Services Specialist 1 - Field Service and Technical Advising

I am Going through GE Job Interview regarding the above mentioned role. Therefore any hints for the interview experience, atmosphere and questions?

Your help is very much appreciated.
Thank you
 
Of course, technical skill is important.

But, being able to establish relationships with Customers who will have you back on site because of your technical skills--but also because you are pleasant and agreeable--is very important. VERY important.

People can be trained to develop technical skills. It's the people skills that are harder to develop (not impossible, but harder).

The job is 70% people, and 30% technical. Yes, the technical part is important--and that will come and improve with time. If you get invited back to sites because of your pleasant demeanor and attitude. A LOT of GE field service personnel and technical advisors don't have a pleasant demeanor and have an attitude of superiority because they think working for GE entitles them to have that attitude. But, that's one of the things that got GE to the point it is at. And it's not at a very good point right now.

You have to be able to work with people--Customers and internal GE people--to understand the issues and deliver solutions and good information and advice. You have to develop your internal contacts within GE to further your knowledge and gain more insight and understanding.

You will be learning almost every day for years--maybe decades. Things change, but you also have to learn how things were done for decades and why.

You have to be self-motivated, and you have to dig in and study and learn. Just being a GE employee doesn't automatically make you smart or experienced. That all comes with an inquisitive mind, an ability to work with Customers to understand their issues and questions, and to be able to tell them (frequently) their expectations are incorrect and to be able to point to written documentation to support your explanations.

A LOT of so-called "problems" are caused by mis-perceptions by inexperienced people who believe (for whatever reason!) that [this] or [that] should or shouldn't be happening. It's your job to know if [this] or [that] should or shouldn't be happening, or to know where to get the answer(s).

It's not easy--the people part. But, neither is the technical part. It just so happens that the people part is as much and often more important than the technical part. As a GE employee you will have a good support network--if you learn how to use it and use it wisely. As you make contacts and meet people you need to foster those relationships, too, because they have many answers and much information. But, you have to find them--they won't find you. And you have to treat them as friends and colleagues, not just resources to be contacted only when YOU have a need. They need and want feedback on the information and help they provide you, and in return, they will welcome your calls and emails.

So, it's not just Customer, it's also colleagues (maybe that should be capitalized, too: Colleagues). It takes a team. And you are just part of that team. You won't automatically introduced to Colleagues, but you need to seek them out and foster those relationships--just as you foster relationships with Customers.

In your interview, you need to tell them--if they ask, and if they don't--you experiences in working with people. Solving tough problems. Providing solutions. Using your resources (training; knowledge; education; friends; colleagues--even the World Wide Web (the Internet)) to solve issues and expand your knowledge. And, how you enjoy working with people and developing relationships.

Again, the job is 30% technical and 70% people. Maybe more people many times, when the problems are hard and people are difficult. By emphasizing your experience with people and solving their problems--and being willing to work with people (Customers and Colleagues) to provide solutions--you will be demonstrating your abilities as a good field service person and technical advisor.

But, take your cues from the interviewer. He or she may be most interested in your training or experience (not all GE interviewers are good interviewers!). But they want people who are genuinely friendly, easy to work with, motivated to learn and grow, and who have good technical skills and good "investigative" (troubleshooting) skills.

And, be careful what you wish for--because sometimes you get what you wished for, and what you didn't wish for, too. GE is a mixed bag (of people and jobs and directions and needs) right now. They NEED to make money--and you are a resource that can make them money. To do that you have to be working every possible hour of every possible day. And they don't congratulate you for being able to do that--or for doing it well, either. They just expect you to do it. Period. Full stop. You have to find your own satisfaction in the job, and the job involves making money for the Corporation (another capital 'C' word!).

Best of luck!
 
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