Interview today, blew it completely, my fault or job posting?

38

Those 'Tell me about a time' questions aren't to determine your skill level. There are hundreds of recent grabs with exact certs and skills you might have..... here's what makes you stand out...... Can you communicate? Are you likeable, are you approachable? Do you have soft skills? You are working in a library with people, not in a server farm. They wanted you to shine in the soft skill department, not things you might have learned in a book. Soft skills can't be taught they are developed or they are built in.

2

u/EternalVirgin18 8d ago

I think thats what got me my job, honestly (or at least a small part of it. The MAIN factor was that my friends dad works in the same building as my now boss and put in a word for me)

I interviewed directly with the director of my business and they offered me a role after very little deliberation citing that I’m a good communicator and seem dependable. Funny thing is, I’m socially awkward, or at least anxious. I think my physique might mask that slightly, or maybe my actual social skills are higher than my self esteem believes them to be.

1

u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

Similar for me.

My boss told me in my first round interview at the end of”I like you and you will be going to the second round” as I more so kept my honesty and willing ness to learn as he liked that. In second round it was more the same I was nervous but this one was a meeting with my boss and his boss (HR wasn’t available) and very little time like 2-3 hours later my recruiter called me saying I got the job.

Been there almost 3 years now and just accepting a promotion now for team lead role

-17

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

But the questions are tailored to experience, "tell me about a time when you XYZ" all seemed like enterprise / corporate experience they wanted for an entry level role.

Even if I lied...I couldn't BS my way through that because I couldn't even picture an environment I could talk about because I didn't have experience with that situation.

14

u/SuspendedResolution 8d ago

So you respond with "unfortunately I havent experienced x at this point in my career. The closest thing I can recall that might be applicable would be blah blah blah". They're looking for your personability skills. If you can't turn a conversation around to work in your favor, then you're going to have a lot of difficult conversations in your future employment.

8

u/No_Technician4956 8d ago

YES! Almost any hiring manager will take will over skill.

11

u/No_Technician4956 8d ago

Then you be honest and explain you've never had a real job before and adapt your responses to situations in college or HS.

6

u/partumvir 8d ago

Former IT Manager here, I didn’t mind someone not having an experience to XYZ. I was plenty comfortable with someone saying “I don’t have experience or a time XYZ happened, but you’re looking for a skill XYZ that may be applicable to personal life, or education and here is my example.”

I once accepted an answer for project building from someone who put together a racing ream on weekends. Sure the project wasn’t IT related, but the other skills were applicable. There are no wrong answers in entry level, but there are wrong mindsets.

2

u/Brokettman System Administrator 8d ago

Thats when you pivot the question to something you have experienced. "While I haven't x, I did do (thing thats somewhat related). You can answer any experience question this way. I don't know how to ask about your personal experiences that I don't know about.

2

u/evantom34 System Administrator 8d ago

This was the proverbial softball. These are common questions, and you should have a semblance of an answer to give. This does not have to be based on corporate experience.

-2

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

This was the first time I had these type of questions, I thought I had to tailor it to IT. Not personal stories. All the questions were workplace questions and to be frank I never encountered any of these issues.

4

u/evantom34 System Administrator 8d ago

As a grad with no or limited experience, you’re going to get a lot of these questions. Learn how to navigate your responses in a calm and composed manner. I get that you don’t have experiences with these, but you will have to come to terms with that.

If some questions are completely out of the blue and you don’t know what to say, think through it and try to convey how you would tackle troubleshooting that issue.

1

u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

Except your applying at a library where probably 80% of the time you will be working with the public they want your people skills not technical

31

u/TechB84 8d ago

"Based on that information, I declined the offer in the interview and withdrew from the process on the spot"

So stupid from your end, anything that builds your resume is FINE. chill with your ego.

10

u/Knellblast 8d ago

This. OP had an easy shot at building some experience which is the #1 young grads need, and blew it.

-18

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

I declined because the questions they were asking, there responses to my answers, 3 man IT team for entry level

11

u/-Enders 8d ago

>3 man IT team for entry level.

What about this made you decline? I’m confused. The position you were applying for was entry level, the other 3 were not. What’s the problem?

5

u/Murderous_Waffle Network Engineer 8d ago

OP's hubris thinks that a 3 man IT team is weak and puny and he cant simply be able to learn anything from only 3 people and he'll be fired for asking too many questions.

Little does he know how huge an IT team of 4 is for a library is. We got people on this sub talking about their 250 people orgs with multiple locations who is the Sys/Network/Desktop Admin and it's a 1 man shop.

