Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?
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Hi guys and gals,
I finally started finding some potential candidates for an onsite Jr. IT systems administrator position here. The person is going to be at least 70% help desk and the rest will be some routine maintenance and projects.
It has been quite awhile since I interviewed someone. I wanted to get suggestions for some good questions to ask. Should I post the job description, or can you do without it?
Thanks for your suggestions!
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I keep descriptions super lean, not too many details. I don't do much in the way of tech screening either, I avoid detailed questions. I like to get into talking about their tech interests and see how they do in real conversation. Memorizing questions and answers makes for a hit or miss situation that doesn't tell very much. But people who know their stuff tend to shine when just talking about stuff that they have done or are interested in.
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I was planning on asking about any labs they have or had. Also, how they stay current.
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@wrx7m said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
I was planning on asking about any labs they have or had. Also, how they stay current.
Yeah, stuff to "discuss" rather than "in which position is the tab to select ...."
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I am also going to ask more open-ended questions regarding their troubleshooting and thought processes for diagnosing and resolving certain issues.
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@wrx7m said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
I was planning on asking about any labs they have or had. Also, how they stay current.
Great question, but I guess someone who has a virtual lab is probably over qualified for help desk.
And if they don't have the experience yet, but know vurtualization well I wouldnt expect them to be long term.
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@irj said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
@wrx7m said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
I was planning on asking about any labs they have or had. Also, how they stay current.
Great question, but I guess someone who has a virtual lab is probably over qualified for help desk.
And if they don't have the experience yet, but know vurtualization well I wouldnt expect them to be long term.
Maybe, but not necessarily. Great help desk people want labs, too.
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@irj said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
And if they don't have the experience yet, but know vurtualization well I wouldnt expect them to be long term.
Do you really expect anyone to be around long term? I'm not sure I understand that mentality. Basically what you're saying is that I want the worse candidate because they are going to be around forever and have no ambitions.
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Since this is 70% helpdesk, ask some situation type questions to see how they think. The technical answer is not important, more the process.
Q: "A local user within the office cannot open a program, its a program that you have not used before, they have a request to the helpdesk to fix it and get it working, how would you find the answer and solve their issue?"
A: "Ask my manager." - not good
A: "Erm, maybe, erm... well, erm..." - not good. (Depending on what you are after if entirely new to IT)
A: "I would visit the user and ask them a few key questions. 1) has the software previously worked, or is new 2) if they can show me how to replicate the error 3) If other people use the software and if they are currently using it totally fine. That shows me the issue is located with just them, or is a larger group issue, and confirms if the software previously worked or never worked for them. If the whole team cannot access the software I would check our knowledgebase to see if a central server controls the software to make sure its up. If its only them, I would check they are connected to the network bla bla bla..."
Seeing how they think helps. The tech stuff can be taught.
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@scottalanmiller said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
@irj said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
@wrx7m said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
I was planning on asking about any labs they have or had. Also, how they stay current.
Great question, but I guess someone who has a virtual lab is probably over qualified for help desk.
And if they don't have the experience yet, but know vurtualization well I wouldnt expect them to be long term.
Maybe, but not necessarily. Great help desk people want labs, too.
Exactly... I have had personal labs since I was a novice.
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In candidates watch out for this one that they may ask: "What PSA do you use?"
We avoid script jockeys at all costs.
Some questions around their experience in the industry, what they are passionate about in tech, and whether they have a home, existing employer, or cloud based lab and what they do with it.
It's not hard to pick out the folks that are really interested in what they are doing based on the above.
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@phlipelder said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
In candidates watch out for this one that they may ask: "What PSA do you use?"
We avoid script jockeys at all costs.
What is PSA in this context?
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@momurda said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
@phlipelder said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
In candidates watch out for this one that they may ask: "What PSA do you use?"
We avoid script jockeys at all costs.
What is PSA in this context?
Glad I wasn't the only one that was confused by that initialism.
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@momurda said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
@phlipelder said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
In candidates watch out for this one that they may ask: "What PSA do you use?"
We avoid script jockeys at all costs.
What is PSA in this context?
Professional Services Automation software. It allows a support person to ask questions and follow a queue path through to an answer as one aspect.
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@phlipelder Ahh. I haven't worked at a place large enough to have such a tool LOL
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@wrx7m said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
@phlipelder Ahh. I haven't worked at a place large enough to have such a tool LOL
A PSA setup is big with Managed Services Providers (MSPs).
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@phlipelder i was confused too. i thought you did not like people that used/wrote scripts for automating tasks.
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@jmoore said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
@phlipelder i was confused too. i thought you did not like people that used/wrote scripts for automating tasks.
There's a big difference between one who writes the scripts and one who runs them without digging in to the how/why/where/when/what of them.
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@phlipelder true enough
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@phlipelder said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
@momurda said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
@phlipelder said in Interviewing Candidates for a Jr. IT Systems Administrator Position- Good Questions to Ask?:
In candidates watch out for this one that they may ask: "What PSA do you use?"
We avoid script jockeys at all costs.
What is PSA in this context?
Professional Services Automation software. It allows a support person to ask questions and follow a queue path through to an answer as one aspect.
I've never even seen one in real life.
