Staples Easy Resident Tech vs Easy Technology Associate.

mvp910

Ok, so I had an interview yesterday for the Easy Resident Tech position for which I applied for. However, he did talk a lot about sales and yes I understand I have to do both and im ok with that. BUT....he kept referring to the position as an associate position I applied for the resident tech job, because i want to do more tech work than sales. My question is, what is the difference between these two positions?? Will I do the same amount of tech work for both, or more the resident tech? P.S., I have a second interview with the manager and will talk to him about this too.

Bloogen

I am pretty sure the resident tech the the one doing the computer repairs, virus removals etc while the tech associate is just a sales associate in the tech section. Whether they allow you to do any computer repair work as the tech associate varies but would lean much more towards general retail sales.

kohr-ah

From - http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/34866-anyone-easy-tech-2.html

Hopefully this helps some. (Doesnt mean this is same way now, just found someone asked same thing before)

Easy Tech Associate will rarely work on computers (especially if your store has a Easy Resident Tech and/or a Tech Center Expert). The Associate will perform daily tasks that relate to the store (stocking shelves, working on load, and assisting customers on the floor. The pay starts pretty low (almost near minimum wage if you have no prior experience).
Easy Resident Tech (sometimes called Easy Certified Tech) will be behind the bench working on computers a majority of the time. There have been new positions introduced to the Easy Tech, including Tech Center Expert and COT. The Tech Center Expert is the lead behind the tech bench. The COT (Certified On-Site Technician) is like the Resident Tech, but he's also certified to perform services on-site. Having some kind of technical knowledge (ie. A+, Network+, etc) will certainly help you. The pay will vary by state, but in California, the starting salary for this position is $10/hr vs the Tech Center Expert who will make close to $15.
Easy Tech Expert is the lead of the tech/BM department of the store. He/She is responsible for making sure the shelves are stocked and recovered nightly so things are easy to find. They are also required to make sure they promote ESPs and tech services because Tech Sales and ESP numbers are on their shoulders. The ETE is rarely behind the tech bench, but will be called there if no other tech is available, as long as they've successfully completed their certifications. The pay for the ETE in California is between $10 - $14. If you have a cool manager, they will likely be more than willing to negotiate with you.

mvp910

Thanks for the help! The only reason I did not question which position in the interview was because he was talking to me about sales and repair stuff, so I thought oh i will do both thats ok. He also mentioned getting staples certified, is that hard to get ?

kohr-ah

I personally don't know about staples certified but I am going to guess not.

Reason being is Circuit City had the same kind of thing where you had to get CC Certified and it wasn't hard at all. Nothing that a Knowledge of an A+ and a little operating system knowledge couldn't pass.

phalx

As far as I know, STAPLES outsources all virus/spyware removal remotely now. So the most challenging thing you would most likely do is install RAM, re-install a driver, maybe migrate some files. I'm sure most of your job will be sales, no matter what position you choose. But if you don't have a help desk you can join, it beats nothing! Good luck. Also, at least you could put "Resident Tech" on your resume, that sounds better than some of the other retail titles I have encountered.

SteveLord

Search for Geeksquad threads on here. Basically same thing and IMO, a waste of your time if IT is in your future...unless you are strapped for cash.

mvp910

I am being considered for the Resident Tech job at my local staples. I heard from a few people at my school that there is a test to pass to do this job, like a certification to fix computers there. Is this true? If so can some people give me some details on whats on it? A few guys on here told me they were not sure.

neocybe

These companies usually have realtionships with the vendor so you will most likely be asked to get vendor certified for hardware break/fix.

Eyes0nly

I use to work for Staples, quit a year ago, because they were not paying the way the should be. My title was Master Tech because I was also an inhome tech. The resident Tech is the only one scheduled for repair only however you will get pulled to the sales floor. So depending on the GM you either have to take the exam (equivalent to the A+ info) either during your interview or if they decide for a second (if you become a master tech they have 2 more exams mostly based on networking). Before I left you couldn't even work on the sales floor without passing the test. The idea is if you needed help the sales floor should be able to jump in.

