What is considered help desk experience?

 

 entry level help desk jobs

Working at a help desk or in a support role is a great way to be tapped into the core of any business: customers and products. In a help desk job, you get to connect with customers, understand their experience with your company, and get to know the product inside and out. It takes a certain mix of skills, values, and personal characteristics to really go far in a help desk or support career.

I sat down with Rick Bal, a Premier Support Manager here, and asked what impresses him most when looking for and interviewing help desk or support candidates. With over 5 years leading and staffing Atlassian support teams, Rick knows what makes for a stellar help desk support agent.

12 traits hiring managers look for in help desk job candidates

1. A real desire to help people.

This person does a great job because they truly want to help others, not because it’s “their job”. They work hard to play hard, find joy in their day-to-day tasks, and have passion for their role.

2. Works ‘with’ and not ‘for’ the customers.

A superior support agent sees the customer as an equal partner, and considers themselves an extension of the customer’s team. Identifying with the customer as a partner helps support agents treat problems as their own and provide a level of service that they would expect themselves.

3. Positive and optimistic approach to problem-solving.

Support jobs can be difficult, but this person doesn’t allow negative customer interactions to become contagious. In the face of a tense or charged situation, this person knows how to stay logical and focus on solving the issue at hand. They approach customers with empathy, don’t complain about customers when things get tough, and look for what can be learned from the situation.

4. Creates and cultivates a playful and relaxed work environment.

This person enjoys themselves at work, spreading a positive can-do attitude. A great support agent integrates a bit of fun into their daily tasks to make everyone’s loads a little lighter. Office pranks are always a fun way to do this.

5. Collaborative team spirit.

This person feels responsible not only for their own tasks, but also cares about their team’s workload, too. They know when to ask for and offer help, and understand how much they can take on at a time. They care about the team’s success, and are happy to sacrifice personal goals when needed to help the team achieve its goals. There are times you will get pulled into a call that lasts for hours on end, so it’s good to know the team can cover for you.

6. Passion for the product.

An awesome support agent is an informed champion of their products. They’re enthusiastic about using them, understanding how they work inside and out, and seek to improve them. This natural curiosity drives them to tinker, and truly understand how the product works, not just how to fix it when something breaks. This type of passion for the product shows up in customer interactions, and it’s infectious.

The greatest opportunity for help desk technicians

  help desk job

"Some people use it as a launch pad, and other people make it a dead-end job," he says. The greatest opportunity for help desk technicians lies in their ability to learn about different facets of the business, "which makes them more valuable than a pure IT guy," says Rosen.

When Anthony McCloud graduated from Graceland University in 2000, he didn't have a smidgen of business experience. He didn't know the first thing about business processes, customer service, or the quirks and habits of business workers. https://www.fieldengineer.com/blogs/what-does-a-help-desk-technician-do

Now he knows all that and much more. McCloud has spent the past seven years working in help desk-related roles at four companies, including stints for a high-tech equipment maker and a small restaurant chain.

The experience he has gained from learning about different businesses and "intermixing" with various types and levels of business workers has been priceless in terms of strengthening his communication and relationship skills, McCloud says.

India’s highest paying tech jobs and the skills that rake in the big bucks

"From my experience, being on an IT help desk has been a huge, huge opportunity," says McCloud, who was hired by Mac Equipment Inc. in Kansas City in June 2007. In addition to his role as the company's lone help desk technician, McCloud has also helped out as a server analyst and has done application development work in SQL, Visual C Sharp and PHP.

On the money front, McCloud doubled his salary when he first left a two-person business to take a help desk job at Mac Equipment, and since then, he has watched his compensation steadily increase at each subsequent position.

As McCloud and others are discovering, many help desks have evolved beyond their ticket-taking roots -- offering expanded opportunities for help desk employees (see "What's in it for you?" for details).

But that doesn't stop some IT professionals from hewing to the "old school" party line that says a career stop on the help desk is a one-way ticket to Palookaville.

"If you're hired just to work on a help desk, that's all you will ever do," says Fred Wagner, a FileNet and Kofax systems specialist for the city of Long Beach, Calif.