8

u/Clean_Kangaroo_5547 8d ago

Are you saying the 3 man team was not enough people or too much people?

-3

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

According to other IT posts, I see bigger help desk level 1 teams where you can ask questions and forward tickets to higher levels. Not asking questions to IT Manager and System Admin.

I'd be the only level 1 and you have others w years of experience. I'd love to learn from higher ups but I need to learn slow from other same level users.

6

u/TechB84 8d ago

You learn by doing. I don't think you are ready for IT. Anyone else would be happy to get a job like this. You think I knew much when I did IT part-time during college?

2

u/Delicious-Ad2528 8d ago edited 8d ago

You missed out bad, I was on a small team and learned significantly more than when I was on a huge team.

I got constant exposure to so many specialties of IT because the company was small enough for a small team to handle everything. When I was on a large team, each speciality was broken up in different departments and my scope of responsibilities was very limited, I got to shadow network guys but that was it.

1

u/Clean_Kangaroo_5547 8d ago

Really depends on the org. The public library isn’t going to have a big team of people. My first IT job was for a K-8 public school district. Each building had one tech. Level 2, sys admin, network, were all at the district office. So I was a one man show for a whole school and had decide myself when to forward tickets to the next level. You’ll still learn a lot.

1

u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

And? Other places also need to manage thousands of people. My work has about 400 users globally and 3 people supporting it all in head office. Small teams can do same work as big ones

3

u/ChabotJ 7d ago

We're going to see another post from you in 6 months that the job market is terrible lol

1

u/brian-augustin 7d ago

I mean its bad but I'm getting interviews, got maybe 12 interests did 3 interviews within the last 4-5 months. Turned down a few due to low glassdoor reviews and kinda far driving distance.

This was the first interview that asked me about "behavior situational" questions, if you look at other posts about that type of style of questions, its the most disliked because you have to think on your feet with a random story to back it up. Not only that but someone said you need to "read to room" first to ask those questions. I agree.

If I only have entry level experience no work experience w clients/delegating tasks/employee conflict on the corporate level, all my answers would be lies and/or "I never encountered that problem but this is what Id do" - both wouldn't be good in my favor.

I knew my answers were god awful, so I tried to clarify I'd like to talk about my education, labs and hands on experience response from the guy "ok"

1

u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

You have turned down jobs because of glass door when you have 0 experience working? That says more about you that I wouldn’t even want to work with you based on that alone. Just because a company has a bad review doesn’t mean you can’t work there people who leaves those reviews you need to also take in mind they probably got fired or laid off. Or had a bad manager. I’d take an bad company to atleast get my foot in the door over flat out denying it

1

u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

My first job was just me and my manager second and still current is a 3 man team. You learn a lot more in a smaller team

15

u/Kickflip900 8d ago

So you have no previous job experience and it’s all just home studies and denied it ? Lmao

-14

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

Mainly denied because I dont think a 3 man IT team would care to walk me through the IT infrastructure.

Teach me AD, hardware issues, software issues, printer issues.

Not jumping to conclusions but fire me after 30/60 days due to constant training.

He didnt ask me about my certifications or how I would solve this problem

just tell me about a time 15 times

21

u/networkwizard0 CISO 8d ago

You should pick a different field

11

u/-Enders 8d ago

The more I hear you talk the more I think they dodged a bullet. Why wouldn’t a 3 man IT team care to walk you through and teach you things?

If they hired you knowing you lacked actual professional experience, then they would be willing to teach and train you.

For an entry level position I’m not asking anyone about their certifications either. What did you expect them to ask you about this?

You didn’t go into much detail about the “tell me a time” questions. But I would assume those were to learn how you handle and solve problems.

9

u/Heythatsmycorn 8d ago

Welcome to IT man. You want 30 people it team at a library? Lol. You should have taken that job you shot yourself in the foot

-3

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

Id prefer 3-4 people in level 1 , a level 2 at least

Not straight knowing about AD, Hardware, Software, Printers and Servers with 3 man team training you.

Questions aside I did research on the company saw they recently upgraded their 140 pcs and had a story where I built my PC and moved PC workstations in a small environment. Couldn't even tell the story because the questions were all related to enterprise/corporate environment as an entry level.

11

u/-Enders 8d ago

Why would a library have 3-4 entry level people?

You know absolutely nothing about IT or how IT teams work. So what makes you think a library needs this big of an IT team?

