An old friend was preparing for his first interview out  of college. I wrote a few paragraphs from my experiences and turned them  into a bullet point list.

Please keep in mind your mileage may vary & each interview/company is different.

Anyhow, here are my top 3 interview tips, questions I was asked, and  questions I asked from several of my interviews in my young career.  Scroll down for an expanded list of each category.

Tips:

  1. Be confident in yourself and your abilities.
  2. The interview is a two-way street.
  3. Have a good time and learn from each interview.

Interviewer Questions:

  1. What 3 character traits would a co-worker list for you?
  2. Explain $technology in a non-technical and technical way.
  3. What sets you apart from other candidates?

My Questions:

  1. What would be the typical day for this position?
  2. What do you like least about working for $company?
  3. Why did you choose me as a potential candidate?

General Interview Tips:

  1. Rest your hands on your pants, so when you get up to shake the interviewer(s) hand.
  2. Be confident in yourself and your abilities, the company chose you to interview.
  3. Ask meaningful, sincere questions - questions that would not be answered on the company's "About Us" page.
  4. Have a personable, sociable conversation - it is a human interaction, not an interrogation.
  5. Actively listen and ask follow up questions.
  6. Allow extra time to get to the location, show up early - be the one that waits on them.
  7. Do not memorize your answers, it sounds robotic when you answer.
  8. The interview is two-way street: you are interviewing them too.
  9. Have a good time, if you do not get the job, learn from it!

Interviewer Questions

My interview questions are geared for IT help desk and/or sysadmin  roles that I was interviewing for. In general, the questions are ordered  from easiest to answer to hardest to answer.

General/Template Questions

  1. Please walk me through your resume.
  2. Where do you see yourself in 3 to 5 years?
  3. What did you do at previous jobs?
  4. Why are you interested in this position?
  5. What operating systems are you familiar with?
  6. What is your typical day like?
  7. What was your favorite and least class?
  8. What was your best and worst moment of college?
  9. What kind of tonality are your phone calls?
  10. How do you handle someone you cannot hear on the phone?

Personality Questions

  1. What do you like to do in your free time?
  2. What made you interested in IT?
  3. Do you have an IT background?
  4. What is one weakness?
  5. How do you keep up with technology and apply it?

Describe or Give Example Questions

  1. List a pro & con of a previous company.
  2. Provide an example of a goal that you have set and completed.
  3. Provide an example of a disgruntled customer.
  4. Give us an example of how you dealt with conflict among you or your peers on a project.
  5. Give us an example of how you found an issue and solved it.
  6. Describe a technical issue that you found and resolved.
  7. Describe a time when you had to collaborate with many internal and external people.
  8. Explain $technology in a non-technical and technical way (DNS, Firewalls, Remote Desktop Protocol, VPNs).
  9. What is your experience with $technology (Web hosting, IIS, Active  Directory, Exchange, Group Policy, Linux and Windows Servers).

Difficult Questions

  1. How do you deal with different personalities?
  2. Why do you want to leave your current position?
  3. What sets you apart from other candidates?
  4. What motivates you?
  5. What 3 character traits would a co-worker list for you?

My Questions

Here are some of my questions that I asked the employer and  interviewers. Question #3 in the last category caught all interviewers  off guard.

Informational Questions

  1. Tell me about the company/department.
  2. What is the size of the IT team?
  3. Tell me about visiting other offices? Is there a company vehicle available?
  4. Is there travel and overtime expected?
  5. What would be the typical day for this position?
  6. Describe the software, server, and endpoint infrastructure of $company.
  7. What is the size of the IT team?

Culture Questions

  1. Is this a team based environment?
  2. Are other teams and mentors easily accessible to collaborate with?
  3. Why should I come work for $company?
  4. Why do you enjoy working for $company?
  5. What do you like least about working for $company?

Interesting, Different, and Powerful Questions

  1. Is this position a replacement or a new role?
  2. How does this position fit in your current environment?
  3. Why did you choose me as a potential candidate?