Help Desk Training Episode 2 - Ask End-Users the RIGHT Questions

[@sethplaisance5160]

I've really grown to resent the "What changed?" question because that's what my users ask me. If I knew that, I would have fixed the issue before you called me. Not to mention, when I've asked my users "What changed?" they get mad and usually respond "I don't know! I don't work in IT! You do! What don't you know how to do your job?" I typically stay away from that one honestly. However, the "When does this happen?" although worded very broadly in this example, is probably the best one you can ask. Some times, even just repeating the quest after they say "All the time!" will get them talking and they'll say something like "Every time I open my mail client!" or "When I do *insert action here*". You really have pull that information out of them, especially if you can't get to them in person. Some people will say they're not computer or tech savvy, but they understand systems and they understand enough to know that when they click on something, it doesn't happen because "magic". My favorite ones are the users that don't quite understand, but want to know more. Not the ones that ask a question by telling me how they think it works, but the ones that ask "How does this happen?" "Why?" because in the end, they're prompting me. They're getting me to think through these processes and sometimes that's helpful when you have 40 to 50 something tickets open and everything is starting to merge into one giant issue.

[@Drieana313]

Thank you for this comment!

[@osamakacem]

last week i landed a help desk interview, passed my first one, and heading to the second phase of the process, i am nervous, that's what brought me here. i appreciate your help and the amount of experience and info you're sharing. Ultra helpful!

[@ataylor9954]

They will ask you to explain a troubleshooting procedure for various issues, that's the most common question. lol

[@Joker-jz9cn]

How did the interview go?

[@osamakacem]

@@Joker-jz9cn interview went well, but did not get the job lol

[@Joker-jz9cn]

@@osamakacem ahh do you work in it related field? I just graduated with bachleors in information technology and i started applying for help desk job and got my first interveiw this upcoming week

[@osamakacem]

@@Joker-jz9cn yes! Now i am in technical support and trying to progress in the company, i think its a very good post to start your career, if you get experience, you can go places. Good luck

[@Letmein444]

I gotta say, this series is a godsend! I've been trying to get into the IT field for a long time and finally get in. Now I'm realizing how hilariously inexperienced I am when paired with my co-workers. I have a phrase, "I don't know what I don't know until I learn it." Which is true with asking the right questions! I had no idea what questions to ask, and didn't know what answers to look for. Thank you for these videos! Keep it up!

[@youtubesadhominem9118]

"please reset my password" "What is your end goal here?!"

[@ZombieRommel]

"Can you walk me through everything you're clicking before this happens?" "When did you first notice this? When was the last time it worked properly? Is this happening to other people or just you?"

[@demetriolanderos8742]

This is wayyyyyy better than, "what changed?" Or "when does this happen?" What changed is it f#ckin stopped working. When it happened is right before I called you. If it happened earlier, I would have called earlier.... Walk me through your clicks. That is specific and helpful.

[@Donesyboy]

This video gave me more training than my company ever did. Considering we cover 46+ hospitals that's a real head scratcher... Thanks!

[@ashtreylil1]

What changed? : nothing, it just stopped working. It has to be a glitch i didnt do anything. How do you want your work flow to be? : I just want it work so I can do my job. I can't do anything without this being fixed. When is it happening? : " it's happening all the time" I just came into work and it was like this. I really love helping people out but it's tough when they won't give you the information to help them. Rephrasing a question you asked previously and got a dud response is successful more often than I expected it to be.

[@Itcareerquestions]

Lol I can't help but laugh. I'm sorry.

[@kevmugi1265]

Another great question would be " Please kindly tell me what is the exact message error do you see, where is it written (Box,page,notification) and/or if just another thing happens (like slowing down/ other remarquable effects)" helped me a lot during my troubleshoot according to issue's nature

[@stevenlockey2022]

Always good to have a refresher on these types of questions. Over my 14 year career in I.T (telecommunications) we get complacent. Getting back to basics always helps. Great new video series keep up with your creative juices.

[@sunnymango2101]

Wow! Thanks for this insight. I’ve been doing this with customers and employees as a free lancer and I didn’t even realize it applies everywhere.