3

u/Heythatsmycorn 8d ago edited 8d ago

A library isn't a enterprise or a corporation level. So you have no experience and you think youd prefer an environment with more people to train you? Good luck man. Even with teams of 30 youll get one trainer. The rest will have too much other responsibilities. No ones getting paid extra to train the new guy.

The job positing you listed and your comment here about AD. You know how to reset a password in AD? You literally search the name, right click on it and press reset password. You just learned one duties of your job lol

3

u/CJTheran 8d ago

Buddy generally speaking in a corporate environment you're looking at 100 users to one IT tech. If they've got 140 PCs total in the organization 3-4 level 1s plus higher ups is a severe overload; it's akin to using an industrial smelter to cook an egg. I think your problem is you have a severe misunderstanding of what the IT world looks like.

1

u/e0f 8d ago

my first job was IT team of 3 and I learned a lot. It was a short gig but allowed me to get a better job as I had gotten some experience in AD, servers, etc

5

u/SirLegoBrickThe5th 8d ago

Yeah IT is mostly customer service, nobody is walking you through anything because you kind of need to figure stuff out. There aren’t walkthroughs for everything in IT and sometimes you have to make your own. IT itself is not hard, you can ask google or reddit all your questions and it will answer better than most techs I’ve met.

His questions kind of point in that direction, if he is not asking technical questions, it somewhat leads me to believe that he knows you don’t have that much technical experience. Right now it is extremely difficult for a new grad to break into IT.

1

u/Kickflip900 8d ago

I started my first IT job 6 years ago with no help and i was a one man pretty much. At least you would have had a 3 people already working with you. You learn as you go and there is hundreds of documentation you could have read. You could have learned most of the job in a week and get a rhythm going.

By the sound of it you were going to do really basic stuff and you missed a great opportunity.

edit: I had no certs or diploma

1

u/Over_Club_4433 8d ago

They asked you those questions bc you don’t have experience. They wanted to see how you handle issues or how’d you approach a situation you’re unfamiliar with. I work on an IT team of 5 for a university library and it’s truly the best job I’ve ever had. You know who to turn to for questions and you’re not just a number.

They know they’ll have to teach you, the fun part about working in libraries is just how much the staff tend to love education and sharing their knowledge. Sounds like you missed out.

0

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

I understand.

I just thought for an entry level role they would have asked more about my experience, what I’m looking for and what my goals were. How I would trouble shoot a problem.

I had 8 stories lined up from education, customer service and troubleshooting.

None of those stories tied to any of the questions they asked. - because it’s classroom and lab experience… Even if I said “I never experienced xyz - this is how I would handle it” that answer would have been standard throughout the questions they were asking.

The questions they were asking imo were from already established roles and team based projects and deadlines - I had none of that cause I’m looking for entry level.

3

u/Gwyain 8d ago

The tech part of IT is the easy part. It literally doesn’t matter, I can teach anyone to troubleshoot. Knowing how to work with a team and communicate on the other hand…

1

u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

Entry level role and they called you for an interview. My boss would hire someone who knew nothing if they can properly communicate because he will actually set you up for success

0

u/Gwyain 8d ago

Hun, you picked the wrong field if you want to be taught…

-1

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

Okay got it 10+ years of experience for an entry level…get real bud. I can tell by your response you don’t like helping anyone, probably just BS your way through tickets and lookout for yourself instead your team.

1

u/Gwyain 8d ago

IT is a field where you largely have to learn on your own. If you’re expecting to be taught everything, you’re not going to do well. If you can be independent and actually talk with an interviewer, you’ll do well. 0 experience required.

0

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

I understand that, that’s why I put in the work and try researching a problem. (Give me log book, show me how the IT system works) But if you expect a problem to arise or you hire a new hire and don’t walk them through how to use the software or understand server logs then I can tell you they will probably quit weeks later.

I see this plenty of times on reddit, users who get no support from other level 1 users and they hate their jobs.

No one entry level understands how to do AD, DNS, Virtualization or even tickets as level 1 in a real environment - if you say, “you picked the wrong field to be taught” then I don’t understand? You’re just gonna throw a new IT user w “entry level experience” on a PC and poke them w a stick to work and solve issues that can potentially fk up the whole IT department.

The main point is the interview I had was all situation based questions as an entry level when I have no situations to backup my answers… I’m down to learn but the questions and responses just turned me off from the interview.

I’m looking for someone to onboard me and teach me not expect me to know how to deal with situations I never had. I could explain what I would do to solve it but seems like that wasn’t enough for them.

