Job interview - reducing anxiety

 

Many of us find job interviews to be anxiety inducing events. For some, this is a real problem as it creates nervousness, the interviewee can stammer through the answers, and get so worked up that they quite simply fail the interview (even before they have started). If you have a job interview coming up, there are many tools to use that will help put your mind at ease, and keep you focused.

Prepare and take notes in with you

Those who take a file and interview notes with them into interview will benefit from an increased feeling of confidence. Remember, taking notes into an interview isn't frowned upon - it's a smart way of preparing for a meeting. Having notes will give you an instant boast of confidence, a support mechanism, and will also ensure that you are much better equipped for each stage of the interview.

Prepare for the interview

Complete research into the company, its market, competitors and what the job you are applying for entails. Try to obtain a full job description from the recruiting manager prior to the interview. Prepare your file one or two days before the interview (giving yourself plenty of time). Ensure you include a copy of your resume, job description, supporting documentation and notes. Know that you will need to sell you skills, and ensure you have these skills noted mentally or physically on paper. Remember, the more preparation you do, the more confident and calm you will be on the day.

Try to relax, it's only an interview

An interview is merely a way for two people to determine if they will be a good match for each other, and the job interview is just a sharing of information. It's also as much about you interviewing them, as it is about them interviewing you. Try not to lose site of this point.

It's so important that you don't worry about your personality, and how you are coming across. Stick to you interview plan and interview notes.

Tips Tricks to reduce physical and emotional stress

• Practice simple breathing techniques;
• If possible, undertake 30 minutes worth of excercise in the morning (but no less than 2 hours before the interview);
• Listen to relaxing music and calm yourself;
• Do not smoke or drink caffeine for at least 2 hours before;
• Make constructive conversation with friends;
• If you feel yourself getting tense in the interview, be conscious of this and try to relax your shoulders.

And finally...

Try to learn from each interview. Ask for feedback and try to adjust your style to suit a wider audience. If you still feel interview nerves is a weakness, then try to seek professional help from a trained advisor. It will be money well spent.

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Job Interview Tips - What Not to Say in a Job Interview

 

Interviewing for any job can create stress, and for some, can result in a lack of good judgment when it comes to what to talk about. Many interviewees with good intentions, can end up saying things that are inappropriate or inaccurate, which ultimately costs them the job.  

• Do not speak negatively about your past employer or organisation. If asked why you are leaving or why you left, simply say that you are looking for a new opportunity. Talking badly about your former boss, company or co-workers will come across as negative.


• If you are uncomfortable about providing private and /or sensitive information about your current employer (such as financials), avoid a negative response by saying “I’m not sure my company would like me to disclose that information". Ideally, if talking about financials, you can use a range instead of exact amounts. For example, company turnover being $35Mil, then you can provide a range of "$30Mil to $40Mil". This is a more helpful strategy.
  
• Avoid discussing salary until the interviewer brings it up. Typically, this will come up after you have been offered the position, or at the end of the interview. Immediately asking “How much will I get paid?” or asking "When is the next pay rise" could have the interviewer believing that money is a number one factor.


• Do not say anything that is not true about your past work history. The interviewer will most likely cross reference your past jobs,so you will eventually get caught out and lose the job. Always be honest about your experiences, history and abilities. If the interviewer asks why you were fired from a job, be forthcoming but explain how you have learned from the mistake. Never lie and say that you left of your own accord, if indeed you were released.


• Do not interrupt the interviewer. Always let them lead the conversation and set the pace of  the interview. If you interrupt or try to lead, you will come across as pushy and someone who doesn't demonstrate good listening skills. Stop yourself from over talking!


•  In an interview, you want to remain professional, yet friendly. But don't get too friendly and share too many details. Keep your answers simple, concise and to the point so that you avoid babbling on unnecessarily and giving away personal information. Always remember, this is an interview!

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Job interview - Questions to Ask

It's important to ask questions in an interview. These should be questions to clarify job specifics through to key points of interest which will enable you to determine whether this is the right job, employer and culture fit for you.

