First IT Interview (Technician at college)

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I've been a lurker on this forum for sometime and read alot of good threads and advice on career paths, CVs, exam tips and such. So firstly thanks to all for that .

Anyway

I've been into computers for along time now but have only recently started to take it seriously. I've got my A+ exam booked for next month but have been looking for employment in the mean time nonetheless. To my surprise I was recently shortlisted for an interview as a IT Technician Trainee at a college not far from me.

Now, having only had work experience in retail I'm not too sure what sort of questions to expect in the interview and was hoping some of you would be able to give me a few examples and maybe some general pointers.

Thanks in advance.

 

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First, welcome.

Second, if its a trainee position and they are aware of your lack of experience the likelihood is that the technical portion of the interview won't be too hardcore, the important thing is to be honest. If they ask you a technical question that you can't answer, say you don't know BUT try and give some idea what you'd do to find out.

Other than that expect the same sort of questions you'll have had in other interviews, strengths, weaknesses all that jazz.

 

Hi,

I work as an IT Technician in a college and if you going to be a trainee than the most important is your attitude and your willingness. Certanly tell them that you are willing to learn and willing to do more exams and things like this.
I would also try to find out as much as I can about the school. Look at their website.
Also try to familiarize your self with basic troubleshooting technics and the most common problems with computers.
Google is a great tool...
There is a software that is used in 95% of the schools in the UK called SIMS.net from CAPITA which stores student's data on a SQL Server. You can google it and read a little about it. Just to be aware of the existence of it.

Have a good luck. smile and be honest.

kicsiburcsi

 

Your other advice was good I thought, but he's not going to get asked about SIMS. There is no way we would let any trainee near the system manager module of SIMS or the SIMS server itself (we don't let our IT Apprentice near it either). I don't think it's relavent personally.

 

Hi,

I understand your point and agree with it this is why I wrote "Just to be aware of the existence of it".
Still I think it could be a very good thing to know what software they are using in schools. I did not mean it to learn the software and know hot to use it 100%. I rather meant it a sort of, doing your homework before the interview as I did the same when I was hired by the College. The more you know the better.
When I joined the school I was introduced to SIMS immediately However I was not hired as a Traniee.

Regards

Tamas

 

He will be expected to be able to change (reset) passwords for SIMS Accounts and Create SIMS accounts when he is on his own. I know I was, so it will likely be something he will learn once he starts, but having knowledge of it will only help.

 

Not in our IT dept he wouldn't, not for a long time. We'd have to trust somone completely before we'd let them on an MIS system as important as that.

Fair point about knowing about what systems are likely to be in use though Tamas.

 

Suppose it depends on the size of the team. I was in a High School with 1300 Pupils and 200 Staff or so, and only 2 IT Staff. So it was pretty important that I could do exactly the same duties as the other guy.

 

I can totally appreciate that as that sounds identical to myself & Ken's (WagnerK) situation not so long ago. We have had an IT Apprentice for a year now, and we still wouldn't have him touching SIMS. A trainee with no IT experience would be just the same really. We'll be hiring an experienced tech soon so we'll no doubt train him on it.

 

Cheers for the input so far. It's a further education college by the way, from aged 16 to adult learners if that makes any difference.

 

So why not train the apprentice in SIMS then? it seems like you are blacklisting his ability to use SIMS by his previous unrelated experience. Surely it isn't right that your mindset is "I wouldn't let him near sims because he has never used it before" that goes against everything IT is about, learning new things.

Ease him into changing passwords and doing school related IT stuff rather than just changing toners and replacing mice.

 

He's an apprentice who's still learning a lot about IT and he's getting plenty of experience in the role. You are assuming wrongly if you think all he's doing is changing toners and replacing mice ie crappy jobs. Also don't assume that just because somone isn't given access to something it means we are somehow unwilling to train them ...

Access to SIMS, the servers it runs on and the many other servers we run is not something that would fall under the responsibility of an apprentice / trainee. That's obviously not the case at your place, but ours is structured differently.

 

Mm... Although it is important for an IT tech to learn new things, IT is NOT about learning new things... IT is about providing information technology support to the end user, whether that means fixing their desktops, providing access to e-mail, ensuring server performance, or enforcing security.

I have no idea what SIMS is... but if it's a mission-critical app, or if the information stored is of a sensitive nature, I can understand not letting an inexperienced n00b touch it, particularly if there are several techs who already administer it. On the other hand, if there are only a couple IT guys who provide support, it makes sense to slowly allow the junior tech to learn from the senior tech so that there will be someone to provide backup support in case the senior tech falls ill or leaves. Every employer is different.

 

Right on both counts.

 

Just a quick update

The interview went well enough though I got a very simple question wrong due to nerves but hey, what can you do.

They were suppose to have let me know by the end of the day but emailed me saying they are yet to make up their mind and would let me/us know early next week - being this week. I then got a phone call yesterday from HR saying the manager of HR wants a meeting with me next week regarding the information I disclosed on my application form (I have a criminal record unfortunately).They're already aware of my record as I sent a seperate letter disclosing the matter with the application form but I assume they now want to discuss it in more detail.

Not too sure what to think but fingers crossed, aye.

 

Got the job!

 

Was that Loreto college by any chance?

 

Congrats!

 

Well done Simit, hope you enjoy it!