Imagine you have two employees, and both don’t know anything about Information Technology or IT related issues. Both staffs are scrambling to meet the client deadline. Then all of a sudden, the office Wi-Fi connection suddenly stops. Employee number one tinkers with the router and trying to solve the connection problem.
Employee number two sat and called your Internet service provider’s customer service line, but to no avail, the ISP can’t help you with your internet problems. Many fruitless hours have passed, and both of the employees missed their deadline, and they can kiss their client’s trust, and eventually, the client bails out. The business will not survive if these kinds of problems will continue.
You can kiss your business goodbye. If this sounds familiar, then it could be time to hire an on-site IT support team. When you want to hire an expert from IT support companies, the first step is to find potential candidates through your local Information Technology trade school, ask the help of a technical recruiter or search online career websites like Indeed, LinkedIn or Glass Door. Then, you need to set up an interview for all potential applicants. Make sure that you will ask these essential questions to find the right IT support guy for your business.
Do you work well with others?
You need to make sure that the person you will hire can clearly, efficiently as well as patiently communicate with your coworker when pressure is high over technical gadgets that are not working well or when the device experienced an error. To know someone’s communication style, ask them to walk through a technical mess that they untangled for other people.
Do a simple role play with them using a simple help desk request like the dreaded blue screen of death or a forgotten password. You need to be on the lookout for any candidates who speak in terms other employees can quickly get, not a technical jargon-filled conversation.
What are their processes for handling a technical support request?
Running an organization or a company’s technical help support desk has to be efficient, orderly, as well as relatively fast. The candidate needs to demonstrate that they have an effective workflow and help desk structure in mind. How can they accurately log, field or respond to an employee request for help? Are they using a phone, instant messages or thru email? Usually, they would record, track, and organize all applications using a reliable online help desk ticket solution like Kayako, DeskPRO or HappyFox
Want to know more about help desk and data center management? Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_center_management#Tech_Support for more information.
What will they work on when they are not doing help desk tasks?
It is imperative to vet out potential candidates who are not willing to step up to the plate and take on non-help desk-related projects or tasks. They need to be busy all the time, not playing online games or just sitting at your workstation, all day when there are no help desk tickets.
There are other tasks that the candidates need to be spearheading like: computer and other device setup or maintenance (customizing, cleaning, configuring or updating), keeping up with any latest technologies as well as making other employees aware of their presence and crafting long-term plans for fulfilling your organization’s evolving Information Technology needs. Not only that, if you think that additional IT personnel are needed in the near future, the candidate should open for training, recruitment as well as managing new staff.
Are they going to assess your company’s existing IT system?
The potential candidates need to show to the company that they are prepared as well as qualified to report and analyze the feasibility and functionality of your organization’s existing devices, equipment or system. It should include landline, computers, email solution, VOIP and cell phones, printers or basically anything that can be plugged into a wall.
Click here to know more about IT system management.
They should be able to tell the company what are the new software apps for your organization’s current computer needs. What can be improved, removed or updated? If the system upgrades are justified, they should be capable of sourcing or building a budget and installing new software as well as hardware. If they do not know how to do that, take them off the list.