• What are the most important skills and characteristics your
• What made you decide to join the company? (providing they don't own the business!)
• What has been the pattern of growth for the company over the past 5 years
• What is the future growth plan of the company?
• Why is this job open?
• How many people held this position over the recent years?
• How does this position fit into the overall organisation?
• Who will I be reporting to
• Where is the job located by way of company structure?
• What type of training is required for this position? How long is the training period?
• What other training opportunities are provided?
• Where are the greatest opportunities for growth within the company?
• Who are the company's major competitors?
• Who are your major customers? Are they mostly local, regional or global
• What will my priorities be? What will be my first assignment?
• What issues/challenges am I likely to face when I first take on the role?

Remember: write some questions down before interview and during the interview. Don't try to leave everything to memory. It's also down to you to have the confidence to ask the questions, and to ask question that you feel will be relevant in helping you make your decision. It's a two way process where both you and the interviewer need to know more.

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Desktop Support Interview Questions

Here is some sample Questions that will give you some idea of Desktop support job role and expertise that you required:

Q:Tell me something about yourself.    
Tell about your education, place you belong to, some struggle in life which shows that you have positive attitude and will to fight the odds.

1) What is Active Directory?       
A central component of the Windows platform, Active Directory directory service provides the means to manage the identities and relationships that make up network environments. For example we can create, manage and administrator users, computers and printers in the network from active directory.    

2) What is DNS? Why it is used? What is "forward lookup" and "reverse lookup" in DNS? What are A records and mx records? 
DNS is domain naming service and is used for resolving names to IP address and IP addresses to names. The computer understands only numbers while we can easily remember names. So to make it easier for us what we do is we assign names to computers and websites. When we use these names (Like yahoo.com) the computer uses DNS to convert to IP address (number) and it executes our request.

Forward lookup: Converting names to IP address is called forward lookup.

Reverse lookup: Resolving IP address to names is called reverse lookup.

'A' record: Its called host record and it has the mapping of a name to IP address. This is the record in DNS with the help of which DNS can find out the IP address of a name.

'MX' Record: its called mail exchanger record. Its the record needed to locate the mail servers in the network. This record is also found in DNS.


3) What id DHCP? Why it is used? What are scopes and super scopes?
DHCP: Dynamic host configuration protocol. Its used to allocate IP addresses to large number of PCs in a network environment. This makes the IP management very easy.

Scope: Scope contains IP address like subnet mask, gateway IP, DNS server IP and exclusion range which a client can use to communicate with the other PCs in the network.

Superscope: When we combine two or more scopes together its called super scope.

4) What are the types of LAN cables used? What is a cross cable?
Types of LAN cables that are in use are "Cat 5" and "Cat 6". "Cat 5" can support 100 Mbps of speed and "CAT 6" can support 1Gbps of speed.Cross cable: Its used to connect same type of devices without using a switch/hub so that they can communicate.

5) What is the difference between a normal LAN cable and cross cable? What could be the maximum length of the LAN cable?      
The way the paired wires are connected to the connector (RJ45) is different in cross cable and normal LAN cable. The theoritical length is 100 meters but after 80 meters you may see drop in speed.

6) What would you use to connect two computers without using switches?
Cross cable.   

7) What is IPCONFIG command? Why it is used?       
IPCONFIG command is used to display the IP information assigned to a computer. From the output we can find out the IP address, DNS IP address, gateway IP address assigned to that computer.     

8) What is APIPA IP address? Or what IP address is assigned to the computer when the DHCP server is not available?     
When DHCP server is not available the Windows client computer assigns an automatic IP address to itself so that it can communicate with the network computers. This ip address is called APIPA. ITs in the range of 169.254.X.X. APIPA stands for Automatic private IP addressing.         

 9) What is a DOMAIN? What is the difference between a domain and a workgroup?
Domain is created when we install Active Directory. ITs a security boundary which is used to manage computers inside the boundary.    

Domain can be used to centrally administer computers and we can govern them using commo policies called group policies. We can't do the same with workgroup.

10) Do you know how to configure outlook 2000 and outlook 2003 for a user?
Please visit the link below to find out how to configure outlook 2000 and outlook 2003.http://www.it.cmich.edu/quickguides/qg_outlook2003_server.asp


11) What is a PST file and what is the difference between a PST file and OST file? What file is used by outlook express?          
PST file is used to store the mails locally when using outlook 2000 or 2003. OST file is used when we use outlook in cached exchanged mode. Outlook express useds odb file.   

