Helpdesk is a critical department of any company especially one that is using computers and information technology extensively. People working at the helpdesk need to be well-versed with the product or service that the company is selling and be able to provide technical assistance to callers.
Since the job of helpdesk personnel is to provide real-time troubleshooting services to the computers and networks, it is essential for them to listen to the problem carefully and compute what needs to be done immediately.
People who are hired for a helpdesk are trained properly as they are a company’s representatives and need to be fault-free as much as possible. When being hired for a helpdesk position, a candidate must be prepared to answer challenging to answer interview questions. Let us see what some of these might be:
10 Common Help Desk Interview Questions and Answers
1. What does excellence in customer service mean to you?
Customers are a company’s assets, and they need to be looked after in a manner not less than perfect. The best type of customer service comes about when you have been able to help the customer, and he puts the phone down happily!
2. Since this is extremely technical work and some customers may have trouble understanding what you are trying to tell them, how do you make sure that you can communicate what you want to say to the customer?
It is true that many customers have trouble understanding what we at the helpdesk are trying to tell them, primarily through technical walkthroughs. Since we are not supposed to spend too much time on a call, if a situation like this arises, I usually take the customer’s email address and tell him I will write the walkthrough for him and email it so he can follow the steps. This way he can read and re-read the instructions and understand and follow them at his own pace.
3. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when a caller says that he cannot log-in to his account?
The caps lock! Many customers make this mistake even though most modern operating environments prompt them when a caps lock is on. However, there are times when the customer has forgotten his password, and we have to reset it and other technical problems associated with logging in.
4. How well-versed are you with troubleshooting hardware problems? How does this knowledge help you in your work at the help desk?
Since I am an A+ certified professional and also possess MCSE, I am quite familiar with hardware issues. From common hardware issues like a keyboard malfunctioning to more complex TCP/IP settings, I have skills in managing it all. Since I have a working knowledge of networks and stand-alone personal computers, it is not too difficult to walk customers through troubleshooting procedures.
5. How do you keep your IT knowledge and skills up to date?
I remain up-to-date regarding current trends and developments in the IT industry through the internet, journals, books, and acquaintances.
6. In which areas do you consider yourself to be a specialist?
I am extremely expert in Hardware and Network troubleshooting. Besides, I am also skilled in installing operations systems, patches, antivirus, and other applications as required.
7. What is ITIL?
ITIL stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library. It is basically a predefined set of practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of the business.
8. If a user calls with a technical issue with which you are completely unfamiliar. How would you handle the circumstances?
I will call my supervisor or coworker right away to discuss the problem to find out a solution.
9. If a user is unable to boot windows, how will you troubleshoot it?
I will use an emergency repair disk and try to fix the problem. If the problem still arises, I will re-install windows.
10. If someone finds that their Internet connectivity is down, how would you fix the problem?
First of all, I would check the hardware. If a modem or LAN port is OK then I will check the TCP/IP configuration and network settings.