You do not need any kind of certs in order to get the job and they do not give pay raises for getting them. Most of your job will be manual software fixes, installations of ram, hdd, and data transfers. Any virus removals will go through a 3rd party company as it would not be time efficient to have you just work on one pc removing the virus. You will also be doing a lot of new pc setups. One of my biggest issues with the job is they do not provide the tools to do it so I brought in my own and probably violated some user agreements... So if something went wrong I could have been fired for not following SOP. I guess it's good that I don't make mistakes . I'm just starting school again after 10 years in retail for IT and the only nice thing about getting a retail job is they will usually work with your school schedule. Otherwise stay clear.

mvp910

What kind of stuff is mostly on the exam? I have my second interview Monday.

Eyes0nly

It's pretty random. Some ranging as easy as What does this file type mean (AAC is for itunes). Put these cards in order of bus speed from slowest to fastest. What is the maximum amount of ram Windows XP can use. What is the most common color for an AGP slot on a motherboard. Some questions about which directions ribbon cables need to be connected to the mobo... forget specifics though... it's been 2ish years since I took the test. At the time nothing about windows 7 was on the test but I had questions about scsi drives.... Some very basic malware questions (ie difference between worm and virus) and basic network questions. The better you do the longer the test will be. I scored a 4.5... I think I answered around 60ish questions you need to score a 3 to pass. At the end of the test you do not see your score the manager has to log into their account to look it up. When I took it they allowed 2 attempts if you didn't pass I am not sure if they still allow that.

WafflesAndRootbeer

neocybe wrote: »

These companies usually have realtionships with the vendor so you will most likely be asked to get vendor certified for hardware break/fix.

No, that will never ever happen for store-based positions. It's not in the company's best interest to require that even though it makes sense from the "best practices" POV. The more certified an employee is, the easier it would be for them to find work elsewhere and they can leverage that as a way to get a bigger paycheck from the company, which is not something that Staples wants, even though they would probably never give in to such arguments anyway. It is in their best interest to maintain a low-paid workforce of people who need job security than it is to improve the quality of their employees.

SteveLord

^ Waffles - ding ding ding!

mvp910

Okay so today I went for my staples training and had to take a tech assment to work on computers as an easy tech. I failed by 2 questions but said I can retake again. I found where they get the test from and it is from brainbench. Anybody have any tips on what to study if they know some questions on from bb? Yes they have practice tests but at a fee of 25$! Any easy techs out there ??????

JasonIT

what sort of questions were on the test? Which question/area did you feel weak in?

J

mvp910

Anybody a easy tech or was one know about the tech assessment they give you? It was hard but I passed, and now he says there is a second one they need me to do at a later time???

webgeek

Never heard of this but good luck!

alan2308

Dood, this is the third thread you've started on this...

MrEdw

When I first applied for a store assistant manager position, I was told the job was already filled (only a day after the job appeared on the website) but sales positions were open as well as Easy Tech spots. I expressed confidence that the test could be passed, and immediately following the interview I was given the test on their computer.
I wasn't informed of either fail/pass, but was called and offered the Easy Tech job at a slightly higher rate than for the Tech Sales Associate, as long as I would go online and apply for that specific position. I did so--and part of that "application" process was taking another similar test to the first, with only a few new questions. In particular I was intrigued by the question "which of these types of memory modules require installation in pairs? (A.) DDR Ram (B.) DDR2 Ram (C.) Rambus Ram (D.) DDR3 Ram" I have only dealt with Rambus memory modules once or twice (years ago) and had forgotten most of what I'd Googled at the time. But I knew that while all the mobos using DDR don't perform optimally when DDR/2/3 are not installed in pairs, they will at least WORK as single modules. So the correct answer was Rambus modules--and later I looked it up to make sure.
At any rate, the test was about the same length, and most of the questions were identical. Also a lot of them related more to older rather than current hardware/software.