12) What is BSOD? What do you do when you get blue screen in a computer? How do you troubleshoot it?     
BSOD stands for blue screen of Death. when there is a hardware or OS fault due to which the windows OS can run it give a blue screen with a code. Best way to resolve it is to boot the computer is "Last known good configuration". If this doesn't work than boot the computer in safe mode. If it boots up than the problems with one of the devices or drivers.


13) What is RIS?
RIS stands for remote installation services. You save the installed image on a windows server and then we use RIS to install the configured on in the new hardware. We can use it to deploy both server and client OS.

What is Imaging/ghosting?   Imaging or ghosting also does the same job of capturing an installed image and then install it on a new hardware when there is a need. We go for RIS or imaging/ghosting because installing OS every time using a CD can be a very time consuming task. So to save that time we can go for RIS/Ghosting/imaging.  


14) What is VPN and how to configure it?      
A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is just a network of computers that are all connected securely even though they’re in different locations and all using different connection methods. The biggest benefit to a VPN is that all of the computers on one are securely connected to one another and their traffic encrypted and kept away from prying eyes. Another great benefit to a VPN is that all of the computers on one are effectively on the same network, meaning they can communicate as if they were right next to one another, plugged in to the same router. VPN can be configured using the steps mentioned in the KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305550
Setting up VPN in windows 7 : http://www.wikihow.com/Configure-a-VPN


15) Your computer slowly drops out of network. A reboot of the computer fixes the problem. What to do to resolve this issue?          
Update the network card driver.    

16) Your system is infected with Virus? How to recover the data?
Install another system. Install the OS with the latets patches, Antivirus with latest updates. Connect the infected HDD as secondary drive in the system. Once done scan and clean the secondary HDD. Once done copy the files to the new system.

17) How to join a system to the domain? What type of user can add a system to the domain?       

Adding a Computer to an Active Directory Domain is not hard by any means, but there are 3 things you should always remember:

• Rename the machine to a user friendly, recognizable name before adding it to the Domain.
• Make sure your DNS settings are pointing to the correct DNS Server for the domain.
• You have to have access to a Domain account that is part of the Domain Admins security group.

http://www.howtogeek.com/99381/it-how-to-join-machines-to-your-active-directory-domain/ 

18) What is the difference between a switch and a hub?  
Switch sends the traffic to the port to which its meant for. Hub sends the traffic to all the ports.    

19) What is a router? Why we use it?  
Router is a switch which uses routing protocols to process and send the traffic. It also receives the traffic and sends it across but it uses the routing protocols to do so.

20) What are manageable and non manageable switches?           
Switches which can be administered are called manageable switches. For example we can create VLAN for on such switch. On no manageable switches we can't do so.

21) What is bootloader?

Answer: Boot loader facilitates loading of operating system on the system. It enables the booting process and gives OS options to the user while starting the system. 

22) Which is better - Windows 7 or Windows XP? Support your answers with examples.

Answer: Windows 7 boasts of better features and is recommended over Windows XP. The looks and graphics of windows 7 are impressive and features better secured system. It is better equipped to defend virus and malware attacks. Speech recognitions, backup and restore functions, application compatibility, quick installation, etc., are some of the features that give advantage to Windows 7 than windows XP. 

23) How to recover files if the system detects virus?

Answer: Firstly, install another operating system with latest patches and upgraded antivirus protection. Now, connect the main infected hard disk to the system. Run the antivirus and scan the secondary HDD. Once the hard disk is cleaned, copy the files to another system. 

24) Differentiate between firewall and proxy server

Answer: Firewall is used to protect the internal IT infrastructure from hackers. Proxy servers allow sharing internet connections and protecting IP addresses. Firewall is a networking based technology and proxy server is an application based technology. 

25) What measures are taken to improve the security of the desktop system?

Answer: First step is to install and upgrade the anti-virus for the system. Secondly, ask all users to not give out or write down passwords, include special characters, and it must be at least 8 characters long. Thirdly, for desktop security, ensure the screen is locked and password secured during the day, and logged off during the night. 

Situational Questions

These questions are based on a situation that requires actions from your side. Since your profile is of a desktop support, you are required to constantly answer queries. There are several situations that require your assistance. We have listed a few as examples.

