helpdesk/ 1st line support. Best way to get into it?

[nature]

whats the best way to get a foot in the I.T industry?

I will acquire work experience on a voluntary basis. What quals are best to get to get a job in helpdesk? 1st line support?

[stone81]

MSDST is a must along with ITIL ver3, or NVQ level 2 in it would be a springboard to the job you are after,

if its something you really want to do, do it but if youre not then dont, its a soul sucking job, if you do take it then try to get to 2nd line as soon as possible trust me on that

[Canker_Canison]

My experience, from both sides of the phoneline, is that you don't need technical knowledge... just good customer service.

Most trained monkeys could do this job. They have software similar to the windows trouble shooter, if it ends in 'contact administrator' they just pass it to the 2nd line support.

That's not to say technical knowledge doesn't help, you can always tell when you're speaking to someone who knows their sh!t.
These are the same people who are constantly getting into trouble with management for solving peoples problems instead of passing it to 2nd line support.

[C64]

There are plenty of places that hire totally unqualified Helpdesk staff.

It's not about helping customers, it's about getting them off the phone as quickly as possible.

I did it for 3 years. I was immensely over qualified compared to my peers, most of whom knew NOTHING about computers and just read out what the computer was telling them to say.

I hated every second of it and I'd wouldn't return to it again even if they doubled my salary.

(wages were good, but not great)

Things improved slightly when I moved from 2nd line to 3rd line.

3rd line support was basically when no-one could help you so you got a call from me and I had time to sit and listen to the customer and work things out, it almost always came to a successful conclusion, simply because I was allowed to take my time and use my own head instead of following some shit software application that thinks it has all the answers.

[nature]

thanks for the insight guys. So at this stage is ITIL, Micro certs etc not required?

Also how long did it take u to get up to 2nd line? Thats my goal tbh.

Lastly do you know any good sites where i could start applying for these kind of rolls?

ive got alot of call centre and Customer sevice skills, but reeds keep turning me down. Ive also got 8 months experience from a computer shop.

[nature]

bump.........