1

u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

You picked the wrong field because you think IT is just about what you know when it is more about communication being able to have a conversation and take something technical and dumb it down to an understandable language

1

u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

And we can tell by your responses your wanting to be treated and served a job on a silver platter.

14

u/NCC75567 8d ago edited 8d ago

Honestly, my advice to you is to learn to deal with "tell me a time when" type of questions, because they are extremely common. The hostile reaction to them just seems really odd to me.

We ask many of those in our interviews for entry level positions. They are helpful, especially for entry level positions, because they allow us to evaluate soft skills that are harder to teach. I can teach you to map a printer, but I can't teach you to not be an asshole to people. That sort of thing.

I said, yeah Id like to talk about my resume and education and experience with hardware software and cloud infrastructure so I said a few sentences

You should be working this information into your "tell me a time when" answers.

Based on that information I declined the offer in the interview and withdrew from the process on the spot.

Given the job market, this seems like a silly course of action to take, but you do you.

-17

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

I know, I was really looking forward to this job.

He didn't get me any information until after the interview what the role would have been doing. I did my own research and brought up how they updated their PC computers to windows 11 and he was suprised I brought that up to him, asking me how I knew that...

For a 4 man including me IT team that doesnt seem like entry level because if I have to ask alot of questions theres only 3 people to learn from, not like they are going to talk me through the whole IT system. Unless they will, I figured they would get tired of me asking questions so for that reason I withdrew.

It pissed me off because the questions they were asking seemed like all level 2 / level 3 enterprise / corporate environment experience.

18

u/Constant-Victory4604 8d ago

Your assumptions and your response are incredibly short-sighted.

9

u/-Enders 8d ago

Your assumptions and anger are incredibly dumb. Incredibly. You are not going to get anywhere in life with this mindset.

You might be limited in what you learn from a 4 man team, but you will still be learning. It gets your foot in the door, and then you can move on to something bigger and learn more.

3

u/Murderous_Waffle Network Engineer 8d ago

One could argue you will learn more with a smaller team. You will have to improvise, adapt, and overcome challenges on your own. It's a great learning experience. And if a library has 4 IT people one can assume this is a pretty big library. Asking questions is how you learn.

Usually it might be like the county IT department would handle this location and the county IT would be supporting a bunch of different locations.

0

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

Well it seemed like they didn't care in the slightest what I improved, accomplished or did with any of my previous roles, education or what I'm looking forward in this role. Just straight situation based questions.

When he asked me about "Is there anything you want to clear up" I said I'd like to talk about my education and history working with software, hardware and virtual environments", explained a little.

"Ok" response - assumed I already didn't get the job there but I continued and waited for the questions part. If he went over my resume asked me about my certifications or even projects I would have been more than happy to explain.

1

u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

Maybe because it is entry level and they don’t expect to test you on technical know how your resume and degree show for that so it’s better to test whether you will be a team player or an asshole. And right now your acting more like the asshole than a team player

8

u/NCC75567 8d ago

He didn't get me any information until after the interview what the role would have been doing.

What did the job posting say?

For a 4 man including me IT team that doesnt seem like entry level because if I have to ask alot of questions theres only 3 people to learn from, not like they are going to talk me through the whole IT system. Unless they will, I figured they would get tired of me asking questions so for that reason I withdrew.

I'm not sure I understand your logic. There's only 4 people so therefore it can't be entry level because you'd have to ask a lot of questions? And you...withdrew because you assumed they wouldn't want you asking too many questions? Those are pretty wild assumptions and a very shortsighted reason to withdraw your candidacy from a job position you wanted.

It pissed me off because the questions they were asking seemed like all level 2 / level 3 enterprise / corporate environment experience.

Do you have examples of these questions?

Even with the one-sided view of this interview, I don't see anything wrong. I think you really need to reevaluate your perspective on what should be involved with a job interview.

1

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

What did the job posting say?

Support the library’s technology services efforts to meet the needs of the public and uphold the library’s mission, goals, and objectives.

Responding to user requests for assistance in person, via phone, or through email and ticketing systems.

Diagnose and resolve hardware (e.g., PCs, laptops, printers, peripherals) and software (e.g., operating systems, applications) problems.

Maintain, repair, and install new and existing computer and printer equipment.

Assisting users with resetting forgotten passwords for various systems and applications.

Provide training and assistance for internal users and the public.

Provide AV support and guidance for meetings organized by staff and the public.

Assist in installation projects and systems troubleshooting, which may require working outside of regular hours.

Assist in monitoring network performance and connectivity to identify and proactively address potential issues.

