Help for IT-related systems and products, from specific work images to necessary skills and the actual situation of recruitment, regarding the job type of “help desk” that provides support when users do not understand or have problems I will explain about the desk.
table of contents
- 1. 1. What is a help desk?
- 2. Help desk business
- 3. 3. Skills required for help desk
- Four. Help desk career path
- 5. How to become a freelance help desk
- 6. Qualifications you want to obtain at the help desk
- 7. 7. There are also inexperienced jobs at the help desk
- 8. summary
1. 1. What is a
help desk?
help desk?The help desk is the job of accurately grasping the state of inquiries or troubles to the system, identifying the cause, and resolving the problem.
In addition to inquiries from our employees and corporations that provide services, we have a wide range of business activities such as user support using products, and we are in a position to be the first contact with customers as a contact point for inquiries.
2. Help desk business
The main business of the help desk is to respond to IT-related inquiries from users and lead them to solutions.
Help desk operations can be broadly divided into two types: in-house help desks and external help desks.
2.1 In-house help desk
The first is the in- house help desk that responds to inquiries from employees of the company in the in-house information system department .
We handle all inquiries from employees, such as how to use the in-house system, how to operate the screen, and support for how to use each Office. In addition, management and maintenance of in-house OA equipment, system user account management, PC setup and OS installation, infrastructure management such as servers and networks, etc. There are also a wide variety.
2.2 External help desk
Next is the external help desk business. Our main business is to respond to inquiries from general users who are using the services provided by our company.
In addition to responding to inquiries by telephone as the standing position of the call center, inquiries can be registered in the database, and major problems that cannot be dealt with on the spot can be escalated to related departments and countermeasures can be taken. Responsible for a series of tasks up to resolution.
2.3 Differences between in-house help desk and in-house SE
I think the main difference between the in-house help desk and the in-house SE is whether or not to deal with immediate problems from employees. However, depending on the company, the two are not strictly separated, and it seems that the in-house SE may be in charge of help desk operations.
| type | user | Business content |
|---|---|---|
| In-house help desk | Company employees | Responding to inquiries about in-house systems and in-house infrastructure |
| In-house SE | Company employees | Responsible for the construction of in-house systems and in-house infrastructure to operation and maintenance |
| External help desk | General users outside the company | Respond to telephone and email inquiries regarding products and services provided by the company, and customer support in collaboration with related departments |
Will you contribute to your company through system-related employee support as an in-house help desk? Or, as an external help desk, will you contribute to the operation and development of your company’s system through customer support? Depending on the help desk image you want to be, the job information you should choose will also change.
Details about in-house SE are introduced in the following articles. Please see here as well.
3. 3. Skills required for help desk
3.1 Basic operation of PC
The first thing you need is basic PC operation skills such as Word and Excel.
In addition to PC setup and network connection, basic knowledge of HTML required for Web production will expand the range of work.
3.2 Deep knowledge of products and services
As a matter of course, business knowledge associated with the product or service in charge is required. Since it is the job of resolving
inquiries , it is necessary to sincerely respond to any questions regarding the system or product in charge. You need to be familiar with the system you are in charge of, such as detailed specifications and usage.
In order to work as a help desk, it is a major premise that you are interested in the system you are in charge of.
In most cases, the content of the inquiry is manualized to some extent, but in some cases it may be a special case or it may not be possible to resolve it on the spot. It is also necessary to investigate by yourself and ask other members for their opinions each time.
3.3 Communication skills
It is necessary to accurately hear what the other party is trying to convey with just the telephone (email).
In the case of face-to-face communication, it is possible to explain using gestures and diagrams, but it is essential to have communication skills in words only, such as listening to the requirements of the other party and communicating these requirements only by the text of the telephone or email.
In response to all kinds of customer requests, first of all, “Yes, I would like XX”, “I’m clever, I’m having trouble with XX”, and I understand the requirements of the other party . By telling the customer first, the customer can feel reassured that his / her intention is well communicated, and the conversation can proceed smoothly.
In addition, the help desk, which interacts directly with customers, is the face of the company.
It is no exaggeration to say that depending on the response over the telephone, the impression of the company may be affected. Even if you speak or write an email, the way you receive it differs from person to person, so you need to be kind to your customers.
In some cases, complaints are handled, so it can be said that not only IT skills but also skills as a hospitality business are required.
3.4 English skills
Customers or users are not necessarily Japanese, so English skills may be required.
It has been said in various places that IT engineers in the future will need English, and the help desk is no exception, and English proficiency is the best. If you have English skills, you will have more options for recruiting and a wider range of careers.
Languages ​​are required to continue as well as take time to learn. Therefore, it may be necessary to understand that English skills are necessary for any occupation as long as they are IT engineers, rather than being necessary because they are help desks.
Four. Help desk career path
The help desk is a place where customers and users can hear directly.
Therefore, it can be said that the problems that the help desk has are not only the problems that the customer has, but also the problems that the system itself has, and by extension, the problems that the company has.
If you become a leader or manager who has experience as a help desk, you will be asked to make suggestions for upgrading to a better system, analyze customer needs data, and plan new system construction to solve problems. There is also.
There are various career paths after that, such as changing careers to system engineers, network engineers, and infrastructure engineers by making use of the experience and knowledge gained in business.
You can also have a career path of becoming a freelance help desk. For details, see the next chapter, 5. To become a freelance help desk, you may want to refer to.
5. How to become a freelance help desk
5.1 Skills required for freelance
Unlike office workers, freelancers need to acquire jobs by themselves, so look for and acquire jobs. . In addition, you will have to calculate and pay for taxes and expenses such as social insurance and health insurance. In addition, it can be said that more than office workers need to manage time and plan for continuous job acquisition.
