of that is the case. We have a major focus on our customer satisfaction index (highest in district and one of the best in our territory) and usually charge nothing for little quick fixes. One example was a guy whose PC had some bad RAM. Even after replacing it under warranty it had OS issues and blue screened on him a few times a week. We backed up all his data, restored his OS, updated and restored his data at no charge. And he was not upset at all. The reasoning was the corruption was caused by the bad RAM. I gave him the free backup because he was just back from Afghanistan.

Now there is one issue I do have with newer agents. They frequently *under* charge people for no good reason. One guy at my precinct used to constantly check units in under a $30 1/2 hour labor charge when the thing was clearly rooted and going to need a restore and some attention. But me expecting to get paid for my work is not gauging. And I aint restoring, updating, and installing AV/Offic/etc on no one's PC for $30.

RobertKaucher

GamingCrazy wrote: »

Ok guys, instead of waiting till mid college or when college over I'm trying to obtain a job at geeksquad.

Distinctions: State Finalist in Cyber Security
State Finalist in Networking Solutions

Pending: A+ and N+

I really want a job working on computers, and or helpdesk for GeekSquad or of something of that tier.

My question to TechExams: What else will help increase my chances of a possible job with Geeksquad or (Insert Here)? Thanks!

Your input is worth a million dollars thanks!

Mac and Linux knowledge for Geek Squad.

Warsh1p

GamingCrazy wrote: »

Ok guys, instead of waiting till mid college or when college over I'm trying to obtain a job at geeksquad.

Distinctions: State Finalist in Cyber Security
State Finalist in Networking Solutions

Pending: A+ and N+

I really want a job working on computers, and or helpdesk for GeekSquad or of something of that tier.

My question to TechExams: What else will help increase my chances of a possible job with Geeksquad or (Insert Here)? Thanks!

Your input is worth a million dollars thanks!

Want a job at Geeksquad?

Learn how to sell pointless $50 optimizations, $25 RAM installations and $100 "virus" removals. Then after you have mastered those learn to say, "Sure we can fix this for you. It will take 2-3 weeks as we must ship it to our corporate repair shop"

I've know a handful of guys and a girl who have worked at Geeksquad and you barely work on fixing computers. You normally just run disks and ship computers out. 90% of the job is sales.

Bl8ckr0uter

RobertKaucher wrote: »

I have to say this must have been at the precinct where you worked. At the precinct where I worked and work again as a weekend job none of that is the case. We have a major focus on our customer satisfaction index (highest in district and one of the best in our territory) and usually charge nothing for little quick fixes. One example was a guy whose PC had some bad RAM. Even after replacing it under warranty it had OS issues and blue screened on him a few times a week. We backed up all his data, restored his OS, updated and restored his data at no charge. And he was not upset at all. The reasoning was the corruption was caused by the bad RAM. I gave him the free backup because he was just back from Afghanistan.

Now there is one issue I do have with newer agents. They frequently *under* charge people for no good reason. One guy at my precinct used to constantly check units in under a $30 1/2 hour labor charge when the thing was clearly rooted and going to need a restore and some attention. But me expecting to get paid for my work is not gauging. And I aint restoring, updating, and installing AV/Offic/etc on no one's PC for $30.

To be fair the one I worked at was not doing so well so we were pretty much trying to get any kind of money we could. So technically I can't say that every geek squad is like that but I can say that my experience sucked BUT it did help my resume out.

GamingCrazy

Very helpful answers! Thanks guys, I'm gonna look for a repair shop and see if I can do minimum wage work to start off, (Gain experience).

If geeksquad picks me up, I just can't turn it down. 18 out of high school, only restaurant jobs =/

Warsh1p

GamingCrazy wrote: »

Very helpful answers! Thanks guys, I'm gonna look for a repair shop and see if I can do minimum wage work to start off, (Gain experience).

If geeksquad picks me up, I just can't turn it down. 18 out of high school, only restaurant jobs =/

No, definitely do not turn it down. But look for other options as you are working at GS. Geek Squad looks better on your resume then Applebee's