1. What steps will you follow if you have to install same operating system on over 70 computers at the same time?
2. Describe the process for adding a new user to a network of 15 computers?
3. How would you retrieve passwords if one of the users have forgotten their password and can no longer access their official account?
4. How would you resolve a problem if the complainant says that whenever she tries to use internet explorer, the page does not load and instead gives a prompt, 'virus detected'?
5. Give example of an instance where you have explained a complex technical term or procedure to a layman? Which examples you gave to solve their queries?

While answering these questions, give a step-by-step analysis of the method to resolve the problem. Use simple language that even a layman can understand. Try to give instances from your work experience in support of your answer. Refrain from using a typical answer. Customize it as per the given problem and work nature. 

These were some examples of technical questions. Besides these, they may be asked certain personal questions too. It includes introspective questions like strengths, weaknesses, ambitions, goals, etc. These questions are asked with the objective of finding more about the personality and capability of the candidate.

Interview is your one chance at success. Candidates have to give their best to make most of this one chance. Hence, we suggest candidates to participate in mock interviews and practice interview questions. You can study these answers or make your own as per your experience. Feel free to utilize these desktop support interview questions to your benefit and make a positive first impression on your recruiter. 

For instance, OSI model's a standard one... because everyone who is even remotely involved with networking should at least be aware of what it is. If a desktop tech knows enough to be able to at least say something like "layer 1 is hardware layer" then at least they've shown enough formal knowledge that they're capable of learning more (meaning, recognize the question and give an intelligible response, no matter how primitive). Equivalently, that a shop would ask an entry-level applicant that indicates that the shop finds it important enough to ask questions like that, and so it's likely asking if you the candidate can be formally trained by asking for formal knowledge.

Not that this is all set in stone, of course (plenty of variance!), but as information goes back and forth, you the candidate should be evaluating the potential employer just as much, if not more, than the potential employer is evaluating you.

Sadly, it's just not possible to cover every question an entry level tech support position could possibly be asked. Worse, we don't know if the interviewer is of the school that by asking something really complex, he wants to gauge your response (do you panic, do you umm and ahh, do you reason through it, what do you do), and so doesn't really care whether you answer the question right or not.

So I'll just advise some very general concepts:

1) Don't panic.

2) Don't panic. and 
3) Answer truthfully and honestly. If you don't know something, say "I don't know, but I know how to Google it/research it/find out," assuming that you actually can Google it/research it/find it out. Did I mention not to panic? 

Don't treat it like an exam, there will not be a grade. Just do your best, and show that you're the best candidate for the job by being level-headed, honest, willing to learn, and capable.

3) Answer truthfully and honestly. If you don't know something, say "I don't know, but I know how to Google it/research it/find out," assuming that you actually can google it/research it/find it out.

This is the best advice yet. I'll add a 4.      

4.) Whatever you do, don't try to BS your way out of a situation.         

A favorite scenario I've seen goes something like this: 

Interviewer: "Have you had any experience working with with Startex printers?"
Candidate: "Yeah, a couple years ago."I: "What did you do when you supported them"        
C: "Oh the usual stuff-- maintenance, toners, etc. I don't really remember too much, we didn't have too many of them in the company."       
    
I: "That's funny you have all that experience, because I just made up Startex printers."

An honest no is a MUCH better answer. You can usually relate a "no" back to something you do know on some level.           

Typical troubleshooting questions will often be scenarios. The point is that the interviewer will want to see you talk through a problem, not produce the magical answer. Doing scenarios allows the interviewer to change things up as needed. I like to troubleshoot a "no POST" first off. A candidate who can't get at least partway through the process is hopeless. If they remember to check the basics (plugged in, power supply turned on, power strip/UPS on, etc.) or remember to ask the user what happened prior to the problem, then you see an extra level of attention to detail.

I'll ask rote memorization questions as well, but I'd rather lead a candidate through a discussion where I can see how they think. It's a horrible cliché, but for a candidate that only has a hammer, they start attacking problems like nails. For an entry level tech, they're not expecting stupidly hard-core computer knowledge-- they want the basics of computer operation, understanding of the troubleshooting process, and the ability to think through a problem creatively.        