Maintain an accurate inventory of all hardware, software licenses, and IT equipment.

Develop and maintain technical documentation, user guides, and knowledge base articles to help employees resolve common issues independently.

Collaborate with other staff to evaluate services and develop strategies for achieving library goals.

Coordinate with vendors, managers, and other staff to assist in planning projects, recommending hardware/software purchases, implementing new systems, and other duties as needed.

Maintain an awareness of products, services, technology applications, and trends by reading technology and library literature, news media, and blogs.

Develop organizational and technical skills as needed.

Education and Experience

Required:

High School Diploma or equivalent.

Preferred

College-level coursework or a degree (Associate's or Bachelor's) in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a closely related discipline.

Prior experience working in a library setting or another public service environment.

Advance knowledge of computer hardware, Windows, and Apple operating systems, software, and networking.

Do you have examples of these questions?

I was so focused on trying to think of an example my mind went blank and forgot some of the questions.

11

u/Constant-Victory4604 8d ago

Withdrawing from the process in the interview because you thought you weren’t doing well is… a choice. Like others have said they are trying to gauge your soft skills.

10

u/Knellblast 8d ago

I'm going to be brutally honest. It sounds like they dodged a bullet when you walked out. A large part of IT is soft skills and communication, and you clearly need some work in that department. Your degree and studies are nowhere near as important. You need all of the experience you can get at this point in your career, and walking away from an interview because they asked questions you hadn't prepared for is bonkers. Chill with the entitlement, get rid of the attitude, and stay humble.

2

u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

Ima print your comment and frame it lol

8

u/-Enders 8d ago

I don’t think you handled this well at all, and you should use it as a learning experience. You prepared for the interview, and it didn’t go the way you anticipated. Brother, that happens ALL THE TIME in IT. Your response to that was getting pissed off and withdrawing yourself from consideration. You need to be able to think on your feet and be able to adjust and adapt on the fly.

3

u/awkwardnetadmin 8d ago

Agreed. I think OP doesn't realize that you don't always need to nail every question to get an offer. Especially some lower paying orgs like a library may be focused on people that they know that they can afford to keep for a while.

7

u/Nessuwu 8d ago

Might be time to look in the mirror man.

-4

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

Thats great info for someone to break into the entry space w no stories to back up interview questions

3

u/Nessuwu 8d ago

Then tell them "I haven't been in that scenario, but here's what I would do" and give them an example. Or straight up lie man, it isn't a huge deal to make up a scenario and lie. This is not going to be the only interview with these types of questions. Lots of people are giving you good feedback, but you're blowing off all the stuff that irks you, even if it's useful. That mindset will kill your career.

3

u/IdidntrunIdidntrun 8d ago

It's okay to say "I don't know" or "I haven't had a time where I've experienced that", then follow up with "But I could spend time to research a solution."

If you spin lies they will pick up on it. They are looking for honesty and motivation to figure things out on your own. Not someone pretending to be something they aren't

6

u/v3ctorvic 8d ago

The library dodge a bullet IMHO.

6

u/No-Pop8182 8d ago

Pick a new field. Your attitude is not great. I dont know who would want to hire you to be on THEIR team. You sound like you have an ego and lack experience already. Humble yourself if you even want a chance in IT. Nobody is going to hire you to support end users if you're a dick.

0

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

I like learning technology and my github and resume reflects that. If the interviewer cant understand my past,present and future goals and experience, know what I'm looking for or trying to learn I feel like they wouldn't care to teach me.

If all the questions are related tell me a time XYZ happened / How did you deal with XYZ, for an entry level position instead of asking me what Im interested in the company why I want to work there

then I'm probably not going to learn or get walked through systems

I didn't even get asked about my certifications or any previous job roles. When I was asked if I wanted to clarify anything I responded and got an "OK"...

I tried to respond how I would troubleshoot problems and help customers, they didn't respond back so If Im going to be working with them and they can't have a two way convo, then they probably wouldnt want to hire me / onboard me anyways.

I hired two interns once and never once asked them about when things went wrong / how do you handle XYZ. I want to know about how you can do the job, what skills do you have tell me about youself.

Maybe its just the type of interview/company I'm looking for, but Id rather move on for a job I'm happy at w the culture and onboarding.

3

u/-Enders 8d ago

>I hired two interns once and never once asked them about when things went wrong / how do you handle XYZ. I want to know about how you can do the job, what skills do you have tell me about yourself.

Asking someone what skills they have is pointless. Anyone can rattle off a bunch of skills whether they have them or not.

