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I know I can nail the technical questions but I'm worried that i look sleazy.
The additional context wasn't necessary but I wanted to see how the photo posts are formatted for lemmy
this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
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I was an IT help desk manager for 10 years. Your attire is perfect, and it's a good sign that you're concerned about looking professional.
Here's a pro tip - In your interview you will almost certainly be asked how you'd solve an issue that you have no idea how to approach. What they're looking for is how you'll respond emotionally. The correct answer is to assure the end user that you will find a solution, don't panic, and then check internal documentation. "Have we run into this before?" Insist that the company should never have to solve the same issue twice because documentation is paramount. Never be afraid to say that you'd escalate the issue but KEEP OWNERSHIP. Ownership is huge to these people.
I'd be glad to go into more detail about what they'll be looking for if it will be helpful.
I won't wish you good luck because you've already got this!
I was never a direct manager, but I've been in on the hiring process for many candidates. Great advice, top to bottom.
When we interviewed we also liked to hear people say they'd Google it. It seems stupid but I want someone with the initiative to find the solution to a problem they've never seen.
Also the thing about ownership is key, and for us was always an indicator of someone who might want to move up later. Help desk folks who want to move up do everything they can feasibly do and offer their take on what they think the next level needs to do before escalating. If it truly needs to be handed off then it's because of permissions. But the best help desk people try to hang on to the ticket as long as they can so they can provide the most consistency to the end user.
Yep I Google stuff all the time in my help desk type job. Usually when it’s windows being stupid for whatever reason.
I'm a senior-most IT engineer for a major company and most of my job is still Googling. The rest is learn.microsoft.com.
Every good engineer I have ever worked with googles things. To me it's actually a red flag if someone doesn't Google stuff. That tells me they think they know everything, or that they would rather punt than learn. I think googling is a critical job skill for IT.
I just want to second saying you’d Google it in the interview if it comes up. I got my first job because of this in software engineering a long time ago.
Interviewer: “If you didn’t know how to solve a technical problem, what’s the first thing you’d do?” Me: “Well… to be honest, I’d probably Google it…” Interviewer: “Oh yeah that’s actually exactly what we want!”
It did feel stupid to say at the time but it made sense after.
^ This completely. I am a tech support Tier 1/Tier 2 support hiring manager for a private tech company. Our software and hardware product is our own creation and we have no expectation you'll know how to fix any of our stuff.
I ask someone a question troubleshoot a TV screen + generic PC that's showing a blank/black screen. In the scenario both should be powered on and displaying our software, but it's possible neither are at the moment. I ask how they'd approach getting things back up. My POV is that it's a type of fault that everyone who's ever worked a PC/ChromeBox/VCR/DVD/GameConsole/CableTVbox/etc has ran into and should be able to spitball an answer regardless of background.
What I am listening for is the steps you would take to work through a problem and why. I am also paying attention to if you are someone that can work through a problem, it's a surprising number of people who just don't seem able to.
Someone who I didn't hire wasn't sure and ended up suggesting we check the wifi.
Good luck on the interview, and the clothes look great. Anything business casual will almost always be accepted and if they ding you on no tie be glad you dodged that bullet
This is fantastic and great advice. Listen to this guy!
Anything that can happen will happen, and because the manual is finite, eventually the will be a situation that the company is unprepared for.
Take responsibility, yes, but don't act beyond your authority. Tell the person that you'll find out, and ask the appropriate person.
If there is time pressure, don't take on more than you can reliably handle - don't take info and promise to contact the person unless you can do that. It's always better to give the person contact information and ask them to call or come back.
For years companies loved "I can" statements. "I can help you with that", "I can find out for you", etc. But I think that might have fallen out of favor, check with someone younger than me (lol!).
One more tip to add to this. It's related to this so I wanted to comment here. Be likeable. No body wants to work with know it all snob.
I'm a week late to replying to your comment, but yes! We call them "hot dogs" in my area - people who pretend like they know everything. That's just setting yourself up for failure. Escalation paths exist for a reason.
So much this. As someone who runs a technical call center, I don't know is an acceptable answer but follow it with a plan to find out!
Your advice is great in general, but procedures may vary. When I worked in professional IT support, we have often transferred ownership to the next level group, together with the escalation.
But then our customers were all professional IT guys too, devs, admins, sometimes managers. No whining panicking end users :-)