Working at a help desk support job allows you to get close to the heart of any business: its customers and products. A help desk position allows you to interact with clients, learn about their experiences with your firm, and get intimately familiar with the product.
The finest help desk support professionals prioritize end users. If you have excellent communication skills, a willingness to assist end-users, and a knack for problem-solving, then you are a good fit for a career in IT help desk support.
To advance in a help desk or support job, you must have a unique set of skills, beliefs, and personal qualities.
What exactly is Help Desk Support?
Many IT professionals begin their careers as help desk technicians, which is frequently a stepping stone to other employment responsibilities. A solid start on the help desk may pave the way for a successful career in IT.
While help desk technicians often only stay in their position for two years or less, they are vital members of an IT team.
What is the role of a help desk specialist? Here are some examples of usual tasks:
- Installing new technologies and instructing end users on how to utilize them
- Remote technical help through the internet or phone
- File backup and restoration
- Repairing hardware and modifying software to keep operating systems running
To complete these technological duties, help desk personnel must frequently use non-technical abilities like communication, customer service, issue resolution, etc.
The job of a support desk representative is not simple.
Because technicians are continuously inundated with inquiries and concerns, it may be a stressful workplace.
The support desk is a high-pressure atmosphere as well. Despite the disadvantages, working at the help desk may be pretty rewarding if the proper characteristics and abilities are acquired.
Because they are generally the first IT professional that an employee sees, help desk technicians have more ability than anyone else to offer workers a good image of IT across all departments. As a result, support desk technicians must exhibit specific characteristics.
Help Desk Operators Must Have These Qualities To Fit in:
- Prioritize your customers
- Have a Business Understanding
- Be Compassionate
- Work Well Under Pressure
- Be Willing to Learn
- Be Patient
- Pay Attention to Detail
- Have strong time management skills.
Prioritize your customers
The finest help desk technicians consistently prioritize end users. This entails making your present end user’s problem appear to be your top concern, even if you do not consider it a critical issue. Treat each end user’s situation as urgent, and convince callers that their issue is vital to you and dedicated to addressing it.
Have a Business Understanding
It would help if you were business savvy to be a successful help desk technician. This entails asking an end-user where they are phoning from and what their job is inside the organization right away.
Knowing this provides the help desk professional with how difficult the end user’s situation is.
For example, the technician may be chatting with someone who may lose a significant transaction if their problem is not resolved immediately. Spend a half-day in each area to get a sense of the firm as a whole.
Be Compassionate
Empathy is far more vital than technical help desk abilities. Help desk workers that are empathetic can connect with their customers and make them feel understood.
Empathy is a taught ability that does not come easily to everyone. Active listening abilities are the easiest method to become more sympathetic. When actively listening, you should be able to repeat what has just been spoken.
As you improve your active listening abilities, you’ll realize that end-users will give you almost all you need to know to solve their problem. This not only increases empathy but also allows you to acquire more knowledge while asking fewer questions.
Repeat what the end-user says to ensure you understand the problem and have all of the necessary information.
Work Well Under Pressure
As previously said, the help desk is a high-pressure atmosphere. If you haven’t honed your ability to perform well under pressure, it may be highly distressing.
Improve your multitasking skills to help you acquire this skill. Multitasking is prioritizing your obligations and remaining focused on the job at hand without becoming sidetracked.
Furthermore, having confidence in technical and non-technical abilities can improve your capacity to operate successfully under pressure.
Take one or two soft skills courses every year and any technical courses related to your work function to improve your skill level and confidence.
Be Willing to Learn
One of the essential characteristics of an outstanding help desk technician is a willingness to learn. Humility and the capacity to accept constructive criticism from peers are required for a readiness to learn. This trait is highly appealing to businesses; almost every firm wants to hire lifelong learners.
If moving beyond the help desk is your objective, increasing your desire to learn can help you get there. It will also enable you to hone your help desk abilities to better support end consumers. Look for opportunities to learn from what others do and the comments they give.
Be Patient
Patience is beneficial to help desk technicians. IT professionals who choose to be patient with themselves and others are better equipped to get to the bottom of problems and discover solutions swiftly.
To be more patient, keep in mind that your end customers are not as technically savvy as you are. This will help you maintain your calm and establish a connection with them.
Keep in mind that some folks will have to wait a long time to speak with you.
When they eventually reach you, it’s understandable that they’ll be irritated. You must be patient to calm them down and win their trust and confidence.
To be more patient, try to understand where your end customers are coming from.
Pay Attention to Detail
Another characteristic that any help desk professional should have is the ability to pay attention to detail. This works hand in hand with analytical thinking and entails listening attentively to your end-user to uncover indications as to why they are experiencing a technical difficulty, then zeroing down on and investigating the things that stick out to you.