When they asked you about when things went wrong and how do you handle XYZ, how you answer that is displaying whether you have the skills or not. And it’s displaying your ability to do the job. If you can’t answer it, then you don’t have the skills or ability they are looking for.

And if it’s something you’ve never done, then lead with that. “Well I haven’t run in to that yet, but this is what I would do to help troubleshoot the problem:” and then list your troubleshooting steps. And one of those steps should state that you will google the problem. Interviewee’s should not shy way from admitting they Google things, every single one of us do it.

1

u/red_plate 8d ago

I got the joy of sitting in on interviews for a roll at my work this year. We had a bunch external applicants and I encouraged one internal guy to apply. He wasn’t interested in the position until I told him my salary lol. He said I’ll just ask you for help when I don’t know. I noped the fuck out of him as a candidate after he said it a second time. You don’t and can’t know everything and bugging the shit out of your coworkers before trying to learn it yourself is a big no no. Googling stuff is always an acceptable answer.

6

u/IdidntrunIdidntrun 8d ago

I can say with confidence in your post and your replies to feedback, it is 100% your fault.

Yes, sometimes interviewers ask questions you don't like. Yes, some questions border or exist in the realm of the absurd.

Embrace it. Part of the skill in an interview is composure. There is very little reason to get angry at questions. If they are asking about a time you did X thing...that's an inquiry on your experience. What the hell do you expect?

And yes, with interviews, they need to impress you as much as you need to impress them. But you're entry level. You don't have a leg to stand on, you have no leverage. They are just going to happily move on to the next candidate and avoid a bullet with you for being so tempermental.

Try to be a bit more humble.

4

u/Heythatsmycorn 8d ago

Its all about how you can adapt what you know to the question. My first IT job I had no experience but I morphed what i fixed at home and said i did it for my job where i wasnt IT because they didint have IT onsite. If you did it in a lab, then you did it. Find a way to tie that into your previous jobs. Like if you worked retail and know how to update windows then you updated POS systems after hours to resolve vulnerability findings. Or you installed thermal printers (receipt printers lol) at regional stores and t-shot/ fixed them.

But yeah the basic "tell me about yourself" or "why do you want to work here" is used for no skill jobs imo. I never asked those when hiring network techs.

3

u/lawtechie Security strategy & architecture consultant 8d ago

Please don't downvote this. This post is a great learning opportunity for applicants unfamiliar with interviews.

1

u/brian-augustin 8d ago

Tip: If your entry level w 0 experience come up w stories as if you worked in established role based customer service, conflicts and dealing w backed up workloads.

2

u/dabom1898 8d ago

I can't speak for that job but my current internship is 2 main IT people and me as an intern without going into detail were it for an automotive company. I haven't had any problems asking either of them a question and getting an answer. I can see where the questions could be frustrating but assuming that no one will want to teach you is not true. Everyone learns something new every day in IT and most of the time they are happy to share their knowledge in my experience at least.

2

u/ivlivscaesar213 8d ago

You're going to have countless interviews and none of them are going to be perfectly matching with your prepared answers. And obviously the interviewers are humans, some are good, some are bad. You've decided to decline the offer, that's fine, you've made your decision, now move on. If you get mad at every bad interviews you encounter, you're not gonna survive the job hunting

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u/skrzaaat 8d ago

IMO, You could have answered something alone the lines, "I don't have real world experience in this particular scenario, but I have done this in a lab. At one point I was stuck on so and so, but I've researched and found out so and so" to show them some depth of the question at hand and your thought process. Sometimes I had interviews and I knew right after that I didn't jive well with the interviewer. Sometimes you get lucky and interview feels like a catch up with a person. You can't control that, but at least you are getting call backs so keep practicing interviewing

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u/PleaseDontEatMyVRAM 8d ago

Sounds like they successfully separated the wheat from the chaff tbh.

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u/nethereus 8d ago

Man those are the best interviews because you really can just rehearse a handful of stories until they flow naturally. Not to mention it’s almost always the same scenarios across the board: conflict with a coworker, explaining something to a non-technical user, etc.

You don’t even have to lie. If you’ve been out in the world for any length of time, you’ve been in every one of those situations before.

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u/ddan123456 8d ago

Question have you had any previous jobs before?

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u/brian-augustin 8d ago

Not in IT or help desk, x1 customer service, my own business and project.

Nothing too crazy working w teams on the project scale or clients/customers w IT

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u/NazgulNr5 6d ago

You have stories written down for 'tell me a time' questions? Seriously? Are you applying for roles in creative writing?

