If you are hiring a Technical
Support Specialist, you might be properly worried about
the candidate’s experience, attitude and more.
How to hire the right candidate that suited you?? Read
on to the questions below and you might find it helpful.
Tell me about your
most recent technical support experience.
Advice: You want to find out
what types of daily activities the candidate
enjoys, how he or she interacts with other reps,
and why technical support is so attractive to
the candidate as a career option. |
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| What
was your most difficult support experience?
Advice: You want the candidate
to be frank about a support experience in which
he or she was less than prepared to deal with
the customer’s problem. What steps did
the candidate take to try to solve the problem,
and when did the candidate realize he or she
might be dealing with a situation that was overwhelming? |
| |
What do you believe
are the three most important skills that a technical
support specialist should possess?
Advice: You should already
have a certain set of skills in mind when you
ask this question: then try to get a sense of
what the candidate believes makes him or her
a top-notch specialist. In the process the candidate
should mention not only technical capability
but also qualitative skills such as good listening
and coaching ability, and the ability to get
the customer to outline the problem clearly
and see the rationale behind the solution.
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Why do you think
people with good communication skills fail as
tech support specialists?
Advice: You want to hear about
more than the obvious technical acumen here;
you should be looking for the candidate to touch
upon areas like an in-depth understanding of
the product, aggressiveness in searching for
a solution, an ability to pick apart the details,
and a tendency to see the “big picture”
and how the problem might affect other aspects
of the product development for the company. |
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Why do you think
it’s important for a company to have an
in-house technical support department?
Advice: How well does the candidate
understand the tech support function within
his or her company, and what specific benefits,
other than the obvious troubleshooting, can
an in-house department bring to the company? |
|
What
do you think is the most challenging product
to support?
Advice: Here you want to gauge
the candidate’s confidence in his or her
technical skills, intelligence, and ability
to solve problems. This should be an opportunity
for the candidate to demonstrate a real aptitude
for problem solving at its highest level. |
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At what
point do you bring a customer’s problem
to your boss’s attention?
Advice: You want to test the
candidate’s judgment on whether and when
a problem requires the attention of the department
supervisor, as opposed to the candidate’s
staying with the customer until a satisfactory
resolution is achieved. |
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Have
you ever had a situation in which you were unable
to resolve a customer’s problem?
Advice: This is a judgment
question for the candidate: Does he or she have
the maturity and intelligence to resolve a customer’s
problem? What does the candidate do to ensure
that the customer will not hang up or dissatisfied. |
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What
are your goals beyond being a tech support specialist?
Advice: You want to see how
ambitious this candidate is and what he or she
wants to do in the short term. Ultimately, you
need to find out if the candidate is using this
position as a brief stopover to some other position
in your company presumably more glamorous or
exciting. |
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Do
you feel comfortable sharing information with
other tech support specialists?
Advice: You want to see if
the candidate is the type of individual who
likes to have personal control over a product
and every customer’s problem with the
product. At what point does the candidate believe
it becomes necessary to consult with other representatives
to solve a customer problem? You want to make
sure you are getting a team player who puts
the company first and his or her own personal
agenda second. |
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If
you got a call from a customer with a problem
that you knew you couldn’t resolve within
thirty seconds, what would you do?
Advice: How persistent is the
candidate in trying to help a customer, even
if he or she knows that answer is not within
reach? You should be looking for creative solutions
from the candidate, and an ability to think
and react quickly to satisfy the customer. |
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| If
a customer verbally abused you, how would you
handle it?
Advice: You want to find out
what kind of personality the candidate has and
how the candidate handles a stressful situation
like a customer losing control on the phone.
Can the candidate remain calm and professional?
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