Whenever I interview people I ask them some questions to determine two things: their level of competence with the technology they'll be using and their methodology for solving problems that they don't immediately know the answer to. Doesn't matter if it's entry level helpdesk or advanced system design, it's all in how the job candidate answers the question and not so much the answer itself.

Q: How does X work?

If you can tell me exactly how it works, great. If you can't, tell me how you THINK it works, how it might be similar to something else that you understand, how it works from a more general perspective, how you would find out how it works, etc. Pull out a piece of paper and start drawing that shit out. Whatever, just show me that if you don't know the full answer that you can explain to me what you do know, how you think it might work, and how you'll figure it out.

I think you're likely to get some questions to judge your general troubleshooting skills as well as some basic knowledge about the environment you'll be supporting. Based on the job description, at least have a simple understanding of the systems and tech you'll be working with. I think in an entry-level job they'll probably have most of the stuff you need to know written down somewhere for you to use as you run into a given problem.

Remember that most IT concepts are just that - concepts. The technical ins-and-outs change from hardware to hardware, software to software, but the concepts nearly always remain the same.

So when hit with something like, "What experience do you have with Startex printers?", you could respond with, "I haven't, but most printer management and maintenance techniques are the same, depending on printer type (desktop, office laser, plotter, etc) across the industry."

For instance, I had no clue how to manage the specific e-mail server software at my new job, but I've had extensive Exchange experience, and of course the concepts of e-mail systems management are essentially the same across the board.

Thank you All

Faysal Hasan

Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCSA, MCTS, MCITP)

Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA), 

Information Technology Infrastructure Library -V3 Certified

Bachelor of Info Tech (Southern Cross University, Australia)

It’s Your Life ... ... C O L O U R IT "

Note: The above suggestions and questions are not my work I just collected them organized, modified and presented here so that people like you who is looking for answer don't have to lost in a sea of Google search result.

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Microsoft's New Look- New logo, New Future

We are excited to share new logo from Microsoft for our readers at Maximus IT blog here is a glimps of Microsoft's Logo.

It’s been 25 years since Microsoft updated their logo and now is the perfect time for them to change. This is an incredibly exciting year for Microsoft as they prepare to release new versions of nearly all of Microsoft products. From Windows 8 to Windows Phone 8 to Xbox services to the next version of Office,

According to Microsoft, you will see a common look and feel across these products providing a familiar and seamless experience on PCs, phones, tablets and TVs. This wave of new releases is not only a re imagining of Microsoft's most popular products, but also represents a new era for Microsoft, so Microsoft's logo should evolve to visually accentuate this new beginning.

The Microsoft brand is about much more than logos or product names. More than a billion people every day using Microsoft Products. The ways people experience Microsoft products are their most important “brand impressions”. That’s why the new Microsoft logo takes its inspiration from their product design principles while drawing upon the heritage of Microsoft brand values, fonts and colors.

Starting today, you’ll see the new Microsoft logo being used prominently. It will be used on Microsoft.com – the 10th most visited website in the world. It will sign off all of Microsoft's television ads globally. And it will support Microsoft's products across various forms of marketing. Fully implementing a change like this takes time, so there may be other instances where you will see the old logo being used for some time.

Jeff Hansen General Manager, Brand Strategy, Microsoft said on tech net blog "We’re excited about the new logo, but more importantly about this new era in which we’re re imagining how our products can help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential"

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Problem solving tips for helpdesk personnel

Working on a helpdesk is all about problem solving. Users have problems and look to us for a solution. 

We all know that there are some people who are very good at solving problems and there are those who sometimes struggle. The good ones aren't necessarily more technical, they just have an almost uncanny ability to solve problems which have everyone else stumped.

If you are one of those that sometimes struggle, don't worry, it is possible to improve by following some very simple guidelines which we will show you on this site.

On this site we will take you through some of the key steps. The examples are all based on a IT helpdesk but the principles are universal. 

We present this guide in the form of several numbered steps. This doesn't mean to say that problem solving is a linear process, very often you will need to loop back to an earlier stage.

The Symptoms: It is vital you identify the symptoms. Quite often a user will call with "My computer is not working", but we all know how useless that is ! Here are some questions that are applicable to practically all problems:

1. What is the exact error message?

This maybe obvious, but sometimes it is easy to jump to conclusions based on partial information. If possible, get the user to send you a screen dump (hold down the ALT button, then press the PrtScr buttons, go to e.g. Word, create a new document and select Paste from the Edit menu)

2. What were you doing at the time?

By determining this you can identify which program or which part of the program is causing the problem.