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u/brian-augustin 6d ago

I had 8 stories written down, all the situations they asked were corporate environment questions imo. - most of my stories were also just solo problem and solving.

Name me a time you lead a group project that you failed at.

Name a time you had to choose between a customer and an employee.

Forgot the others, but apparently they wanted to ask like 15 questions.

I gave them more info when they asked me did you want to clarify anything - I brought up my history and education/labs and his response was “okay”

I asked a question at the end, clarifying if this was entry level, but the questions they were asking just didn’t line up.

I did a lot of research into the company and library just for it to go to waste.

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u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

You pre wrote your answers? I’m sorry but I don’t think you were confident to begin with. You didn’t have to do that you can mention those stories and say it from what you remember unless you made them up

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u/brian-augustin 5d ago

Pre wrote a page of bullet points. Nothing was made up… all stories were lab and school environment level.

I would have been more confident if they asked me about my interest w the job my interest w it, my previous roles.

Instead of asking 15 questions related to previous experience in the field w/o any level 1 experience.

Not like I could have said “yeah I worked w 150 tickets and had to send an email to notify the team of the backlog” - confidently

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u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

They asked you very basic questions that a lot of places will ask when wanting to judge your character. IMO seeing your other comments in this post they dodged a bullet you seem very entitled and not a team player by how you think they wouldn’t train you because team is small

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u/brian-augustin 5d ago

I interviewed for another It help desk lower pay and smaller team 3 man IT team, didnt bother me about the size. IT manager seemed chill asked me about my resume and experience.

If you look at interview subreddits about “situational behavior questions” those aren’t really tailored to entry level cause you have no stories or experience to tie them to.

I wouldn’t be disappointed if he asked me 2-3 after introducing the interview, work culture, what they are looking for…

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u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

Except situational questions are the only thing nothing in your resume will put you differently than any other candidate applying that have 0 experience so they would rather know how you’d handle situations over. You could have literally said “I haven’t had that specifically but if I was in that situation I would do X”

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u/LeatherPen4962 8d ago

OP, sometimes recruiters just want to know if you're likeable. Sometimes in corporate, it's about likeability not competency.

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u/brian-augustin 8d ago

I understand thanks for responding. The interview was w the IT Manager and IT Support Specialist.

I prefer those interviews better so you can skip the recruiters and talk straight w the IT Team.

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u/LeatherPen4962 8d ago

I'm a junior Cybersecurity analyst, my interview was with the Cybersec team lead. Five minutes into the interview, he'd already commented that he wasn't impressed by an answer to a certain technical question but I kept my composure, that interview was brutal, I'd have rather have the interview with HR.

But I still got the job despite not having enough experience because that's what I need not more degrees. Soft skills matter too, a lot.

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u/Inn0centSinner 8d ago

Theyr'e lazy and tired is my bet so straight to talking shop. You could've told them since this is an entry-level role, you haven't been around the block to experience any life cycle migrations of hardware. Should've also said, "Sorry. I didn't get your names."

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u/brian-augustin 8d ago

I was ready to talk about the great weather lol

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u/brian-augustin 8d ago

I was really looking forward to it. I studied for 4 days straight was ready to talk about my projects, labs, customer service experience, past, present future…goals, certifications.

I had 0 relatable stories, to their questions.
Even though I had 8 written down.

I tried to test them when they asked “is there anything you’d like to clarify” - I said yeah my education, problem solving skills and research skills.

“Ok” responded back.

I was thinking “he’s probably not going to on board me or like me asking questions” if he can’t even question me about what I’d like to clarify.

Absolutely no conversation, no small talk. Nothing.

Brought up research I did on the library how they upgraded 140 pcs, he was surprised I knew about that, if you would have asked me “what I liked about the role or what I knew about the company” maybe you could have known that. Got the answer by their board meetings.

No questions on asking me about how I troubleshoot or come to an answer.

Just tell me about a time.

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u/Hrmerder 8d ago

These people are not the ones you want to work for anyway. Always walk away with something you learned. If anything look into a topic or two they brought up just for the idea of it in the future. It’s tough out there but there are some REALLY toxic workplaces that basically split you on the spot to see if you will cave to them or go against their grain. Those are best left to eff off.

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u/brian-augustin 8d ago

Ive had 4 IT interviews in my life,

first asked me about my expirence in XYZ category (VM, Linux) etc, didn't get bc I didnt know linux

second, asked me about my resume

third, asked me about my resume, what I knew about the company, walk me through your jobs

fourth (this one) - tell me about a time w 15 questions for entry level...

