Job interview for Systems Administrator?

cheghead

I have an internal interview for the above vacancy tomorrow. It's for the NHS as I am currently under notice of redundancy. Trouble is although I have fairly good admin and computer skills and an electronic background I don't really know what the job entails. I tried searching on job profiles and most say it is to administor the computer network.

Any1 have a similar job and could give me an idea what is involved. Also what sort of questions I could ask?

Cheerz

[Deleted User]

Is it a 'Sys Admin' job in an IT department? That would involve knowing A LOT about computers, unix, maybe a bit of hardware. It may be another kind of administrator.. but that's what it means in IT terms

cheghead

ringo_24601 wrote:

Is it a 'Sys Admin' job in an IT department? That would involve knowing A LOT about computers, unix, maybe a bit of hardware. It may be another kind of administrator.. but that's what it means in IT terms

Hardware I'm fine on but not really any experience in an IT dept.

Personally I think they might be offering the interview just to be part of the redundancy procedure and make it look like they're trying their best!

[Deleted User]

I work in a Healthcare IT firm so I've met several NHS sysadmins. You would generally be familiar with UNIX, in terms of set up and system security. You'd also need to know about networking and email systems.

merlinormartin

hi Cheghead .. i recently applied for a system admin position, the positions main tasks involved.
- Prompt answering of the support telephone
- Ensure support calls are logged accurately and are assigned to the appropriate support staff.
- Perform fundamental IT support tasks.
- Monitor and escalate calls according to agreed service level.
- Maintain service desk management and analyst reports.
- Maintain the software library and also the library of hardware and software manuals.
- Assist in software licencing.

If you have a goodworking knowledge of IT and the willingness to new skills, you'll be fine.

Astaroth

That does sound much more like a helpdesk job than a System Admin. Have to say that the system admins I have known have been much more technical than call prioritisation and would require significant knowledge of the server/ client setups that you have, how systems interact and to a lesser degree networking over lans/ wans/ gateways etc

merlinormartin

Hi asta ...the positon was for system admin within the "defense industry" they was more interested in the ability to learn new skills rather than what u already knew. Most companies use different software and different procedures so if you show them you have underpinning knowledge of IT and the enthusiasm/Intelligence to learn new skills you'll be fine.

peter999

cheghead wrote:

I have an internal interview for the above vacancy tomorrow.

Sorry if you don't know what a Systems Administrator does, it's unlikely you'll be able to do it.

It is not just using common computer skills and it is not just IT support.
-backup & restore, networking, security, IT support, setup, fault finding,
rebuilds, updates, software releases.

peter999

peter999

merlinormartin wrote:

Hi asta they was more interested in the ability to learn new skills rather than what u already knew. Most companies use different software and different procedures so if you show them you have underpinning knowledge of IT and the enthusiasm/Intelligence to learn new skills you'll be fine.

Generally a Systems Admin person won't have much help or backup.

Most companies cannot employ someone to learn on the job, as having problems with their network, restoring/maintaining IT systems is too important.

peter999

peter999

ts_aly2000 wrote:

SysAdmin is exactly as you say Peter Yet in some companies it can be as basic as IT Support and adding new users to a Windows box. In others it's as intense as full blown UNIX admin, mail forwarding, Checkpoint firewall walls. The works.

The NHS is a classic for getting the SysAdmin roles wrong. It just depends on the HR departments and how *techie* the IT Managers are. More often than not NHS IT Managers are nothing more than beaurocrats that by chance fell into the job and tell their management what they like to hear.

Yes, you need to know what you are being interviewed for.

A job title doesn't tell you very much, I'm just guessing.
.

Savvy_Sue

I'm astonished you've not been given a Person Spec and Job Spec. How can you be sensibly interviewed if THEY don't know what they're looking for? And how can you give a good account of yourself if YOU don't know what they're looking for?

If you can get the specs emailed to you before the interview it would be a good thing. And if you can't, then that would be my first statement at interview: I haven't been sent the specs and hope this will not prejudice the interview because I am not entirely clear what role you are hoping I can fill - or something like that!