NHS interview IT systems administration test

noisemonkey

I've got an interview booked for a clinical systems admin post and in the intereview info it says they'll be a task requiring the candidate to demonstrate familiarity with both MS Office and system administration. I'm fine with the Office side of things although I'll revise some Excel stuff I'm just not totally sure what the System Admin part could be about. I guess it's Active Directory based? Has anyone else had this requirement come up in their interview?

littleboo

A sys admin could be performing a wide range of tasks from user account administration to installing and configuring software, backups, recovery, storage management, configuration of networking, building servers, performance tuning,upgrading and patching operating systems etc It really depends on how the company is organised. What does the job spec say ?

TELLIT01

If you have no idea what IT systems administration is all about I suspect you may be applying for the wrong job. Littleboo has outlined the role in broad terms.
You say you are fine on the Office stuff which makes me suspect your background is in office administration which is an entirely different beast to IT systems administration.

noisemonkey

In the job description it says :

• Minimum 4 years practical application of Clinical Systems / Health Records procedures at an advanced user level
• Previous experience in IT support role

which I have both of, it doesn't mention specifically any other systems and from the rest of the job description it only talks about clinical systems so not general Windows stuff which I have some knowledge of anyway.

BDDazza

noisemonkey wrote: »

In the job description it says :

• Minimum 4 years practical application of Clinical Systems / Health Records procedures at an advanced user level
• Previous experience in IT support role

which I have both of, it doesn't mention specifically any other systems and from the rest of the job description it only talks about clinical systems so not general Windows stuff which I have some knowledge of anyway.

I wasn't going to reply but you're getting very few responses. My background is in computing so I can help.

IT Systems Administration has nothing to do with "office stuff" or using "office software". The title is actually very misleading. Its a effectively a cross between a Computer Technician and an IT Network Engineer. Its a technical role.

A typical IT Systems Administration would typically look after the operation of the hardware and software infrastructure on the network. Such as troubleshooting and carrying out physical upgrades, maintenance, repairs to the servers.


You will also be responsible for configuration of the security i.e. that the firewall is blocking the correct ports and the correct users are configured to access data only pertaining to them.


This is only a tiny breakdown of what they do. A typical day will be miscellaneous in regards to which IT problems you may encounter.


Monday, a node on the server could fail. You will have to troubleshoot the problem and repair it.
Tuesday, one of the hard disks need replacing, you will have to remove and replace it
Wednesday, staff member login isn't working, you will have to authorise a new username and password
Thursday, managers say they are migrating to a UNIX server, you will have to build, install and maintain that server
Friday, the data on the UNIX server is lost, you will have to recover that data.


The list goes on....basically you will be this guy!

LittleVoice

Given that the OP is asking about a job in the NHS and the original reference was to a "clinical systems admin post" and that the job description person spec requires "practical application of Clinical Systems / Health Records procedures at an advanced user level", it may well be that this is not an IT Systems Administrator role at all.


The OP also refers to MS Office, so the later reference to "office" is about Office and that knowledge could come from a background other than straightforward office administration.


I hope the OP returns to tell us how they got on at the interview. Good luck any way.

noisemonkey

Thanks for the replies guys. As these attributes are only two amongst many on the job description it's hard to gauge exactly what's involved but it does say I would be liaising with desktop and server support so I guess it's only partly technical which is what I wanted as a foot in the door to more tecchie work. As a bit of background I've been working on the SSD National Service Desk for the last 7 years which provides overarching incident management and support for all NHS trusts in England. We do also support South Devon trusts with their clinical IT support with a bit of user admin and updating of patient's records. I guess it was enough to get an interview so hoping this will be enough.

TELLIT01

From the 'liaising' bit it would seem that the role may not be hugely technical. More like you being the techies contact if things go wrong in your location. They would probably get you to do some basic testing / switch off and on again work before they made the trip out.
If you have the interview it would be daft not to go. If they decide they need somebody with more technical knowledge then so be it, but it may be a golden opportunity to get a foot on the bottom rung of the tech ladder.

BDDazza

noisemonkey wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys. As these attributes are only two amongst many on the job description it's hard to gauge exactly what's involved but it does say I would be liaising with desktop and server support so I guess it's only partly technical which is what I wanted as a foot in the door to more tecchie work. As a bit of background I've been working on the SSD National Service Desk for the last 7 years which provides overarching incident management and support for all NHS trusts in England. We do also support South Devon trusts with their clinical IT support with a bit of user admin and updating of patient's records. I guess it was enough to get an interview so hoping this will be enough.

From what you've said you definitely have some of the skills required. It really just depends at which spectrum the technical stuff is required. You've made it to interview so they are definitely interested. If you get it the NHS will train you further and hopefully pay for relevant certifications. (MCSE, MCSA, CCNA, CCNP etc.)


Good luck.

noisemonkey

I got the job! the test was actually to create a minimum data set template for system testing

TELLIT01

Great news. Congratulations. Now all you have to do it make the most of the opportunity - I'm sure you will.