35+ Help Desk Interview Questions to Ask Candidates

Hiring help desk staff can be a lot of work, so you want to be efficient when asking interview questions to candidates. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of questions that can determine if someone will be an excellent fit for the position.

Rather than go through each question’s importance individually, these questions will help you find out these things about your candidates:

• How they can problem solve issues
• What their personality is, especially in tough or complicated circumstances
• Past experience in the field or similar situations
• What their career goals are
• How they can add to your culture
• Why they want to work in IT or why they enjoy working in IT
• Leadership desires and capabilities
• How they handle general customer service situations

Help desks are often the front line of your company culture. It’s important to keep an open mind throughout the hiring process. A diverse help desk with a range of experiences and abilities will only make your overall customer experience a better one.

Here are over 35 help desk interview questions will help you get the conversation started with candidates.

General Interview Questions

1. What skills have you developed that would contribute to success in a help desk role?

2. What hours are you available to work?

3. How do you prioritize your tasks at work?

4. What are your weaknesses?

5. Do you have any questions for us?

6. How would your peers and/or coworkers describe you?

7. Who’s influenced you the most in your career?

8. How would you describe yourself?

9. What are some goals you have for your career?

IT Help Desk Interview Questions

10. What are the most common causes of hardware failure you’ve dealt with?

11. Do you have experience recovering files from a faulty hard drive?

12. What is your experience with help desk software?

13. How have you communicated the importance of being aware of computer viruses to your customers before?

14. An employee calls you and tells you their computer isn’t turning on. How would you dissect the problem?

15. How do you document solutions or workarounds you’ve found?

16. Tell me about a rough day you’ve had on the job at a help desk or similar role? How did you respond and bounce back?

17. What interests you about working in IT support or help desk service?

18. What are some of the most important things you need from your supervisor to help you grow in this field? Have you had these needs met by a past supervisor? And if not, how have you communicated what you needed from them?

Customer Service Interview Questions

19. What role does customer services play in the overall success of the business in your opinion?

20. How do you deal with frustrated customers who are rude or disrespectful? What’s an example of a time you’ve handled one of these situations?

21. What is the most challenging customer service situation you have experienced? Tell me about it and what did you do to resolve it, and what was the outcome?

22. If a customer is dissatisfied with your customer service, what typically are your next steps?

23. How would you deal with a customer who wanted to install an unauthorized program on their computer?

24. What do you think is the most important thing to keep in mind when providing customer service?

25. How would you deal with a customer who is asking for something that is not possible or is not part of your policy?

26. Do you have any experience with remote technical support?

27. What steps would you take to research an issue before escalating it to a supervisor?

28. What are your thoughts on customer self-service options?

29. In your previous experience, do you prefer specializing in solving a specific problem, or do you prefer being a generalist to a host of issues?

30. If a customer doesn’t understand your explanation, what is your approach to help them better understand? Do you have an example of this happening before?

31. How would you deal with a customer who is consistently demanding when they come to you for help?

32. How do you respond if you don’t know the answer to the customer’s question?

Team Work/Leadership Questions

33. Tell me about a time when you had to work on a project with someone you didn’t get along with. How did you handle the situation?

34. Describe a time when you had to take the lead on a project.

35. Can you tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond your duties?

36. If two peers had a level of conflict in the workplace over a workplace-related issue, how would you help solve the problem?

37. Do you have an interest in growing into leadership at this company?

38. How have you help build camaraderie across a team before?

Need a Help Desk Employee?

Keep this list of interview questions handy when searching for your next help desk employee. An in-depth approach to the hiring process will guide you toward top talent, and it may reveal various soft skills you didn’t know you were looking for in a help desk member.