3. Has the error always occurred or just started?

If the program has never worked, then it is possibly a fault with program. If it used to work OK, then you will need to find out at what point in time it stopped working.

4. If it has just started, have you recently installed any other software or made any other changes?

People are very reluctant to admit they have made changes - perhaps they are worried they will get into trouble? So, you will generally find that the answer to this question is "No", but never believe it. The program was working, now it isn't - something must have changed. Bear in mind that the user might not be aware of changes (e.g. many programs and even the operating system may do automatic updates) or they might not realise the significance of some apparently unrelated change.

5. Does it affect all machines or just yours?

If there are other machines that can use the program without problem, then the fault obviously lies with the configuration of this individual's machine.

If every machine has the same problem, it might be that they all have the same configuration problem or it might be a problem with the application's data.

6. In the case of networked programs. if you use the program from a different machine, do you get the same error?

If the error does not appear when you use the same application program from a different machine, then it is likely to be a fault in the configuration of the user's machine.

Examine the Evidence

What evidence is relevant? Do you have enough evidence? These are two key questions when problem solving but you aren't going to know the answers to them until you start postulate possible causes and want to test them further.

Experience may sometimes tell you that certain facts are irrelevant. This is good, and will help you concentrate on what you think is relevant, BUT, don't forget about them and keep an open mind.

Your biggest tool for gathering evidence is of course your question and answer sessions with the user, but there are other tools which you can use:

Filemon is a great utility which logs all file activity. Set it running, the go to the problem program and generate the error. Stop Filemmon and look at the log. It generates a great deal of information but it is very easy to see problems.

Event logs: Most operating systems have both application and event logs. Check these to see if anything is relevant.

Confirm everything:  Quite often you have to tease the information out of a user over several question and answer situations. Once you feel that you understand the problem, make sure you confirm it with the user :

"So, as I understand it, if you clck the Update button while creating a new record, the screen crashes with an error "Record must be unique". This was working fine on Friday, no-one else has this problem, and you haven't made any changes to your machine over the weekend. Is that correct?"

If they don't confirm then you must repeat step 1 until you are both happy that you are talking about the same problem.

Research: You know what the symptoms are, you know in what circumstances they appear, now you have to start finding a solution.

Of course, it might be that someone has already done the hard work for you - others may have had, and solved, this problem. There are several sources of information you might try:

Knowledge base : Somewhere, you should have a record of all past problems (and their solutions), otherwise you are going to keep wasting an awful lot of time. This should be in a form that is easily searched. You could use e.g. a spreadsheet, a simple document, a database, or a program designed specifically for the task. As long as it is easy to use.

The Internet : The Internet is a fantastic resource. The only problem is the sheer volume of information. A good search engine is key to getting the best of it. One of the most useful tools is the Google Usenet search tool. This allows you to search an archive of all usenet postings. You can almost guarantee that someone, somewhere has had the same problem as your user and if you are lucky, there might be an answer already.

Colleagues: You might try asking your workmates, they may have seen this problem before. Of course, this will disrupt their work so it is not the most efficient use of resources and they will soon get tired of you if you make it a habit. This should only be used as a last resort.

Postulate and test:  By now, you know what the symptoms are and you have done some research on similar problems. You should by now have some theories as to the cause of the problem.

Now you need to test your theories. This usually involves further questioning of the user:

"Your monitor is blank; can you check if there is a green light on the front, bottom right of the monitor?"

If there is, then you know there is power to the monitor, but is there a signal?

"Do you have another monitor nearby that you can plug in instead?"

If the new monitor works, then it is a problem with the old one. If the problem persists, chase it back up the wire...

"Can you put the original monitor onto a different machine? Does it work Ok there?"

If it does, the the fault is with the original PC.

"Is there a green light on the front right of the PC?"

If there is, the problem is probably with the PC itself.

Don't assume or jump to conclusions. Take a step by step approach, eliminating possibilities as you go. Sometimes when there are many possible answers you are able to narrow the field considerably by taking an initial broad brush approach. In the above example the first question we asked was "...can you check if there is a green light ...". If the answer was no, then either the monitor wasn't plugged in or there was a power failure. Perhaps a better first question would be "Plug a desk lamp into the same socket - does it work?"

