Important IT Consultant Interview Preparation Guide

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Candidates should detail their step-by-step troubleshooting process, including collecting information from users experiencing the error, establishing a hypothesis, testing it and implementing a corrective solution. The more detail, the more effective the methodology.

Listen carefully. The potential hire's answer will demonstrate their ability to close projects effectively. Some projects fail because they aren’t finished or closed properly. It is therefore important to establish whether your candidate has the drive to complete a project.

Discuss need to validate claimed expertise
Provide examples on how to manage but not hamper outside consultants

The candidate's answer will demonstrate their ability to motivate the project team to reach targets, and illuminate their management style. It is important to choose a candidate with strong people skills.

Have you taken online classes, or do you spend some of your spare time coding or troubleshooting technology issues? Have you taken on work projects in areas of tech that you wanted to learn more about? These IT interview questions are designed to explore how actively you’re involved in the IT industry and whether your interest could contribute to the role on offer.

IT Technicians should always be aware of the technological advances in computing power, security and software and should be able to identify new technology that could improve company operations. Candidates should describe how they stay abreast of technological trends, including reading blogs and furthering their technical education.

Candidates should list attention to detail, creative approaches to problem-solving and good organizational skills as key attributes in an IT Consultant.

Discuss the common pathways to cloud including low risk back office systems to production environments
Identify the need to negotiate licensing and subscription agreements

Discuss the need to balance projects that are innovative versus scaling or structuring enterprise processes
Utilize business case and how to determine big technology bets to drive innovation

This question tests a candidate's systems analysis expertise. Candidates should describe sub-netting as a process of splitting up a single TCP/IP network into a number of unique network segments. Look for answers detailing the benefits and drawbacks of the two network structures.

IT Technicians are often required to solve a technical problem by introducing or recommending new technology to the company. Candidates should describe how they identified a problem and brought in innovative technology that made a significant impact in the company's technical operations.

Every company has a culture just like every person has a personality. You won’t get along with everyone, and not every company’s culture will be a good fit for you. Many companies have demanding cultures. This can be particularly true in IT departments, where deadlines can be tight, expectations sky-high, and workloads heavy.

Asking about the company culture can give you a good idea of whether or not you want to work with this particular employer. It may look great from the outside, but it might not be right for you. Consider the interviewer’s response carefully.

In addition to learning more about whether you like the products you use at your company, this question helps employers gauge your enthusiasm and knowledge. Do you get animated when discussing the benefits of certain tools? Do you seem to have a solid grasp of the positive and negative features of different technologies?

This question tests the ability of the candidate to counteract risks by implementing preventative strategies.

Beyond repairing and replacing, IT Technicians are required to be expert communicators and attentive to user needs. In situations like the one above, candidates should demonstrate patience and try to distill a technical problem into consumable advice.

The five V’s of Big data is as follows:

☛ Volume – Volume represents the volume i.e. amount of data that is growing at a high rate i.e. data volume in Petabytes
☛ Velocity – Velocity is the rate at which data grows. Social media contributes a major role in the velocity of growing data.
☛ Variety – Variety refers to the different data types i.e. various data formats like text, audios, videos, etc.
☛ Veracity – Veracity refers to the uncertainty of available data. Veracity arises due to the high volume of data that brings incompleteness and inconsistency.
☛ Value –Value refers to turning data into value. By turning accessed big data into values, businesses may generate revenue.

This question is great because it shows you’re thinking ahead and about what you could contribute to the company should you be hired. It also provides another opportunity to assess the company’s culture and management’s understanding of the role they’re hiring for.

Ask stakeholders how they want change to happen
Negotiate with stakeholders on competing priorities
Tell them change is happening
Prepare them for the change
Make the change happen
Communicate that change has ocurred

Healthcare: privacy, security, interconnectivity, and patient outcomes
Mining: safety and environmental management
Finance: regulatory compliance, availability, and performance
Manufacturing: driving automation excellence, minimizing material waste, reducing in-flight inventory

While not technical, this question can clue the employer into your personality characteristics or qualities that may not be apparent through the resume or IT interview questions. Make sure you have a list of character traits that you believe you can demonstrate in the role you’re applying for. If you’re unsure about what those traits may be, ask a friend who may work in the same industry or a former colleague if they can share some insight into what they believe are positive traits that you can contribute to a company.

This question tests the candidate’s ability to communicate about a complex technical matter in a simplified form.

Candidates should outline the steps they take to adapt to the needs of their clients, including learning how to understand and navigate company culture and communicating with all levels of company employees to build meaningful relationships with them and create a more comfortable working environment.

This tests the candidate’s awareness of Cyber Security trends and new hacking techniques.

☛ What development tools have you used?
☛ What languages have you programmed in?
☛ What source control tools have you used?
☛ What are your technical qualifications?
☛ What do you do to maintain your technical qualifications?
☛ How did your education help prepare you for this job?
☛ How would you rate your key competencies for this job?
☛ What are your IT strengths and weaknesses?
☛ Tell me about the most recent project you worked on. What were your responsibilities?
☛ What technical skills do you possess that would benefit our company?
☛ What challenges do you think you might expect in this job if you were hired?
☛ What technical websites do you follow?
☛ What elements are necessary for a successful team and why?
☛ Tell me about the project you are most proud of, and what your contribution was.
☛ Describe your production deployment process
☛ Explain a time where you applied your technical knowledge in a practical way.
☛ What did you do to ensure quality in your deliverables?
☛ What percentage of your time do you spend unit testing?
☛ What do you expect in the solution documents you are provided?
☛ What automated-build tools or processes have you used?
☛ Would you be willing to take training or classes to improve your technical skills?
☛ What have you done to improve your technical support knowledge in the last year?
☛ What have you learned from mistakes on a technical job?
☛ What tools are most helpful to you when trouble shooting and solving a problem?
☛ Where do you see your IT career going in the next five years?

Everyone deals with professional disappointment at some point. What employers want to know is how you handle these situations. The best candidates will use setbacks as springboards toward positive changes, such as getting a certification that will help position themselves for advancement next time there’s an opportunity. This question is about understanding how well you overcome challenges and you’re perseverance to continue working towards a goal.