Had my interview today. Did I screw up badly?

Had my interview today. I think it went well, met with a lady from HR first, and then an IT manager. I answered some typical questions, some of them your boiler plate interview questions, others were a little more tech related and touched a lot on customer service (it's a desktop support interview). At the end there was a simple quiz that was neither pass nor fail, but let them know where you stood with general IT knowledge. I was questionable on 3, but I looked them up when I got home and saw I blew them:

1. How many bits in a byte? > 8 (answered 4)

2. What's the default subnet for:

Class A networks: 255.0.0.0 (answered 255.255.0.0)

Class B: 255.255.0.0 (255.255.255.0)

C: 255.255.255.0 (255.255.255.255)

Minimum amount of drives for RAID 5? > 3 (i answered 4)

i was nervous and rushing, and flew through them instead of taking my time. Hopefully that didn't screw me too much.

They said there would be a second interview in a couple of weeks. Any ideas what to expect if I get the call?

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Comments

coreyb80

Congrats on the position!

Master Of Puppets

Congrats, well done!

dave330i

z3r0cool wrote: »

I don't think I'll have a problem with either; I don't do drugs and my current facility requires you to maintain a certain standard for background history. I did have a DUI almost 10 years ago, though. They didn't ask me to divulge anything so I didn't.

You could fail the drug test if you enjoy poppy seed baggle/bread.

Congrats on the job.

z3r0cool

dave330i wrote: »

You could fail the drug test if you enjoy poppy seed baggle/bread.

Congrats on the job.

lol, I've heard that, but fortunately I don't eat many bagels or bread, and I can't remember the last time I saw a poppy seed.

PurpleIT

z3r0cool wrote: »

The HR manager kept going on about how important customer service was to them. I picked up on that and tried my best to stress how much I believe in CS and how important it is. After they offered, she said that was one of the things that most impressed them.
The soft skills are just as important as the technical ones.

That is exactly why I like to stress those skills in my resume, my cover letters and in interviews. I don't do it to the point that it looks like I am trying to distract from the technical side of things though. I want them to think that not only can I do the job, but I am someone they want to work with.

Congrats, BTW.

z3r0cool

PurpleIT wrote: »

I want them to think that not only can I do the job, but I am someone they want to work with.

Congrats, BTW.

Thank you. That's probably 50% of getting hired. You have to work with these people for 1/3 of your day and unless you're doing something not many else can, it's going to come down to a) who can do the job competently and b) who will be a contributing member and not be a pain to work with.

Darril

z3r0cool wrote: »

I'll point out one thing that I learned from the hiring process: people skills are just as important as technical skills for those of you pursuing help desk/desktop support roles. The HR manager kept going on about how important customer service was to them. I picked up on that and tried my best to stress how much I believe in CS and how important it is. After they offered, she said that was one of the things that most impressed them.
The soft skills are just as important as the technical ones.

Congratulations and good luck in your new job.

Great point on the soft skills. I remember hearing a hiring manager say once that "we can teach the technical skills, but we can't teach someone how to be kind." It was a simplification but the point is that they can provide training to bring someone's technical skills up to speed, but if someone carries a chip on their shoulder, no amount of training will turn that around.

jibbajabba

dave330i wrote: »

You could fail the drug test if you enjoy poppy seed baggle/bread.

Congrats on the job.

Indeed, in fact, when I went for a drug test they did ask me the question and if I did eat anything like that, they would have gone with a different test to rule false positives out.

FloOz

Congrats!!!!

KeithC

Congratulations

Not to hi-jack the thread, I just did not feel necessary to start a new one. What is the normal procedure for handing in a resignation letter when a background check is required? After you sign the offer letter and the background check is completed?

z3r0cool

KeithC wrote: »

Congratulations

Not to hi-jack the thread, I just did not feel necessary to start a new one. What is the normal procedure for handing in a resignation letter when a background check is required? After you sign the offer letter and the background check is completed?

Not sure, but I don't like putting the cart before the horse, so I made it clear that I would not be informing my supervisor until after the background and drug screening contingencies are lifted, but I signed the offer letter yesterday. I expressed to them that there's no reason that I shouldn't pass both, but I'm prefer to err on the side of caution. They didn't have a problem with that and are will notify me as soon as they get the results.

Akaricloud

Unless I knew I had something to be worried about I wouldn't think twice about giving notice once the offer letter is signed.

With the DUI it may be a good idea to wait but that isn't always necessary in all situations.

z3r0cool

Akaricloud wrote: »

Unless I knew I had something to be worried about I wouldn't think twice about giving notice once the offer letter is signed.

With the DUI it may be a good idea to wait but that isn't always necessary in all situations.

I shot the HR manager an email and she said they weren't worried about it unless there was a pattern. Looks like I'm good to go. Gave my notice on Friday. Thanks!