Clever answering

[karthik]

I will be attainting few interviews next week for the post of Helpdesk/System Administrator.
I want to know what is the cleverest way of getting away with an wrong answer such that it doesn't make a bad impression on me.

[PrntRhd]

Answer the questions correctly, that will fool them.
;)

[david eaton]

Having been through the process, I concur with PrntRhd, answering correctly really fools them!

[jlreich]

Hehe, you guys are so silly. :D

[rond36]

Oh he is from Bangalore, India just tell them to format and reinstall or use system restore. It has always worked for Dell LOL

Maybe this is why we get bad helpdesk answers!

[Erik]

Yep, answering correctly is the way to go.

[karthik]

Thanks for the reply, Yes answering correctly is good but what if the answer is not sufficient enough for them. In one of the interview they asked me about Microsoft Exchange server and i replied it got to do with intranet(as i don't know more about it) they need more on it. In this kind of situation how to move away.
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Oh he is from Bangalore, India just tell them to format and reinstall or use system restore. It has always worked for Dell LOL
Maybe this is why we get bad helpdesk answers!
If everybody are getting bad helpdesk answers then while should they still employ us in serving their products and their customers ?

[PrntRhd]

I have nothing against competent helpdesk support from anywhere. Bangalore is a modern tech center.

There was a real problem on the initial move to outsourcing by Dell in particular where the support was amazingly poor, and the advice that was given was reflecting badly both on the outsource country and on Dell.
Dell has yet to show that it has fixed the problem, and the poor consumer support is trashing both their their reputations.
Dell started having helpdesk employees use names like "Bob" and "Betty" thinking consumers would not know where the support was located but the obvious lies did not help restore or build any trust. It only reinforced unfortunate stereotypes.
:(

Dell outsourced to save money and increase their profitability. The way they did it insulted their customer's intelligence.

In one of the interview they asked me about Microsoft Exchange server and i replied it got to do with intranet(as i don't know more about it) they need more on it.
The reason they ask questions is to figure out whether you really know the subject they asked about. If you don't know, it is better to say you don't rather than to guess and show you don't. They might decide to train someone to know if they see potential and good judgment.

FYI, MS Exchange is an email server program, not intranet.

[karthik]

Thanks PrntRhd for the reply, I will do my best.
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And regarding the Dell thing, You will hardly find Dell PCs here !! because hp has dominated in India. I really don't know how many centers does Dell have in India and a call center for Dell I afraid not in India.
There are numerous openings for hp call center infact last week I accidentely when for a hp callcenter interview mistaken for system administrator post.
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Any way thanks all for the advice.

[Erik]

I think that if you don't know anything about the question just say so. If you know very little maybe through out all I know is...

Better than just saying somehting trying to cover up you don't know and getting caught. Or worse giving a completely wrong answer and looking like a fool. Remember this is your first impression with these people, do you want it to be that you are incompetant and a liar? I wouldn't.

[Variable]

Having been on on the interview questions. I would agree with Erik. IT is such a diverse field if you start spitting out unrelated information, to the question at hand, you end up looking silly. Better to sit quietly and think about the question and if you come up with nothing, simply say, you do not know about "XYZ" but you will quickly come up to speed on any subject you need to learn about. Turn the unknown answer in to a statement about how fast you learn and how much after hours time you will spend on being the best "insert job name" you can be.