Summarizing these, the following four skills are required as freelancers.
- Sales force and bargaining power to get a job
- Self-management ability to control oneself including physical condition management
- Knowledge and procedures for tax returns and social insurance
- Information gathering ability such as always keeping an antenna on the demand and supply of a new society
5.2 Help desk freelance project details and unit price
Help desks are often hired even in the form of dispatch, but the biggest merit of becoming a freelancer at the help desk is that the amount of money taken is increased . In fact, the unit price of freelance projects owned by the company is about 300,000 to 500,000 yen.
Below is an excerpt of the content and unit price of some projects. You can see that there are differences in the work content and essential skills that are added depending on the difference in monthly unit price.
| unit price | Business content | Required skills |
|---|---|---|
| ~ 300,000 yen | ・ Maintenance reception ・ Work arrangement ・ Construction adjustment ・ Progress management ・ Telephone response ・ Email processing ・ Collection and creation of business materials ・ Product inquiries (manufacturer window) ・ Various adjustments (at the time of introduction, maintenance support, arrangement) ・ Remote work / monitoring Business / Customer issue management after introduction / Customer usage manual creation / Internal usage manual creation … etc. |
・ Help desk work experience ・ Beginner qualifications such as IT passport ・ Procedure manual, manual creation experience ・ Document creation experience ・ Person who can master Word, Excel, PowerPoint ・ Person who is strict (person who does not make mistakes) ・ Person who is honest ・ Support work Those who have practical experience and those who have kitting experience |
| From 400,000 yen to 600,000 yen or more |
* In addition to the above contents -Escalation to the development staff, participation in meetings -Additional functions and repairs (* depending on skills) -Interaction with overseas members -Planning / development, operation / maintenance / improvement -Internal and external Support for checking specifications from … ・ Support for OS and HW failures ・ Experience of dealing with L2SW and L3SW failures, command line operation |
・ Practical experience using VLOOK ・ Windows server operation and maintenance experience ・ English conversation ability of daily conversation (TOEIC 600 points standard) ・ English conversation ability at business level ・Person who can make minutes and reports ・ Construction and operation of IT environment ・ High multi-task processing ability ・ NW operation and maintenance experience ・ Project leader experience ・ Practical experience in the field of database language (* LAMP environment in the field) ・ Understanding of Linux commands ・ Knowledge of Windows OS |
5.3 How to find freelance projects in the help desk
A surefire way to find a help desk freelance deal is to ask an agent who handles a lot of freelance deals. Unlike office workers, in freelance, if you do not have a job, the compensation will be zero, so finding a job and getting a job are very important points.
As a merit of asking an agent, in addition to being able to entrust sales, you can know about the demand of the company and the future of the help desk, how to write and show skill sheets, practice interviews, etc. There are many benefits such as getting it.
Most agents have many ideas that aren’t posted on the web. If you have any interests, interests, or wishes, you may apply or ask a question once.
Find the latest freelance engineer deals via agents
6. Qualifications you want to obtain at the help desk
First of all, basic operation of PC and basic knowledge of IT are required.
6.1 Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)
It is a qualification to prove the product operation skill of Microsoft Office.
Sponsored by Odyssey Communications, the four products Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Outlook are divided into specialist level and expert level, and the exams are divided for each version.
Even if you have been using Office for some reason, you may find that there are some scales from your eyes by studying again. It is recommended as a qualification to objectively prove the skill of “basic operation of PC”.
(Reference URL)Â Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS)
6.2 IT Passport / Basic Information Technology Engineer
The IT passport sponsored by IPA asks the IT knowledge required not only by engineers but also by all working people, and can acquire basic IT knowledge.
Please refer to this article for details.
Also, if you want to learn deeper knowledge, there is also an IPA-sponsored basic information processing engineer exam.
This is also said to be the gateway to SE (system engineer), and many IT companies recommend acquiring it. It is a qualification that is indispensable for playing an active role as an IT engineer and is also useful when thinking about calipas.
Please refer to this article for details.
6.3 ITIL Foundation
The ITIL Foundation, which is a collection of IT system operation know-how, is also recommended as a qualification to be acquired at the help desk.
As of March 2018, the ITIL (Syllabus 2011) exam is the latest and is a PeopleCert certified exam. By feeding back systematic knowledge of system operation to the site, it is useful for improving work efficiency such as improving work efficiency and accumulating know-how.
Please refer to this article for details.
7. 7. There are also inexperienced jobs at the help desk
From the image of a help desk = a person who is familiar with the system, it is easy to think that it requires work experience, but there are companies that can apply without any experience in job change activities.
Most companies that hire inexperienced people have a thorough training system from business etiquette to IT training. Even if you are a second-year graduate or change jobs from a different industry, you can change jobs to the IT industry as a help desk, hone your skills, and play an active role as an engineer. There are also dispatched and freelance projects, so you will have more options for your career path.
Jobs vary from company to company, such as help desk jobs related to basic PC operations and specialized help desk jobs related to servers and networks.
In addition, the word “help desk” itself seems to be different depending on the company, such as the dual role of the in-house SE and the help desk, or the job offer for system operation.
If you decide in advance whether you want to grow as a generalist in a wide range, aim to become an expert in a specific field, or how you want to be active, I think that the job check will be smooth.
8. summary
What did you think.
The help desk is the point of contact for companies.
Since you need the knowledge and skills to respond to all inquiries, it will not only be a growth experience, but it will also be a rewarding job. It is a recommended occupation for those who are interested in IT and like to talk with people because they always interact with users. Please try to find a help desk job.
