Help Desk and Technical Support positions straddle a need for technical skills coupled with customer service skills. Whether supporting internal or external clients, being tech savvy and having strong interpersonal skills are a must.
Remember that every technical environment is different. Some Help Desk professionals take five calls a day but solve problems from start to finish. Others may receive 100 calls a day but the issue is referred elsewhere for resolution. Asking the right interview questions is the key to ensuring a candidate will thrive in your surroundings. Pick from the questions herein that make sense for your environment.
Interview Questions
- How many years of experience do you have in a helpdesk environment?
- Were you supporting customers of another firm, customers of the same firm, or were you internal support to the company’s direct employees?
- Were you the sole person responsible for Help Desk / Technical Support or were you a part of a team? If so, how big was the team?
- Have you provided remote access support or repairs?
- What was your average resolution time for customer support?
- How do you prioritize clients’ requests? How would you deal with two high priority requests simultaneously?
- Were you required to submit reports or summaries?
- Have you ever informed management about recurring incidences? How would you go about reporting the issue? What were the outcomes?
- What client approach was expected of you even with demanding and difficult customers? Have you ever had to pass a difficult customer on to a superior? If so, what was the outcome?
- What hardware or software certifications have you completed (A+, MTA, MCSA, MCSE, CCNA, CCNP, etc)?
- What type of issues arose that you needed to research in your last position? How did you conduct your research?
- Were you ever required to work outside of regular business hours? Please elaborate.
- Describe a technical issue that was not an easy fix. What did you do to understand and resolve the issue?
- What customer issues were addressed at a Tier 1 level?
- How was information recorded or tracked? What type of reporting systems have you used?
- When troubleshooting, what types of procedures were you expected to use (screenshots, step by step documentation, etc.)?
- How did you provide client support (phone, email, remote assistance, in person, or other)?
- How have you handled a language barrier in trying to solve a problem over the phone?
- Has a user ever complained about how you handled their issue, and if so, what was your response and how was it dealt with?
- Have you configured hardware? If so, please explain.
- What commercial (COTS) desktop or web applications have you supported?
- Have you supported proprietary desktop and / or web applications? If so, what type? What resources were available to help you troubleshoot them?
- What symptoms did you analyze most frequently? What was the most common issue that you could resolve?
- What type of issues did you encounter that were more complex and needed to be escalated?
- What types of products have you supported (software, hardware, mobile phones, phones, printers, modems, webcams, etc.)?
- Were you responsible for:
- Username and password issues
- Installing, uninstalling or reinstalling software
- Network and connectivity issues
- Printer or scanner-related issues
- File server shares or permissions
- User creation or decommissioning
- Hardware support
- Email configuration and support
- Office productivity software support
- Desktop imaging
- Mobile device support
- Phone and headset-related issues
- Antivirus / firewall software configuration
CASE SCENARIO: You have received a call from a user stating that he types in a password at the Windows Login prompt and keeps getting an error message stating that “The Password is Incorrect”. Walk me through your troubleshooting process.
- What experience was needed for you to become a Level 2 Help Desk Technician?
- Have you provided onsite support to resolve issues pertaining to: software, hardware, mobile phones, phones, printers, etc.?
- Which vendor’s networking equipment are you most familiar with (Cisco, Juniper, HP, etc.)?
- If you could not resolve an issue, what steps did you take to reach a successful solution?
- What types of advanced troubleshooting were required most often and were most of these issues escalated from Tier 1?
- Did you do diagnostic testing as part of monitoring systems?
- Have you supported or configured servers? Do you have experience with mirroring or backup systems?
- How does VOIP (voice over IP) work?
- Were you required to run System Diagnostic Reports as part of monitoring systems?
- Have you worked on an exchange server, SMTP, or other email system? Which ones?
- Have you used a disk imaging and deployment software?
- Have you supported network connectivity issues (LAN, Wifi, VPN, firewalls)?
- Did you work with Secure File Transfer System (SFTS) or Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)?
CASE SCENARIO: A new print server is installed. You attach a printer and install the drivers but when you try to print, the page comes out garbled or doesn’t print correctly. What could be the problem?
- What expertise have you acquired to achieve the expert level support role?
- How did you go about resolving problems? What issues did you need to research?
- In the event you could not find a solution, what were you expected to do?
- Did you have access to developers that could help with an in-depth analysis?
- Were you supervising Tier 1 and 2 tech support team members?
- Have you created (official or unofficial) documentation or procedures to increase productivity of your team or step-by-step information for assisting clients?
- Were you in a position to do site-specific enhancements with costs to fix an issue?
- Did you participate in user training sessions?
- Were you able to participate in projects for preventive steps or measures for previously known issues?
- Have you used a deployment software such as SCCM/SMS?
- Were you required to run System Diagnostic Reports as part of monitoring systems?
- Do you have experience with network configuration and maintenance (VLANs, Routing, Wifi, VPN, firewalls)? Which vendor’s networking equipment are you most familiar with? (Cisco, Juniper, HP, etc.)
- Are you an LRA or have supported encryption / authentication certificates? (LRA = Local Registration Authority, someone who processes/verifies requests for digital certificates)
- What is a VOIP gateway?
- Have you set up or configured servers? Do you have experience with mirroring or backup systems?
- Did you work with vendors or manufacturers to troubleshoot issues that could not be resolved any other way?
- What certifications have you completed?
CASE SCENARIO: Your network is experiencing periods of slow response and you are asked to find a solution. What troubleshooting techniques would you use? Hardware or software solutions are okay and budget is not an issue.