In particular, help desk technicians who work in "stovepiped" IT organizations -- that is, companies where systems analysts, network managers and other IT professionals are segregated from one another -- can go 10 to 15 years without being promoted into IT infrastructure, business analyst, systems administrator or other types of roles, he says.

A new breed of IT pros begs to differ, maintaining that a job on an IT help desk can open doors to other IT career opportunities. Help desk technicians, these proponents say, gain valuable experience working with end users throughout the enterprise and learning what makes the business tick.

How much does a Tier 1 Help Desk make?

  help desk technician salary

How much does a Help Desk Tier 1 Specialist make in the United States? The average Help Desk Tier 1 Specialist salary in the United States is $45,150 as of August 27, 2020, but the range typically falls between $40,330 and $50,590. Salary ranges can vary widely depending on many important factors, including education, certifications, additional skills, the number of years you have spent in your profession. With more online, real-time compensation data than any other website, Salary.com helps you determine your exact pay target.

The Help Desk Tier 1 Specialist identifies, researches and resolves routine technical problems of low complexity. Provides support to end users for basic computer, application, system, device, access and hardware issues. Being a Help Desk Tier 1 Specialist documents, tracks, and monitors the problem using applicable systems and tools. Responds to telephone, email and on line requests for technical support. In addition, Help Desk Tier 1 Specialist may coordinate with other teams or departments to resolve user problems. May perform password re-sets for users. May require an associate's degree or its equivalent. Typically reports to a supervisor. Being a Help Desk Tier 1 Specialist possesses a moderate understanding of general aspects of the job. Works under the close direction of senior personnel in the functional area. May require 0-1 year of general work experience. https://www.fieldengineer.com/blogs/what-does-a-help-desk-technician-do

How long should I stay in help desk?

 helpdesk support jobs

How Long Should You Stay on the Help Desk?

We all have to start somewhere, and helpdesk work is as good a place as any for tech professionals to dive in. Helpdesk teaches important communication skills, technical troubleshooting techniques, and how SLAs and call escalations work. If you aren’t much of a conversationalist, then working on the phone all day can help draw you out of your shell. These are all great foundational skills to learn early on in your career and can help you to understand how support roles generally work. How long you should be looking to work in such a position depends on you. You need to consider the important details — career development and room to grow are big ones.

Becoming a Lifer

Different people generally have their own long and short term plans, and not everyone wants to move on from working in a helpdesk role to one like customer support technician or customer service professional.

However, if you are someone that really needs to get their hands dirty with practical work, then moving on is essential. The general rule of thumb is that two to three years is probably the longest you want to be in a helpdesk role if you plan on moving up into a more specialized field. That is assuming that you are using such a position as a stepping stone. Staying any longer and you risk becoming a ‘lifer’ and breaking out of that mold is tough.

Signs of Stagnation on the Helpdesk

There is nothing “wrong” with working in a helpdesk position. Things are good if you are employed at a nice company and you are satisfied with your hours and pay. Some people really enjoy the predictability and security of scripted work. The problem with any entry level role is that it suffocates your potential in the long run if there is no room to grow. If you have any aspirations beyond repetitive tasks, then you are wasting your potential.

How to know you are stagnating:

• Severe boredom at work even though your tasks are all up to date
• Procrastination. Finishing all of your objectives at the very end of your shift
• Doing other things while at work such as watching YouTube or playing games on your phone
• Fatigue and sleepiness while at your desk, regardless of your caffeine intake
• A sense of dread when thinking about your next shift

If any of these symptoms sound familiar then it could be time for you to start thinking ahead and planning a job change.

Leave No Stone Unturned

Helpdesk roles are not necessarily a dead end for an IT professional’s career. There can occasionally be room for promotion and growth in some companies. Think about the career advancement options from your helpdesk job. If your company does upskill and offers assistance with career development, then look at how ex-helpdesk workers have progressed through the organization. Whether this is the case or not will depend entirely on the company that you work for and what their philosophy is on upskilling, training and development. Some companies nurture their employees and ask them to plot out a development map for themselves, while others offer no room for growth.

