Pre-Interview Questions for PP Braintrust

[asphaltgambler]

I have scored a face-to-face interview at the end of this month with one of the largest and most affluent counties in Va. It is with the fire/rescue division for a newly created mobile computer technician.

I have a two inside contacts that are providing some 'help'. I am 1 out of 4 finalists. Pretty good odds to have made it this far in this economy. The position is installing, maintaining and troubleshooting mobile data terminals in Emergency vehicles.

What I know so far is this is a newly created internal opportunity, previous to this they were outsourcing all their needs in this area to a company in Maryland. My guess is that through growth they have decided that they need their own personel to handle this instead of contracting out.

Two previous interviews with the same county, but vastly different technical positions resulted in very little technical questions and more "who I am" - why should we hire you.

With this position, it is so different per their requirements, I am 'cramming' for all possible technical questions that may be asked. My head is starting to spin.

I have thought of contacting the HR person to ask her if she could provide me with some direction as far as the panel interview questions so as to be the best prepared. IE: Are they more technical in nature or more lifestyle?

BUT - I am on the fence. She may perceive that line of questions and me as inappropriate / digging for the answers even before I arrive thus ruining any further chances.

OR - She may reply with some specifics and not think anything about it.

Any one here have a similar experience OR HR people on their take?? Thanks!

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Know your technical stuff.

Have some good, clean, positive things to say about yourself that will fit into situational questions.

Smile, bathe, nice clothes appropriate for the situation, good paperwork to hand over (professional level copies of your resume'/CV/etc), are your teeth brushed, have you removed all jewelry (except wedding band if worn) and watches. You'd be surprised at the number of people who fail at the basics, VERY surprised.

Have a good, quick, positive response to tell us about yourself. I LOVE to work on things, it helps reduce my stress. I get a very good feeling every time I am able to diagnose the difficult jobs.

I'm sure some others will disagree but remember every situation is different and everyone is different. Be yourself and go with your basic gut instinct during the interview. You'll do fine!

[asphaltgambler]

Thanks for the advice - If I was not clear in my posting the question I am asking is - should I contact the HR person to obtain some idea of the line of questions or not at all?

[LWJ]

Have you practiced any interview questions? I have people get these down 100%. There should be lists on the web. If not, I can email them to you. It is a HUGE confidence piece. It makes the difference between owning an interview and just showing up.

GO CRUSH THIS. It sounds like your gig!

Larry

[krystar]

do u know everything u could possibly know about doing the computer technician job. that's step 1. get all your A+, MSCE test questions, default page file size for a Win7, undocumented commands in shell, random trivia, etc. etc.

step 2. ask them about the job. some superficial, expected hours/shift, oncall, overtime. and some indepth (but be careful not to dig too deep) how big is the dept? how big is your IT support team? specific goal targets for your team? what kind of support ticket system? what's expected turnaround? that'll get into a meaningful discussion that'll let you and the interviewer get a much better feel

step 3. prove to them that you're better than the next guy. know MORE than just IT. show them you know the bigger picture. what's the bigger picture? downtime=$ profit loss. planning and preparedness > fixing after it's broken. keeping up on current IT trends in hardware, security, antivirus, network tools, etc etc etc.

step 4. prep it all and get a good night sleep and go there early! plan on showing up 15minutes early. if u are early, fine, just wait around. if something happens, at least u won't be late.

best of luck!

[asphaltgambler]

Thanks again all - but the question I'm asking is should I contact the HR person in advance or not; referencing if the questions are technical in nature or otherwise to help in my cramming direction

[VincentVega]

No. Reread krystar's post, good advice.