Today as I looked at my LinkedIn feed, I saw multiple IT professional groups that had posted basic knowledge polls. Keep in mind these groups are for IT professionals, not random people off the street.
I was amazed that what I consider basic knowledge for anyone working in IT or even those people fresh out of an IT degree program would get these wrong.
One question asked which of the 4 choices were not an operating system. The choices were Windows 8, two flavors of Linux, and Microsoft Office. 3% chose Windows 8, and 2% for each of the Linux variants. So 7% of people that seemingly identify as IT professionals thought Microsoft Office was an operating system. Over 400 responses to that poll. That’s crazy!
These are people that get hired for good roles and probably good money by having a resume that gets them the interview and then claim to know how to do everything in the interviews. I have experience interviewing people like this. If you don’t ask about basics, you would never know they are not as knowledgeable as they claim. By digging down into basics, as well as the main focus of the role, you will see where they fall short and what you will need to help them learn to be highly effective in the role.
Also, when you ask for references, maybe make sure you ask for co-worker references and not just supervisors. Co-workers are in the trenches with the applicant and honestly often know better than supervisors where the applicant excels and falls short. Too many people put experiences on their resume because they had a very small role in a project but claim to have been instrumental in the project. Co-workers will often tell you what tasks the applicant actually did in the role.
The same holds true when you are bringing on a consultant.
If you do not know the basics in IT, there will invariably be times you cannot see the whole picture of how one thing can effect another, because in IT it is fairly common to see an issue caused by multiple things effecting each other for the perfect storm. Does not matter if the position is Helpdesk, PC tech, or an engineer. It all starts with knowledge of the basics.
I’ve seen people with IT degrees and multiple certifications not know the basics. A lot of people memorize things for exams and are great at taking exams, but don’t retain the information. This happens with newbies and people with a decade of experience.
Not all IT Professionals are experts. Due your due diligence with applicants and consultants. Find out what they really know. Their current and past co-workers can be key to this. Ask interview questions that test their knowledge about the basics. Have them explain concepts to you without the technical jargon, so you know they will be able to talk to users and customers on their level for great customer service. This can be done in an interview or two. There is never a good reason to do 5 interviews to determine what they know.
Otherwise you might end up with a so-called professional or expert that can’t answer basic questions like this:
