Interview help
Discussion
At last I have an interview in a couple of weeks for a perm. desktop support position with an IT outsourcing firm, looks like it's in 2 parts an HR interview and a skills interview. I haven't had an interview for years and I've been out of the IT game for a short while so I'm a bit worried about the skills part...just answering the questions...I'm better 'hands-on'
Can anyone esp. interviewers help out with some advice on what the skills interview will be like....the HR bit I think I can cope with, that's just being myself really.
MTIA
Can anyone esp. interviewers help out with some advice on what the skills interview will be like....the HR bit I think I can cope with, that's just being myself really.
MTIA
I've never had a skills interview as part of an IT interview and I've had a few recently (despite them being threatened). Don't sweat 
If you are tested it will likely be mixed between what you'll be supporting and some OS questions. As you'll be doing desktop support I suggest you brush up on the Win2000 Professional MCP
If you are tested it will likely be mixed between what you'll be supporting and some OS questions. As you'll be doing desktop support I suggest you brush up on the Win2000 Professional MCP
puggit said:
I've never had a skills interview as part of an IT interview and I've had a few recently (despite them being threatened). Don't sweat
If you are tested it will likely be mixed between what you'll be supporting and some OS questions. As you'll be doing desktop support I suggest you brush up on the Win2000 Professional MCP
....and hope they don't use XP
I've recruited a lot of technical people in my past life and the one thing I always looked for was the approach, not necessarily the finite skills.
If someone's got the right approach, and know how to find an answer even if they don't know it, I knew they'd be a valuable asset.
Be clear about what you do know, what you don't and how you'd cope in situations where you don't know the answer.
If someone's got the right approach, and know how to find an answer even if they don't know it, I knew they'd be a valuable asset.
Be clear about what you do know, what you don't and how you'd cope in situations where you don't know the answer.
PetrolTed said:
I've recruited a lot of technical people in my past life and the one thing I always looked for was the approach, not necessarily the finite skills.
If someone's got the right approach, and know how to find an answer even if they don't know it, I knew they'd be a valuable asset.
Be clear about what you do know, what you don't and how you'd cope in situations where you don't know the answer.
the perfect answer to give in an interveiw if you dont know the answer..
no one knows everthing, but its having the brains to look the answer up is the cleaver one
PetrolTed said:
I've recruited a lot of technical people in my past life and the one thing I always looked for was the approach, not necessarily the finite skills.
If someone's got the right approach, and know how to find an answer even if they don't know it, I knew they'd be a valuable asset.
Be clear about what you do know, what you don't and how you'd cope in situations where you don't know the answer.
I'd agree with this, but from an interviewee's point of view. Had an interview late last year that involved a technical section (interviewer stuck a laptop in front of me and got me problem solving there and then - no warning
) and it was the fact I had the aptitude, and not necessarily all the answers, that got me the job.Patricks Dad said:
Technical Support?
I'll pass you on to first line support!
Then learn to speak English with an Asian accent.
Hmmm a well know computer firm which has recently outsourced its tech suport to another country has just lost an order becasue we spent 3 hrs trying to sort our fing modem which we told them would not work cos it was serial not usb, would they listen or understand. not a chance. So when we needed a new pc, its goen to a small firm based in Ireland who were actually very helpful and dont outsource tect queries - although they do have a nice irish accent but they know what they are talking about. !
IT isn't my thing, but here is a tip for really difficult questions that you don't know what the answer is. What you need to do is get across your thought process, because this will be more important to them than whether you know the answer to their specific question (because no-one knows everything, right?) So what you want to do is to ask a few pertinent questions to demonstrate your thought process (not too many and not irrelevant ones!) Now this is the real tip. If you are really stuck, say how the question is similar to something else you have had to work through recently, and then spend a couple of minutes telling them about this. Do a good job of this and they will forget about the original question and move on . Best of luck!!
. Best of luck!!
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