On facebook, the majority of my friends are non-technical folks so in a recent status update I asked them what they most want to know about IT and I said I’ll try my best to answer them.

An old friend was second to the plate as I chose to ignore my son’s initial attempt at inciting my disdain. She asked:

If I want to get a full-time IT person for the company…what technical questions should I ask to make sure he knows his stuff

Well my first answer is don’t restrict yourself to just a him! I’ve worked with some excellent female techs down the years and wish there were many more in the industry, but enough of the aside … my first assumption is that my friend wants an all round IT Support Guru. Someone that can build computers; install them; install and support software and resolve most issues that may arise. I say most because everyone has a ceiling where they need to seek help. These days google is your friend but when I started it was your personal network that best helped.

I’ve been involved in interviewing for tech jobs a few times down the years and generally I’ve found questions would fall into three areas…

• General interview questions
• Behavioural questions and
• Technical / Problem solving questions

All three areas can be used to narrow down the who, what and why of a potential employee though I’ll not include any typical interview questions – such as salary, character, etc …

General Interview Questions

• If they are already in a similar role then ask them about it. What do you like about it? What do you dislike? Why are they wanting to leave? – all of these can reveal a lot about their strengths and weaknesses
• Ask what operating system they prefer and why?  Tell them you’re not a technical whizz if necessary and ask them to simplify it for you .This will test their grasp of an OS, what it does, relative merits of one over the other and so on. It might also reveal their fanaticism about an OS you don’t want to use.
• Ask them how they stay current or plan to stay current in their career? Are they looking to you to pay for training, books, etc or can you gain an insight to their intentions to stay or not. Is this just a stepping stone job and are you happy for that to be the case?
• Ask about their most rewarding moment in their IT career. Can they pinpoint one thing and why?
• Ask them what role / function they as …. (fill in position on offer) should play in your business? This could also be considered a technical question depending on the answer given or sought! However I see it as a insight to their career plans, ambitions, etc and whether or not you’ll be looking for their replacement in a couple of years time.

Behavioural Interview Questions

I love to ask these questions. Start what a simple ‘what if‘ scenario and escalate it. Try and push any perceived buttons whilst keeping it on a technical level. Try to see if they are an “independent” tech or someone that knows when they need to turn to others for help.

• Ask about a risk they’ve taken in their career and the consequences of that risk?
• Ask about their biggest mistake and its consequences. Take that situation and add what ifs into it. So add a what if you were accused of XYZ by the end user? This tests their ability to remain cool, to think on their feet, to consider the outcome of their actions, etc …
• On a similar vein ask about the most difficult IT problem they’ve faced and how they handled it? Ask if in hindsight they’d approach it differently? Here you’re looking to see if they can identify they aren’t a super man or woman. Personally if someone sits in front of me and can’t admit to having a fault or weakness then they’ve lost my trust! After all we’re all human and we all fail.
• In a like vein to staying current, ask them how they keep abreast of trends and changes in their profession? Again you’re looking for them to provide an answer that would indicate they already do. Do they show a passion for what they do or is it just a job?
• Again, only if already in a similar type job ask about their relationship with end users?
• Ask about motivation – especially if they have to work alone or are going to be a one person department. Try and get them to reveal how they motivate or keep motivated in trying circumstances.

Technical / Problem Solving Questions

These greatly depend on the role you want them to undertake. If the role is purely software support then formulate your questions around the software they’re going to use.

• Ask them what precautions they’d take before replacing a hardware? The item isn’t relevant but the ability to think through the issue logically and provide a resolution is.
• Is your job going to involve being on the end of a phone giving instructions? Then get them to describe, purely vocally, how to do a simple task. For example describe how to tie shoelaces or how to make a sandwich, etc. Are they able to think on their feet, talk through the process and do it without using visual clues? This will test their communication skills.
• Your network is experiencing periods of slow response, and you are asked to find a solution. What troubleshooting techniques would you use? Hardware or software solutions are okay, and budget is not an issue.
• In many problem situations, it is tempting to jump to a conclusion in order to quickly build a solution. Describe a time when you resisted this temptation and thoroughly researched the problem before reaching a decision.
• Write a paragraph explaining how DHCP (LANs, WANs, WEPs, whatever) works. (This question sounds like a technical question, but will also show how you communicate technical information.)
• Ask if they have any special / specific skills or knowledge that can be used in your company and why would this be valuable to you?

Ultimately I’d have to say that if you don’t understand what your asking, then how can you know what you want or whom is right? So my one simple bit of advice is to find a technical colleague, friend, business acquaintance and persuade them to sit in on the interview with you. In other words, get an expert opinion or certainly a more expert one than a non-tech asking the questions.

Is there anything specific you’d ask?