[@mgkaung532]

I appreciate for your videos. My favorite question to ask the client is "What is your end goal?" . Yesterday was my first day of handling the calls on my own. I have to keep asking the client a lot. they couldn't get something done because they are not in the right track.

[@ohlala8225]

Man, you are so cool! I am gonna start my first Help Desk position soon, and you make the stuff look so easy for us. Thanks for the tutorial!

[@epidemicvenom8944]

I dig the new intro/outro keep up the good work man! You inspired me to get off my ass and actually get my associates in Computer science/IT

[@Itcareerquestions]

Thank you! Appreciate that! I'm glad I could be of help! Keep on going and good luck!

[@JonathanSteadman2003]

Thats awesome. I want my first ICT job to be help desk. :)

[@raitguy]

You have great users. Mine answer all of these questions with: It dun work It dun work It dun work It dun work It dun work It dun work It dun work I dindo nuffin It dun work It dun work It dun work It dun work What were you doing? I push the button to do my work with my file. What file? What button? It dun work It dun work It dun work It dun work It dun work It dun work lol

[@Itcareerquestions]

Lol, I guess I'm at a point at my career where I'd be like "Okay well when you wanna tell me what's wrong you can call me when you're ready, bye!" But I've been there and I feel your pain! It's frustrating!

[@AegonTheUnlikely]

Your Regular Angry IT Guy bro this is literally my job 😂

[@JeffreyBarranco420]

Carrek2x. 😁

[@ZombieRommel]

Me: Can you please give me your full name and your phone number? User: Yeah, hey, the computer doesn't work. Me: Oh, I see... how exactly doesn't it work? User: I don't know, just not coming on. Me: Do you see any lights on the computer? User: Nah, don't see anything. Me: Are you sure? Nowhere? User: Okay I see an orange light on the PC. It says power saving mode. But when I press the power button, nothing happens. Me: Ok, that's the monitor. You need to press the power button on the PC. User: I just did, that's what I'm saying. I pressed it and it says power saving mode. Me: NO, THE PC. The big tower. User: Oh you mean the mainframe? You want me to press the power button on that? ^actual conversation I've had

[@majksu]

@@ZombieRommel lol, i can relate. I had the same accident on the phone the other day.

[@annieliao996]

Thanks for your video. I need to support English speaker,but I can't speak English well. You help me a lot. Note: Thanks for calling the help desk. This is (your name).How can I help you? 1. What changed? All right, so I understand You're having an issue what changed recently that would cause you to have that issue? Any change on your computer? Any difference changes within the application. Any update was run recently? Or any changed that you can think of ,that can help me address this issue further. it would greatly help. 2. When is this happening? When you receive this error at what time? Can you give me an exact time when this is happening? What point is this happening? Open application? or doing something specific ? Can you tell me what step you taking when this issue happen?

[@Pzhycocore]

man thanks a lot for the tips, i'm in my first help desk job and i'm pretty nervous because english is not my native language so, sometimes it's pretty hard for us to get the exact questions that should be made, this video helps me a lot man !

[@ClaymanGInfo]

I needed a refresher. Thank you for this video.!

[@benter-berg1642]

To start off SOSO(Switch it Off, Switch it On) that will solve about 95% off your problems. Get the user to first off try reboot the pc then go from there.

[@luciusmcinnisjr1984]

wish there were more these vids, I'm new to the IT field and looking for more real world examples like these to help out. Thanks for the tips man.

[@marionklug1341]

Awesome videos!! Keep them coming please.

[@aldusric]

Thanks for this great video. Already waiting for the next one about this training. Keep it up!!

[@danielcastrorodriguez3934]

splendid !!! thank you so much!

