IT & Infrastructure

Support & Service Desk interviews. 14 titles, each with its own model.

Each page shows the competency model, the questions that test it, what changes with seniority, and where candidates lose the interview.

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Every Support & Service Desk title

14 titles
IT Support TechnicianHelps staff and customers with hardware, software and network problems, fixing issues and keeping day-to-day IT running.Service Desk AnalystActs as the first point of contact for IT issues, logging incidents, resolving common problems and escalating the rest.Help Desk TechnicianAnswers support calls and tickets, troubleshoots user problems and guides people through fixes over phone, chat and remote tools.IT TechnicianSets up, maintains and repairs computers, printers and network equipment, and supports users across an organisation.IT Support EngineerResolves more complex technical issues across servers, networks and applications while supporting users and junior technicians.Desktop Support TechnicianInstalls, configures and repairs desktops, laptops and peripherals, and supports users face-to-face at their desks.Technical Support SpecialistSupports customers and users of a specific product or platform, diagnosing technical problems and guiding them to a resolution.Application Support AnalystSupports business applications in production, investigating errors, working with vendors and developers, and keeping systems available.1st Line Support EngineerProvides the first level of IT support, handling password resets, basic troubleshooting and ticket logging before escalating.2nd Line Support EngineerTakes escalated tickets that need deeper troubleshooting across systems, applications and networks.IT GraduateEnters IT through a graduate, internship or learnership programme, rotating through support, systems and projects to build skills.3rd Line Support EngineerHandles the hardest escalations, root-causing complex infrastructure and application faults and driving permanent fixes.Service Desk Team LeaderLeads a service desk team, managing queues, SLAs, rosters and coaching so that users get fast and consistent support.End User Computing SpecialistManages the fleet of laptops, desktops and mobile devices, including imaging, device management and software deployment.

What the report looks like for Support & Service Desk

Sample report · the format, not a result
Structured troubleshooting4/5
Technical breadth across the stack3/5
Customer communication & empathy2/5
Prioritisation & SLA management3/5
Documentation & knowledge sharing4/5
  • The situation in one sentence: where, what was short, and by how much.
  • The decision that was yours rather than the team’s, and what you chose not to do.
  • One number or one consequence that shows it worked.

Every competency is scored out of five with a line you actually said as evidence, and the weakest answers are rewritten as structure and specifics, never a script.

What Support & Service Desk interviewers keep scoring

Structured troubleshooting

Diagnoses problems methodically: gathers symptoms, forms hypotheses, tests them in order of likelihood and impact, and confirms the fix rather than guessing.

Technical breadth across the stack

Understands end-user devices, operating systems, identity, networking basics, productivity suites and common business applications well enough to solve most issues without escalation.

Customer communication & empathy

Explains issues and fixes in plain language, manages the user's expectations, and stays calm and respectful with frustrated or non-technical users.

Prioritisation & SLA management

Triages tickets by impact and urgency, manages a queue under pressure, meets SLAs, and escalates appropriately with complete information.

Documentation & knowledge sharing

Writes clear ticket notes and knowledge base articles so problems are solved faster next time, and contributes to reducing repeat tickets.

Security awareness & process discipline

Follows identity verification, access, change and data-protection procedures even under pressure, and recognises phishing, social engineering and policy risks.

Ownership & follow-through

Owns a user's problem until it is truly resolved, even when it crosses teams, and does not close tickets to hit metrics.

Infrastructure troubleshooting under pressure

Diagnoses outages and performance problems across servers, networks and services methodically, using the right tools and evidence, and restores service safely.

Server, virtualisation & identity administration

Builds and maintains Windows and Linux servers, virtualisation, storage and identity services (AD/Entra, DNS, DHCP) to a consistent, documented standard.

Network design & operation

Designs, configures and operates LAN, WAN, wireless, routing, switching and firewalls with attention to segmentation, redundancy and performance.

Security hardening & patch management

Keeps systems patched, hardened and least-privilege, manages certificates and access, and balances security against availability.

Backup, disaster recovery & capacity

Ensures data and services can be recovered within agreed RPO/RTO through tested backups and DR plans, and plans capacity before it runs out.

Walk into the real one already warmed up.