Job interview tomorrow - 2nd Line IT Support - Help!

[matt_p]

Hi all,

Been out of work now for about two months, having been at my previous job for 8 years (since 18!!! )

At my last place, I was the only IT guy, and my knowledge and experience grew with the company to the point where I was Network Engineer looking after 5 sites and 70-odd users. Managed everything from user training through to the Win 2k3 servers, Exchange servers, cisco routers/switches, LANs, WANs etc.

Unfortunately, I went to my mate's wedding in Poland and came back to find the company out of business! Nice of the bosses to warn us, eh?

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I've spent a couple of months sorting some stuff out and re-going over the CCNA and MCSE stuff I did a couple of years back, but haen't yet had time to cover it fully. Only problem is, I've got an interview tomorrow and I don't know what to expect. As with everything you learn, only the stuff you use frequently sticks in your head. My head is full of the day to day runnings of a small network, but this job tomorrow is at a place with hundreds of users over dozens of sites.

Does anyone here work in 2nd Line for a large corporate, and can they enlighten me as to what sort of level it is, and the tech knowledge required? What are typical tasks in 2nd Line? I'm currently planning for the worst, so cramming as much tech knowledge into my head as I can. Ideal situation would be if I go in there and the questions are of the ilk of "user xxx has lost printer connectivity, can't access internet, what would you do? etc".

I've got good set of skills - very wide ranging compared to most. I'm just worried that I might be a jack of all trades, master of none, and if they ask me some in-depth tech stuff I'll flop. The fact that I'm totally uttlerly skint is putting even more pressure on me!

Any advice very much appreciated.

Cheers

[mjn]

Currently doing 2nd/3rd line support, after being out of work for 6 months. I never bothered to revise for interviews, as you could never cover enough material to cover all questions they could ask. They will more than likely just test your general networking knowledge, such as, "How many clients does a /24 network have? Or "After a server reboot, a manual route no longer appears to be working, how do you fix, and what could you do prevent it happening again?" Server side, you'll be asked, "How would you connect to a server remotely to peform an admin task?" or "why would you use RAID 1?"

[matt_p]

Thanks for that mjn. If it's questions like that I should be fine. Fingers crossed! Even if it all goes horribly wrong tomorrow though, it will still be good interview practice.

Cheers again

[mjn]

Obvisously, don't forget to arrive 15 before interview start, be smart, nice and confident.

Know who you're meeting with, do a little research on the company, and don't be afraid to ask them questions in the interview.

[Steve.J.Davies]

if they ask about the techno stuff just handle it as mjn posted. Do not be afraid of saying you don't know. B/s ing in an interview not a good idea. as long as you now enough and look like you will fit into the team then don't sweat it.
Big corporates run IT a bit differently than smaller companies - more process based, regular meetings, politics etc. having said that could name you a few big corporates who run their IT as a buggers muddle.

can you handle the pressure of having to support a downed system that costs millions per hour for downtime ? of course a lot of big corporates have high pressure cultures when the reality is somewhat different.

can you solve problems quickly (even when you don't know the answer 'off pat' ? Do you get to and resolve Root Causes. (some big corporates are rubbish at root cause analysis so may not be an issue..
they may want to know about your experience with formal problem management tools (trouble tickets) - then again they may not give a stuff.

If you get chance (early on is good but might not get a chance till towards the end of the interview) always good to ask why they are recruiting and what are their Delivery issues that cause the most pain.

Depending on who is interviewing you you can ask 'what are the top five causes of outages ' - but if it is a crap manager doing the interview who is responsible for fixing these outages that can get sensitive.

Be yourself and show willing. The fact that you ran all the ITy type stuff that you did shows that have safe hands (unless it was poor IT that drove them out of business - joke). Fitting in and enough knowledge plus the right attitude do a long way. you will beat a guy with loads of knowledge who does not look like he will fit in or has an 'off' attitude.

Trick is you can never know exactly what they are looking for - being yourself gives you the best chance for them to make that assessment they need to.

be aware there are plenty of crap interviewers out there - sometimes you have to help them out a bit.
And if you don't get it it does not mean you have failed.
During the interview you may decide you don't want to go near the place anyway.

relax and have an open mind - no need at all for open bowels.

[matt_p]

Yep, I'm on that one already. Just had a haircut and suit is currently at dry cleaners. I'm going to have a shave too, and my brothers wedding day didn't even receive that honour!

I am generally confident, so hopefully I can work my charms and get a bit of a break. It's been a pretty bad-luck filled summer for me, so I think I'm about due something good!

The scope and size of the firm is a bit frightening though - but if I can just get through the interview, this job should give a massive boost to my career in general. Praying to God they don't ask me any advanced subnetting. That's what subnet calculators are for! It's the only thing I've ever really strugged with in my career so far.

[FaxFan2002]

I've always asked (when doing the interview) what qualities can you bring to the job?

A couple of good answers - common sense & not afraid to ask or discuss a problem with other members of the team

[Mr_Wistles]

I always try to ask them as many questions as they have asked me and make it very obvious that I have loads of other opportunities on the cards even if I don't.

[matt_p]

Steve -

Thanks for your advice. I'm generally pretty good with pressure - being the only IT staff at my last place, all eyes were on me whenever anything went wrong, so I'm quite adept at investigating and resolving problems quickly.

Just done the ITIL v3 course, so I'm relatively up to speed on the infrastructure and process layout that will be used.

FaxFan - thanks for the tips! I'll make sure they're burned into my brain for tomorrow.

Cheers guys

[matt_p]

Originally Posted by Steve.J.Davies

The fact that you ran all the ITy type stuff that you did shows that have safe hands (unless it was poor IT that drove them out of business - joke).

No, nothing wrong with the IT! It was diabolical overhead management and... errr.. misappropriation of some funds by the management that did for that one.

[Steve.J.Davies]

ITIL ahh ITIL. Remember it is just a recipe book. Give the same recipe to Gordon Ramsey and to me and I know whose cooking you will prefer. many places talk ITIL up big time (regulatory reasons amongst others) but deliver appalling IT.

You know your V3 stuff so don't sweat it. You could always ask them if they have fully implemented etc etc. But as always be prepared for them to get on the defensive and ease them through it.

[mjn]

Originally Posted by Steve.J.Davies

During the interview you may decide you don't want to go near the place anyway.

This happened to me a few months ago, did a good interview, but the place was devoid of any atmosphere. The building, the reception, was all very stale, even the people interviewing came across very bland and monotone and gave the impression it was misreable to work there.

[mjn]

You'll be asked about "change requests" though, i can gurantee that, and ticket queue systems.

[Steve.J.Davies]

Originally Posted by mjn

You'll be asked about "change requests" though, i can gurantee that, and ticket queue systems.

Good point - a favourite question whether the company is good at change management or not.
Unauthorised changes frowned upon big time in most places (officially at least..).
Change - should be "controlled, responsive and predictable".
part of the Controlled thing is that you can back it out....

[Marky1973]

I know nothing about IT (well a bit, but I don't work in it), but other comments about 'being yourself' and relaxing - are really important to remember - I got my current job over someone with more experience and qualifications because they thought I would have been more diplomatic working with the client group related to the post (GPs) - although perhaps the other person had just been themselves and that screwed it up for them?

Oh beggar, that is no use, sorry.......

anyway, forget my words of wisdom and best of luck!