[@joseignaciohuertanavarro1535]

Excellent teachings, thank you so much for sharing

[@carterburke1578]

You have way too much faith in users to ask them 'what changed?' and expect them to answer truthfully! They don't know, and will blame any change on you/IT as screwing up the system/network/program/computer vs. their own stupidity. It's ALWAYS something else, the network is slow, the internet is slow, the files are taking too long to open...well maybe instead of wasting 2 mins asking them this pointless question, just take control and see that their HDD has 2megs free space, or their system hasn't been restarted in 17 days, or they have 25 excel spreadsheets open. Rule #1 in hell desk, is to never believe what the user says and for god's sake yank away their local admin rights.......molly coddling users gets you nowhere and only breeds user complacency....

[@speedyjim667]

Haha the end. Gold mate, thanks.

[@karleenjay]

Hi Zach, I love your videos they are very helpful. I'm currently working a help desk position at my school but I'm having a hard time finding a job because at my school, we don't get a lot of calls for me to get more experience that I will need to work at a IT company. I work the help desk job part time and I work another job full time and I'm in school full time. I try to youtube stuff to try and help me gain knowledge but its just hard out there.

[@Itcareerquestions]

Never give up

[@lijie6431]

Just remote into the pc and have the user demonstrate the issue.

[@manafro2714]

You might consider asking if your user is the only one affected, and if maybe they know of a colleague who isn't. Comparing what the one guy who is not affected is doing / how his computer (account, application, etc) is configured might reveal the reason for the general incident. Or not. :D At the very least you will have a reference user in your ticket. No one complained about irrelevant information as much as about missing information.

[@keplynrobinson4115]

Thank you Zack! I’m struggling with asking the right questions in the beginning of the call to determine if it’s network, application and/or hardware. They will say my system isn’t working. I feel like I can’t determine based on what they tell me. Any additional questions anyone can think of? These three are great!!

[@unnamedchannel1237]

in all honesty if you have remote access or if they are near by login and get them to show you

[@rachelwilliams8340]

Hey Zack, your videos are very helpful. Question, what do the different tiers mean?

[@Itcareerquestions]

Without watching the video again because I can't recall exactly what I said I believe I was referring to the different tiers in help desk and different tiers in entry level roles. Sometimes you'll have tier 1, tier 2, tier 3 So help desk 1, help desk 2, help desk 3 or desktop support analyst 1, desktop support analyst 2, desktop support analyst 3 etc...etc... From there it could go on to maybe a Senior Help Desk role, or Senior Desktop Support Analyst After that it would flow to a Jr Sys admin, or Jr Network Admin etc. I hope this helps!

[@brantbloxom]

Do you have a video on all the different career options in the field of IT with detailed descriptions on what you do in the job, and how you can get that job? And if not, do you plan on making one in the future?

[@Itcareerquestions]

I don't have a video like that. There are a TON of career options in the I.T. field. I can look at making some things like that down the road but there's not plan on that int he near future.

[@ataylor9954]

My best response to angry idiots are "I'm not a psychic so I cannot see your screen, therefore you need to explain the issue or provide screenshots" It gets to you after a while when people asking you dumb questions on a daily basis. lol

[@davidratkay9281]

Really appreciate these videos!

[@Josh-lx5qt]

I like these help desk videos

[@Camdrawsthings]

Your'e a life saver. Thankyou for this valuable content

[@gazwanhayat2637]

Thank you for the video.

[@sd1cali2]

Swap the outro with the intro. They are a good addition! Intro should be short but catchy tune. In the outro display your social media. Hope this helps. Love the hard work. Thank you!

[@Itcareerquestions]

It's just a test run. Thanks for the input!

[@farahqonaish4615]

Great information! Thank u

[@AngelicRecolours]

Yanno what this has helped a lot. I start working at an IT help desk Friday and I’m super nervous this is definitely helping me get prepared and to grasps with it. Thank you!!

[@Itcareerquestions]

You're welcome! Always here to help.

[@John-vi2st]

Thanks! I used these points and helped someone! :)

[@denisela3403]

Your name tag always crack me up. 🤣🤣

[@76ayoub76]

Thanx mate

[@hedysown]

Hi Zack! I'm from Brazil. I've found your channel just a few days ago and I'm thinking it amazing! But please, when you did videos with episodes put the previous links under the video. Forgive about my poor English and thanks for your videos!