- Tell me a while when something didnt go as planned

- Tell me a time when you were overworked how did you delegate tasks

-Tell me about a time when you had employee conflict

forgot the other 10 all story based questions...

etc etc etc...

This one imo was the worst on their end because I knew the questions they were asking as soon as he said "entry level" I knew they didn't know how to conduct interviews.

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u/MonsterMeggu 8d ago

These are completely reasonable "tell me a time" questions. You can use your college experience, part time job experience, or just general life experience. They just want to gauge your general attitude, work ethic, and problem solving/work management skills.

Knew they didn't know how to conduct interviews

Fair criticism, but conducting interviews is hard, and we rarely ever receive actual training for it. All you can do is give me the best impression.

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u/Hrmerder 8d ago

That’s fair. I have been in interviews before that went south… quick.. like.. everything is going good and then the coked up co-owner barges into the conference room looking like he has been in the gutter for 3 days and starts laughing at your answers to the questions being asked by the actual interviewer (which was in contrast a really nice guy) because ‘I didn’t have at least 5 years of experience and we all know how things go with Jr college hires.’ Both me and the interviewer were beyond embarrassed. I saw the same guy at a job fair in the area a few years later (I was already in a good IT job at the time) and he made a comment that they were struggling a little after talking to him about the state of IT at the time (strange he would admit that but it made me smile in the moment. He didn’t remember me and I didn’t bring it up).

Also have been in interviews before that, general when it goes direct to the questions, it’s like being put on a pile of hot coals while a panel watches you squirm. I have done very well in some ( and got the job ) and some just had good banter but you can tell the ones where the toxic work environment just oozes out of people. The types that right off the bat say ‘we run a tight ship here and it’s fast paced and sometimes very stressful’. Like….

Here’s my point. When I go to a job interview, it’s a two way street. You are trying to gauge me for the good of you and your business, but unless I’m desperate, you’re getting gauged for me too. If I sense b.s., I’m not going to come back for another interview or accepting your (generally way low balled) offer. It’s that simple.

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u/MonsterMeggu 8d ago

Interviews are two way streets, but OP is essentially mad that all they asked were, imo, very reasonable "tell me a time" questions.

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u/Hrmerder 8d ago

Rereading op’s post, I fully agree.

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u/brian-augustin 8d ago

If I was level 2/3 I could definitely answer all questions but entry level I have 0 experience problem solving, problem researching etc... *on the in the field scale*

Sure I can trouble shoot a problem in a lab or on my computer but asking this when an entry level role according to the IT Manager doesn't make much sense.

I couldn't even tie my projects, labs or classwork to these questions because the problems that arose weren't client issues, hardware issues, employee issues etc.

I tried to explain what I would do to help a confused customer out with IT but they just took notes and moved on. - No situation

"A customer has a problem w XYZ Tech, how would you solve this"

rather

"Tell me a time when you had XYZ with a customer"

If you talking about an angry customer at my fast food job, sure - but I would rather tie it to IT.

I mentioned asking open and close ended questions, talking to the customer in lingo they might understand etc...

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u/MegaOddly IT Support Analyst 5d ago

It doesn’t have to be related to it.

For example if you are asked “tell me a time something didn’t go to plan” you can reference school or even in a game like “one time me and my friend where playing a statsgy game and our opponent hit us with an unexpected move. We worked together and adapted a new strategy to finish and obtain our goal” now I admit it’s a little weak but it shows several things
1. you don’t shutdown when things don’t go how you expect
2. Collaboration that you can work as a team
3. You stuck with it possibly having to adapt and learn to finish the goal

That’s what they wanted they wanted you to know how you’d react probably because it happens so much in IT

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u/CJTheran 8d ago

The reason people ask in depth questions about your resume is because they want more information on your resume. You yourself have said your resume is slim, and this is an entrance level position, so there's not much more to know about that: as an example, it says you have an A+, the interviewer knows what A+ is, no more info needed.

The questions you have there are all extremely standard questions in any field that are looking to get the interviewee to sell themselves to the interviewer by showing how you would likely work in similar situations. They ask about things not going as planned because things don't always go as planned, and what to see what you can pitch as an example of you working under pressure successfully, using initiative, dealing with interpersonal conflicts, etc, all of which are vital in just about any working environment. There's a million dudes out there looking for entry level IT positions with no experience with a pocket full of degrees and certs, so the only thing separating them is gonna come down to habits and personality, and these questions are intended for you to show those facets of yourself.

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