Tech Support / Customer Service Flashcards
Tell me about yourself
Grew up in Norwich, studied comp sci at UEA, moved to Bristol for work (tech support), moved up the ladder took a career break after 5 years to travel
Why do you want this job?
Would like to work for a company making a positive difference. Love the branding and message of the company. Good work life balance.
Why YOU?
Have good customer service and technical experience. My CV demonstrates that I go above and beyond, always wanting to learn more and be more useful.
What are your greatest strengths?
I’m a natural problem solver, and I have an aptitude for finding things that could be streamlined. Tenacity
What are your greatest weaknesses?
I can be a bit shy at times, public speaking is not a strong point. Something I’m aware of and work on. Can sometimes zoom in too far and not see bigger picture
What’s your greatest achievement?
My degree. It’s something I worked really hard on, I took on modules that didn’t necessarily play to my natural strengths, and it really challenged me in a way that I just hadn’t experienced before that.
OR perceptium software project.
Tell me about a conflict at work and how you solved it?
The sales team were often noisy / distracting. I asked them a few times if they could keep it down, didn’t really get anywhere. Finally I realised, that I could adjust, and so I did – put headphones in, hot-desked elsewhere if I needed to get something important done.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I would like to try my hand at a managerial or team leadership role, but at the same I know I would have a lot to learn to get there.
What’s your dream job?
I don’t mind what I do, but I’d like it to be for a good cause and I’d want to be the best I can at it
What other companies have you applied for?
Nothing yet really, I’m being picky taking my time to get it right
What are you looking for in a new position?
II like to be good at what I do, so something that plays to my strengths is always good. I also want to learn, and I see a new industry as being a good opportunity to do that.
What type of social work environment do you prefer?
I certainly like to be friendly with colleagues, but I think you also have to know when to respect boundaries / work / deadline.
Tell me about a time you showed leadership
Ownership of perceptium software project - “This isn’t working, we need to change it” dredged the whole thing up from scratch, start to finish, drafted in external stakeholders.
OR took over difficult call / workload from the support team as part of pro serve.
How would your manager describe you?
would hope they’d say I have a strong work ethic, I have an eye for seeing problems and roadblocks and doing what’s necessary to avoid them, and that I’m someone who always wants to improve, and to be useful and valuable really.
How do you deal with stressful situations?
Remember to breathe. Stay organised and make a to do list, no matter how big. One thing at a time.
What do you need to get started?
I’m used to working from home, used to some of the technologies you use like Slack. I think the key thing for me is industry-specific knowledge (i.e. energy). I’m someone who learns mostly by doing - dummy data, test environs etc.
Describe a time you disagreed with a boss’ decision – how did you handle it?
At bp we decided to bring back self implementation – I thought it was a bad idea, potential for havoc on customers and support team. Made my feelings known to the line manager as opinions are valuable. Informed that decision wouldn’t be changed. Decided to do extra prep for when self imp. came back just in case we got caught short.
Give me an example of a time when you had to manage conflicting priorities
Something that used to come up a lot at BP - had two managers, one in UK and one in US. First, try to pre-empt - start every week with a high level review of work coming in, schedule etc. - Build a buffer. Next, stay late or work through lunch. Next, are these things really of equal priority? Finally, ask for guidance on genuine conflicts.
QUESTIONS FOR THEM
What’s your favourite thing about working here?
How often would travel to the office be necessary? Any travel expenses?
Any holiday / benefits etc.?
What are the challenges / opportunities over the next 5 years?
Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult customer
Guy on the phone at bp was notoriously short tempered. Blew up at me one day, swearing etc.
Kept calm, stayed empathetic, tried to reorient the call towards a solution.
Customer eventually calmed down, no final fix but gave workaround. Not happy but not unhappy.
Give me an example of when you gave good customer service
Toni at BP - always calling about Magento problems that weren’t in our remit. Support team sick of her + fobbing off.
I gave it a go one day as I knew how to fix. Explained not our problem but this is how to fix. She was very grateful and made more effort after that.
What does good customer service mean to you?
Pure and simple about being treated as a human and not a number. LISTEN. Treat every case as unique, don’t give canned responses. be as honest as you can.
Do you prefer to work alone or with others?
Both have their advantages and disadvantages, I’m totally comfortable with either. If pushed I probably would prefer to work alone, as I’m someone who likes to take ownership of everything I do.
Describe a time you liaised with other stakeholders to get something done?
When dealing with 2nd tier support queries you often had to draft in help from Escalations, Tech Ops, Product and Dev. Example of corrupted Amazon key that screwed up entire customer account. Required data fix, product / bug fix, documentation update.