[@Itcareerquestions]

Thank you! I appreciate that! I included the link for you now in the video and here it is for the previous video: kzbin.info?o=U&video_id=Ej881QxWeHM

[@micjakes1]

How much training is needed for help desk. Will someone new to the industry(i know nothing), have a chance at help desk?

[@Itcareerquestions]

Getting the CompTIA A+ will make you qualified for help desk jobs. If you don't know anything about technology then it's going to be very difficult. Youd have to hope someone would take a chance on you for some reason.

[@micjakes1]

@@Itcareerquestions In the fall I will be taking a help desk course along with a major in database admin or web design. Maybe that will help. Worked at a collections call center years ago so I can sit at a computer for 8 to 12 hours. Can't wait to get out of the nurse aide field.

[@johnjohnjubilo]

Watching 2nd EP

[@MisCursos-fi9nw]

Today I had a job interview for a company in India looking for staff for technical assistance for their program. What he asked me was what are the steps he would take to answer a call. And how do I request it? That is the subject that left me to understand. Because if he is a very angry customer, how am I going to request the information?

[@mohammadilhamrahimi2636]

Dear sir, i am a bachelor of computer science, what type job can I handle if a person who got his bachelor degree in computer science so what are those specific tasks that he can handle ????????????????

[@lijie6431]

ilham bashar get experience in help desk first. Then get some certifications.

[@Manu-]

Are you wearing "the" VMware tag 🤯🤯🤯😍😍😍

[@sajee17]

Really helpful.... Thank you bro 😙

[@ankushdeep8233]

Hey everyone...I recently graduated in Computer Applications...I got pretty good knowledge about computers and how they work...know things about Networking...so what certification should I go for If I wanted to get into IT...i like assembling and disassembling PC'S... opened my laptop by myself to solve little problems...What certification should I consider?? A reply would be helpful

[@thibaaanthibaaan4287]

Learn programming language ( java , python , c++ ,....etc)

[@frankfurty7553]

Thank you :)

[@conforama02]

👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@demetriolanderos8742]

CAN YOU WALK ME THROUGH EVERYTHING YOU'RE CLICKING WHEN THIS HAPPENS?

[@LabEveryday]

Dope series and great intro man. Let’s collab I got an idea. When you have time hit me.

[@omarp.garcia4734]

3 2 1 0 Love it

[@Itcareerquestions]

+Omar Alber Gasó thanks! Just trying something new!

[@Mrsubset]

Thumb up!

[@gregoriozubiri]

MORE HELP DESK PEALSE!

[@yard2x637]

Im 35 am i too old to get into IT?

[@sethplaisance5160]

Nope! I'm 26 and started doing this for a pay check at 22. I really started as a kid helping my family, but I think NOW is always a good time to start. Sure, you'll have to study or get some hands on experience, but you have to do that for just about everything. The worst advice I was given when starting out was "Figure out what you want to do then start." The IT world is so vast that if you wait to start before picking something, you'll never find the thing you like. Start in support somewhere. Look for support jobs in your area (or even other places!) and while working on that, I'd recommend learning how to solve general computer issues first because each company has their own set of applications that they use. Learning those comes with the territory, although learning widely used applications like Outlook, MS Office products, etc isn't a bad idea either.

[@demetriolanderos8742]

Those honestly sound like stupid and useless questions. I absolutely hate it when people ask me those type of questions. When I say all the time. I do not exaggerate. But I know that a lot of other people do

[@adnanabro5877]

Tell me Names (list) in the field of information technology .

[@markread7333]

Jesus, was this produced by Seth Rogan while he was on a ‘shroom trip?! I realize it’s a low-budget training video, but take five minutes to get 1) a solid desk instead of a wobbly card table, 2) Ditch the hoodie; pretend you’re not a stereotypical IT nerd, 3) find a non-fake brick corner backdrop, 4) Skip the fake phone call/ring for each “question”; just answer properly the first time, then hold the phone while you talk to your audience, then go back to the “caller” For the next question. It shows you care about your presentation, and gets your viewers to invest in your content.