If you are fortunate enough to work for a company that sees value in developing their helpdesk employees, then you could see yourself filling vacant roles as they become available should you be responsible and show potential, then you could become shift supervisor or general supervisor. From this point you have a few career tracks that you can pursue. You could attempt the management track. The other way to go would be to pursue the technical track. You could become a product specialist, technical lead, or even move on to one of the technical departments within the company’s IT team.

You might be wondering how to get the ball rolling at this point so here are some things you can try. It could be as easy as asking your manager for more responsibilities. Ask for more technical work that you can do when the phones aren’t ringing and things are quiet around the office. You could ask if you are able to assist other technical teams so that you can gain experience on your days off.

Nobody wants to sacrifice a day off, but if you show that you are willing to learn and push yourself then that might get you noticed. For example, maybe you volunteer to assist with server maintenance tasks during off hours. You will gain hands-on experience, while strengthening relationships with other teammates. Having someone who can vouch for you is never a bad thing when you’re looking to move up the ladder.

Evaluate and Act

In an ideal world it would be natural to move up the ladder from helpdesk to another department within the same company. The reality is that most companies find it very easy to fill technical roles through traditional employment processes. Putting time, effort and resources into an employee that might leave soon after does not make business or financial sense. Some companies feel that it is better to hire qualified technical staff than to develop them in-house.

If you have already tried something similar and speaking to your manager doesn’t help to kick start you in a new direction within the company, then you might need to start looking elsewhere. That doesn’t mean that you should just walk out of your job and hope you find something different, not at all. Instead, you need to start upskilling with training and certification in your spare time.

What Does A Help Desk Technician Do?

What Does A Help Desk Technician Do?

Help desk technicians play a crucial role in providing technical support systems for IT users, including employees and customers.

Help desk technician job description

Help desk technicians are instrumental to the smooth running of any IT department, and they also provide a valuable service to customers and clients. Often the first port of call when there is a network issue, these skilled technicians have expertise in customer service, as well as problem-solving.

A help desk technician has a varied role, which is centered on maintaining technologies, providing IT support, troubleshooting and identifying solutions.

Desk technicians can work in-house or remotely on a freelance basis, and their day to day job may change depending on the nature of concerns raised by employees or customers. In-house employees deal only with internal systems and network issues that affect and impact the workforce, while remote workers may deal with customer queries and problems via phone, email or on-site visits.

Help Desk Technician Job Outlook

 

help desk technician job description Employment of help desk technicians and computer support specialists is expected to increase by 10% from 2018 to 2028, faster than the 5% average for all stateside occupations. Demand for help desk technicians will increase as organizations continue to install and update to the newest computer systems to reduce costs and gain a competitive advantage. To improve your job prospects in this field, focus your help desk skill set on the computer systems design industry, as the job market for help desk professionals in this area is projected to grow at twice the rate (24%) over the same 10-year period. Health care is another industry with an accelerated need for IT support specialists.

How long should I stay in help desk?

 help desk support salary

We all have to start somewhere, and helpdesk work is as good a place as any for tech professionals to dive in. Helpdesk teaches important communication skills, technical troubleshooting techniques, and how SLAs and call escalations work. If you aren’t much of a conversationalist, then working on the phone all day can help draw you out of your shell. These are all great foundational skills to learn early on in your career and can help you to understand how support roles generally work. How long you should be looking to work in such a position depends on you. You need to consider the important details — career development and room to grow are big ones.

Becoming a Lifer

Different people generally have their own long and short term plans, and not everyone wants to move on from working in a helpdesk role to one like customer support technician or customer service professional.

However, if you are someone that really needs to get their hands dirty with practical work, then moving on is essential. The general rule of thumb is that two to three years is probably the longest you want to be in a helpdesk role if you plan on moving up into a more specialized field. That is assuming that you are using such a position as a stepping stone. Staying any longer and you risk becoming a ‘lifer’ and breaking out of that mold is tough.

Signs of Stagnation on the Helpdesk

There is nothing “wrong” with working in a helpdesk position. Things are good if you are employed at a nice company and you are satisfied with your hours and pay. Some people really enjoy the predictability and security of scripted work. The problem with any entry level role is that it suffocates your potential in the long run if there is no room to grow. If you have any aspirations beyond repetitive tasks, then you are wasting your potential.