Keep an open mind. You might find yourself going right down one avenue of investigation only to come to a full stop. Don't forget your other theories, go back and test these as well.

Identify the Problem

You know what the symptoms are, you have confirmed everything with the user, had one or more ideas as to the problem and now you have narrowed it down to just one. You must double-check that this you have identified it correctly. There is no point in telling your user to buy a new monitor if all they have to do is wait for the power failure to be restored!

In the ideal world you will be able to devise one test that identifies the problem without doubt.

Of course, in the real world, all you can do is take your best guess, try your solution and hope. The mark of a good support person is how accurate that "guess" is. If you have followed the steps so far, gathered enough evidence, confirmed everything with the user and eliminated other possibilities logically, then your "guess" should be pretty accurate.

Provide a Solution:  This is what the user expects you to do, right? After all, you know what the problem is so fix it.

Most of the time you might have an easy solution. Other times there might not be an immediate fix available - you might need to order a spare part or it might require a new software release. There are even those situations where you don't know what the problem is. In any case, you need to communicate and manage expectations.

·         If you have a solution, communicate the fix to the user clearly and ensure they understand.

·         If you don't have an immediate solution, again make sure the user understands this and the likely timeframes. Make sure you schedule an action for yourself to monitor this.

·         If you don't have any solution to the problem, do you have a work-around 

Confirm the Solution: You have told the user how to fix their problem, or you have arranged someone to do it for them. After the fix has gone in, you must confirm with the user that their problem has been solved. You can't assume that the engineer visited, or that the new part worked.

Keep in touch with the user until you know the problem has been resolved.

Communicate and Record : The worst thing for a user is if they believe their problem is not being given attention. They don't care that you have dozens of other users to deal with. That isn't (and shouldn't be) their concern. 

You must manage expectations, if you say "I'll get back to you", their idea of when you should do so might be very different to yours. Instead, say "I'll get back to you before 12:00 tomorrow" and make sure you do, even if it is to tell them that there has been no progress.

Record everything. No one has a perfect memory and no one only ever deals with one thing at a time. You must make a note of conversations, actions, agreements etc.

·         You can easily hand tasks over to other personnel

·         You rarely work on one problem to the exclusion of others until it is completed. So you will be switching back and forth and will need some sort of reminder as to what has happened beforehand.

·         You will build up a knowledge base of problems and solutions for use in the future.

·         If there are recriminations, you have a record of what was done!

In what form you record this is up to you. You could use a document, a simple database, write your own program or use software specifically designed for use by helpdesks.

Sample Ticket Template #01

Which application is the user having issues with?

 - Please include the URL if it is a Web application.

 OR - Please include the folder path if it's a file.

---------------

What is the Incident?  What is the User Experiencing?

/-Type description

What is the Error Message?

Capture message number or description

When did this problem happen?

---------------

What is the Impact to the Business/User?

---------------How many users affected by this one or more / is it happening across the organisation?

How urgent is the resolution of this incident?

 (Delete as necessary)

 COB today/ 1 day/ 2 days/ End of week

---------------

Do you have a work around?  Is there any other work you can do, can you use someone else's PC?  Is there another means by which you can get the required task completed?

---------------

What is the name of the users machine? *

 - Shadow user's machine to get this information

Ask user to open command prompt then type hostname

---------------

What is the IP address of the users machine? *

 - Shadow user's machine to get this information

Or Ask user to open command prompt then type ipconfig [windows]/ifconfig [linux]

 Please attach a screenshot of the error

 - Shadow user's machine to get full screenshot

Or ask user to take screen shot and email it to you.

Sample Communication Template #01

Hello 

As a standard procedure, we require approval from your manager so we can fulfil your request.

Please provide this at your earliest convenience (via email if possible).

Thank you

ICT Service Desk Team

Sample Communication Template #02

ICT Service Desk Call Back No Response: #01

Dear [         ],

We have attempted to contact you on 1 occasion to resolve your service request, however we have been unsuccessful. 

If you still require assistance for this request, please contact the Service Desk on 00 0000 0000.

Regards

ICT Service Desk Team

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