Helpdesk Interview on Monday!!

kvermillion1

So I finally got an interview for a help desk position at American Radiology coming up on Monday. Here is the only info I've been given about the qualifications:

Required:
Remote support experience
Attention to detail
1+ years of technical support experience

Desired:
Windows OS troubleshooting
Microsoft office troubleshooting
Proprietary application support

Can anyone offer any interview advice? Things I should prepare for? Scenarios I should now? This is my first interview since I graduated in December so I'm a little nervous!!

Divine-Assault

Hey,

My advice will be coming from personal experience. Dressing nicely gives a great first impression followed by good posture.

Be at least 20 minutes early for the interview.

Be confident, don't be nervous or intimidated by the person who is interviewer. He is a human just like the rest of us.

Be truthful, if there is something you don't know, say you don't know it and don't make up a lie.

Tell the interviewer what your good qualities are, not just technically but personality wise that makes you stand out compared to others (good personality traits and also your bad traits (hopefully not too bad traits...))

And also, smile

Dakinggamer87

Divine-Assault wrote: »

Hey,

My advice will be coming from personal experience. Dressing nicely gives a great first impression followed by good posture.

Be at least 20 minutes early for the interview.

Be confident, don't be nervous or intimidated by the person who is interviewer. He is a human just like the rest of us.

Be truthful, if there is something you don't know, say you don't know it and don't make up a lie.

Tell the interviewer what your good qualities are, not just technically but personality wise that makes you stand out compared to others (good personality traits and also your bad traits (hopefully not too bad traits...))

And also, smile

I totally agree. Stay calm and confident and you'll do great!!

Good luck!!

woot

My most valuable advice is come with stories. Don't just tell them you can do this and that. Come prepare with personal funny stories to tell them about previous experience that proves you can do something. They might give you some technical examples such as certain pop up errors. Sometimes the answer is simple as just restarting the computer, don't get too complicated unless you really know. Also show them you can be resourceful and do not go to your supervisor for every itty bitty detail. GOOGLE IT FIRST =]

CodeBlox

I've never worked on a help desk. In fact thats where I'm trying to get to at the moment. But I was wondering about the "being resourceful" bit. So you do have the opportunity to google problems that are ticketed?

edzy

CodeBlox wrote: »

I've never worked on a help desk. In fact thats where I'm trying to get to at the moment. But I was wondering about the "being resourceful" bit. So you do have the opportunity to google problems that are ticketed?

Yeah.

We're not always gonna know the solution to every problem. That's where google comes to play.

woot

CodeBlox wrote: »

I've never worked on a help desk. In fact thats where I'm trying to get to at the moment. But I was wondering about the "being resourceful" bit. So you do have the opportunity to google problems that are ticketed?

definitely, what is the difference between that and cracking open a book. They should and would probably like it if they knew you are trying to learn on your own. In this field every problem is unique, so there is no standard solution. 95% of your problems are probably found on some forum that someone else has encounter. Other 5% is probably more application specific, that the general public doesn't use. Of course I made up the statistics, but that's how it feels like for me

Hypntick

woot wrote: »

definitely, what is the difference between that and cracking open a book. They should and would probably like it if they knew you are trying to learn on your own. In this field every problem is unique, so there is no standard solution. 95% of your problems are probably found on some forum that someone else has encounter. Other 5% is probably more application specific, that the general public doesn't use. Of course I made up the statistics, but that's how it feels like for me

Well on a help desk depending on the depth you'll also have a knowledge base usually that has 80% or better of the info you'll need to do your job. The other 20% is either going to be escalated or researched by you.

NetworkingStudent

kvermillion1 wrote: »

So I finally got an interview for a help desk position at American Radiology coming up on Monday. Here is the only info I've been given about the qualifications:

Required:
Remote support experience
Attention to detail
1+ years of technical support experience

Desired:
Windows OS troubleshooting
Microsoft office troubleshooting
Proprietary application support

Can anyone offer any interview advice? Things I should prepare for? Scenarios I should now? This is my first interview since I graduated in December so I'm a little nervous!!

So, how did the interview go?

kvermillion1

The interview went OK, but definitely not as good as I had hoped. I interviewed with the nerdiest guy and after explaining to him exactly what I'm experienced with, he proceeded to ask me questions that were not related haha. I know virtually nothing of Windows XP nor do I have experience with it, sad I know, and there were many technical questions about how to do certain things inside XP. I think the interview went well enough to get a 2nd interview, but considering it being an entry level job, not happy with myself for even needing a 2nd interview. I should have been able to nail this one in the first try.

earweed

If you get a second interview it's a good thing. Companies don't usually hire you with just 1 interview. If you get a second interview then you've got a shot. Study up on some XP stuff.

Deathgomper

kvermillion1 wrote: »

The interview went OK, but definitely not as good as I had hoped. I interviewed with the nerdiest guy and after explaining to him exactly what I'm experienced with, he proceeded to ask me questions that were not related haha. I know virtually nothing of Windows XP nor do I have experience with it, sad I know, and there were many technical questions about how to do certain things inside XP. I think the interview went well enough to get a 2nd interview, but considering it being an entry level job, not happy with myself for even needing a 2nd interview. I should have been able to nail this one in the first try.

No matter what take every interview as a learning experience. After an interview I usually write down what went right and wrong and figure out how I will handle those situations in the future. The more interviews you have the better you'll get each time, just never get discouraged. It was good for me to reflect on past interviews before a new interview to get in the interview mind set.

Good luck!

kvermillion1

Well, they hired someone with more "experience" than me, as I knew they would. So i'll keep on trucking. In the meantime any advice on where to go next with certs? I could go for CCNA or move over to Microsoft and focus on the MCDST, so maybe I can get that helpdesk job or even the MCSA, since I already have the Sec+ to apply toward this....any thoughts? Thanks!!

CodeBlox

This is just my little suggestion but studying for A+ has taught me a bit more about XP than what I knew. It may not be advanced to some fellow TE members but I certainly learned quit a bit about XP from studying. I never even knew what a mapped drive was before I began studying and now I find them VERY useful. I'm sure thats not impressive to some people here but when I first did map a drive, I got all excited for some reason. Thats just me though.