Helpdesk interview questions

[JimmiG]

"Reboot your computer" is all you need to know.

Unfortunately that's true. I'm level 2, but still feel like I spend most of my time telling people to reboot the computer. Saddest part is it works 99% of the time.

 

[MixMasterTang]

How to remove spyware, what to do when a computer is infected with a virus (disconnect from corporate network immediately), know to look at event logs when troubleshooting issues, how to verify TCP/ip settings, make sure you know how DNS works (nslookup), how to ping and trace route and how to be helpful without being an anti-social ass

 

[mike208]

Lol those questions are from like 17 years ago. Holy hell, I forgot so much from that time. I decided for shits and grins to do that test. I only had 10 minutes, but was able to get 71 out of 80 questions right on the first test in that time. The ones I missed were ones I missed clicked or were "tricky" to answer. I hate those ones where they don't exactly tell you which system the question applies to so you have to guess.


But man, no one in today's IT world even cars about A+ cert at all that I know of. Easier to ask a few random tech questions to start getting to the relative knowledge level of the candidate.

What test did you take? The sample questions I was talking about were only about 20 or 25 questions. I'd like to see this 70 question test you are talking about. And the ones I mentioned are from the current test.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Knowing how to use AD is also a good thing, you'll probably spend lot of time in there as well. If they use Novell (lot of schools do) learn the basics of that too. Know your way around the Windows registry. Like what the different hives are for and general structure.

Often help desk is also level 1 and 2. When I was on help desk some times I'd actually drive out somewhere to go do level 2 work. Though we did have dedicated level 2's, but sometimes if they're busy or what not it was not uncommon for us to get off the phone and do level 2 work.

Also, if this is for an ISP by chance, it's good idea to know the basics of DSL and telephony and how it works. pop/smtp and web is good to know too as you'd be surprised how many local businesses will use the ISP's web hosting/email services and rely heavily on them as opposed to going with a separate company. Guess it's the thing of having everything on one bill managed by one company.

Oh, and OSI layers. Know it! That's a pretty standard question on any IT related test. Troubleshooting always starts at layer 1. Is it plugged in? Is it turned on? Did you try turning it off and on again?

 

[mike208]

Knowing how to use AD is also a good thing, you'll probably spend lot of time in there as well. If they use Novell (lot of schools do) learn the basics of that too. Know your way around the Windows registry. Like what the different hives are for and general structure.

Often help desk is also level 1 and 2. When I was on help desk some times I'd actually drive out somewhere to go do level 2 work. Though we did have dedicated level 2's, but sometimes if they're busy or what not it was not uncommon for us to get off the phone and do level 2 work.

Also, if this is for an ISP by chance, it's good idea to know the basics of DSL and telephony and how it works. pop/smtp and web is good to know too as you'd be surprised how many local businesses will use the ISP's web hosting/email services and rely heavily on them as opposed to going with a separate company. Guess it's the thing of having everything on one bill managed by one company.

Oh, and OSI layers. Know it! That's a pretty standard question on any IT related test. Troubleshooting always starts at layer 1. Is it plugged in? Is it turned on? Did you try turning it off and on again?

The job is level 1 help desk for hospital/healthcare company. I interviewed for time warner once and they asked me how many layers were in the OSI model, but didn't ask me to name them or anything further lol. Thats good advice though about starting with the physical layer. It seems pretty obvious, but stating it the way you did sounds better.

 

[Phoenix86]

Did you try turning it off and on again?

:sneaky:

 

[HumblePie]

What test did you take? The sample questions I was talking about were only about 20 or 25 questions. I'd like to see this 70 question test you are talking about. And the ones I mentioned are from the current test.

Off the comptia site. Just searched for comptia a++ sample test. Was the first test listed off their site as free to take.