What is an IT support technician interview like? Looking for tips

tom_dub

Hey all,

I have an interview scheduled for Monday for the position of IT support technician for a pretty major company. I'd say I'm somewhat saavy with computers in general, have been into them since I was a young child. I'm currently studying for my A+ cert and am about halfway through Mike Meyers book. My guess is that the interview will be full of technical questions which make me kind of nervous. What I'd like to do over the weekend is touch up on topics that will probably be asked. Does anyone have any tips or advice on what material to go over or what the interview is like in general? Thanks

YFZblu

Much of the questioning might be to evaluate how you think or resolve an issue, so don't fret if you aren't getting the technical questions correct. Here are a few from my desktop support interview about a year ago:

1. If you can't find a solution to a problem, at what point do you ask for help? What resources would you use in the process?

2. You attempt to power on a PC, but nothing happens when you press the power button - Walk me through your troubleshooting.

3. You turn on a computer and receive a disc error - No other details are provided. What do you do? This question was asked by a non-technical person who was helping conduct the interview, which explains the lack of detail.

4. A user calls you because his/her Outlook keeps prompting for a username and password. Why? What are your troubleshooting steps?

NetworkVeteran

Tom, you'd receive much better feedback if you posted the actual job responsibilities.

Tom wrote:

My guess is that the interview will be full of technical questions which make me kind of nervous.

The technical knowledge questions typically revolve around what you claimed on your resume and the stated position's preferences/requirements. If I were open to hiring a college student with no certifications and no prior work experience, I would have low expectations in the knowledge department. My expectations would be--inexpensive, eager/hard-working, some common sense of their shoulders to now completely blow new situations, did reasonably learning the school material related to the job, and responsible enough to earn decent grades.

crrussell3

If its more of an entry level position, they shouldn't be asking too many technical questions. If they do, they will be more seeking how you handle what they throw at you (your thought process, how you would troubleshoot it, etc) than you knowing the right answer. So don't worry too much, but just brush up on different things, such as break/fix, common problems with ms office, how to detect an expired password, etc.

eansdad

They might ask how to set up a printer. They might also ask questions related to your skills from your resume. Might also ask about windows deployment software or imaging ie Ghost, WDS/SCCM, Altiris. Is this for a desktop or help desk type role?

Trifidw

The last ones they did at my place for a entry level technician was a quick test (far too in depth imo and not really relevant to the position), resolve an issue with the PC not booting and explain what you are doing to fix it as you go and then they are given a printer and a step by step guide on how to replace a part on it (essential, can you follow technical instructions).

QHalo

We used to ask what do you do if a user calls saying the bathroom is out of toilet paper. Then HR told us we couldn't do that anymore. Seriously though, if you answer phones you'll probably get a call like that at some point.

NetworkVeteran

QHalo wrote: »

We used to ask what do you do if a user calls saying the bathroom is out of toilet paper. Then HR told us we couldn't do that anymore.

Poo on your HR department! That's a fine question. If a visiting CEO can't find any toiler paper in our bathroom, by golly, I'm going to put my VPWS issues on-hold and go find him some. We are all to some degree representatives of our respective organizations, and if our customers don't have a great experience, foo on us. In fact, I'm going to use that one in my next interview.

ptilsen

YFZblu has a few good examples. They should hopefully be fairly basic, non-specific questions that hint at your troubleshooting abilities. However, depending on the specific organization and its hiring practices, they certainly could be about specific products or situations.

Here's what really matters: Show the knowledge and skills you do have, and indicate how you would gain knowledge or skills that you don't. Even indicating that you are eager to learn something new is usually a plus, but showing that you're smart enough and driven enough to do it is what usually gets the job.

Don't worry about the small stuff. If you don't understand some triviality about how Outlook works or remember the data rate differences between USB versions, no one you seriously want to work for will care. It's entry-level. Network Veteran's criteria is the majority of what employers should be and usually are looking for in an entry-level position:

NetworkVeteran wrote:

...eager/hard-working, some common sense of their shoulders to now completely blow new situations, did reasonably learning the school material related to the job, and responsible enough to earn decent grades.

Rohitandbonny

HI everyone, iam rohit ,new to this site , i had telephone interview schedule on march 8th 2014 for an , I.T. Support Technician ,i moved from india few months ago in US ,and have 3 year experienced Working in IT company back in india , iam nervous about this interview ,need help , what kind of questions they can ask me, any gud advice for me .what to do what not to do ,its gonna e my first job interview in states
Thanks

coreyb80

eansdad wrote: »

They might ask how to set up a printer. They might also ask questions related to your skills from your resume. Might also ask about windows deployment software or imaging ie Ghost, WDS/SCCM, Altiris. Is this for a desktop or help desk type role?

The printer question came up in an interview that I had this morning except the interviewer had me setup a network printer on both Macbook & Windows machine.

Cerebro

Know TCP/IP, OSI model. DNS, DHCP- DORA, APIPA. Troubleshooting methodology etc

Tremie24

Some of the interview questions that I remember:

What's the difference between DNS and DHCP?

What's the difference between IPV4 and IPV6

How would you install RAM?

If you booted up a computer and received a disk error, how would you go about troubleshooting it?

What would you do if someone wasn't able to print?

How do you deal with irate customers?

How would you prioritize your workload?

How do you deal with not getting along with a co-worker?

Most of the interviews that I have been on were a combination of technical questions and customer service questions. Customer service questions are important because a lot of companies pride themselves on that. Also some interview are more technical than others. They also might ask you what do you know about the company. Another tip is make sure you research the company a little bit before you go in.