Help desk technicians that pay close attention to detail tend to work effectively with second-and third-level teams and provide a positive value perception for end users.
Details important; aggressively listen to and analyze what your end-user says you to address their problem.
Have Strong Time Management Skills
Time management is critical for a support desk technician. Time management does not always imply arriving to work on time. That is the definition of punctuality. It entails making the most of your time to provide the most significant value to your end consumers.
Time management and cooperation go hand in hand.
The more efficiently you cooperate with individuals who can assist you in completing your responsibilities, the more you will achieve. You won’t get as much done as a lone wolf. Make a list of what has to be done in 10 minutes at the start of your shift.
Nine necessary skills for a support desk career
- A genuine desire to assist others.
- Works ‘with’ the customers rather than ‘for’ them.
- Approach to problem-solving that is upbeat.
- Creates and maintains a fun and relaxing work atmosphere.
- Product enthusiasm.
- Communication abilities that are second to none.
- Genuine regard for the consumer.
- Troubleshooting abilities akin to a detective.
- Prioritize quality over quantity.
A genuine desire to assist others
This individual excels because they want to serve others, not because it is “their job.” They work hard to play hard, find delight in their daily activities and are enthusiastic about their job.
Works’ with’ the customers rather than ‘for’ them
A superb support agent views the client as an equal partner and considers themselves an extension of the customer’s team. Seeing the client as a partner allows support workers to handle problems as their own and offer the quality of assistance they would expect.
Approach to problem-solving that is upbeat
Support positions may be challenging, but this person does not allow lousy customer encounters to spread. In a complex or heated environment, this individual knows how to remain reasonable and focused on resolving the matter at hand.
When things go wrong, they engage consumers with empathy, don’t whine about them, and seek what may be learned from the circumstance.
Creates and maintains a fun and relaxing work atmosphere
This individual likes their job and spreads a cheerful, can-do attitude. An excellent support agent incorporates a little fun into them everyday responsibilities to lighten everyone’s stress. Office pranks are usually an excellent method to do this.
Product enthusiasm
An excellent customer service representative is a knowledgeable advocate for their company’s products. They are passionate about using them, learning how they operate from the inside out and working to improve them.
This innate curiosity pushes people to experiment and learn how the product works, rather than simply repairing it when something fails. This sort of enthusiasm for the product is evident in client encounters, and it is contagious.
Communication abilities are second to none.
A great help desk representative genuinely likes interacting with clients. They appreciate the need for listening and understanding before being heard. This individual strives for honesty and speaks tactfully.
They understand how to tailor their approach to various types of clients, ranging from those who want to be your closest friend to those who want the problem fixed. Their natural teaching abilities enable consumers to grasp the product well enough to fix problems on their own.
Genuine regard for the consumer.
It is critical to recognize clients by name in a support desk career and develop meaningful connections with them. This individual attends to the client’s requirements regardless of where they are on the technical and product expertise spectrum, always in a courteous and never condescending or patronizing manner.
Troubleshooting abilities akin to a detective.
This individual knows how to ask the right questions and gather the available data to narrow down the root cause of the issue from the minute a ticket is received. They, like Sherlock Holmes, leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of the truth.
Prioritize quality over quantity.
When you have a lengthy list of tickets and know that more are on the way, it’s tempting to work on as many as you can without actually addressing the issue at hand. Focusing on the quality of assistance you provide rather than the number of issues you handle will guarantee that you genuinely address problems and generate satisfied clients.
Other Help Desk Expertise You Should Acquire
If you want to acquire the traits stated above faster, you’ll need to master a handful of crucial help desk skills first.
Emotional Intelligence: To develop emotional intelligence, ask yourself how your activities influence your end-users regularly. Being emotionally intelligent is being aware of the impact you have on others.
Emotional intelligence is related to empathy, although empathy is more concerned with active listening. On the other hand, emotional intelligence is concerned with knowing how what you do or say makes others feel and respond.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Neuro-linguistic programming is a technique that allows help desk workers and other professionals to turn a negative situation around. It blends emotional awareness with voice and body language, and it is a critical, highly transferrable talent for any IT professional to have.
Taking a course in neuro-linguistic programming or reading a book about it will almost certainly pay off handsomely for help desk personnel.
Conclusion
These characteristics not only boost your performance as a help desk technician and enable you to provide fantastic value to your end customers, but they also put you on track for a promotion and help you optimize your help desk abilities.
Whether you want to stay at the help desk or advance to a different position, you must cultivate all of these qualities.
