My manager recently left, and I've been asked to interview candidates for an intermediate systems administrator position while helping move toward a management role myself. I'm comfortable with the technical work, but I'd like a stronger interview plan.
What behavioral questions help reveal someone's communication style, work ethic, troubleshooting habits, teamwork, accountability, and willingness to learn? I'd also appreciate general technical questions that test practical systems knowledge rather than trivia. The exact technologies will vary by environment, but topics such as networking, DNS, directory services, servers, backups, disaster recovery, security, and Linux or Windows administration may be relevant.
I'd like to make the process consistent and fair, use the same core questions for each candidate, and understand how to evaluate answers effectively.
5 Answers
Process-based technical questions are usually more useful than asking someone to recite commands. Ask them to walk through troubleshooting a DNS issue, a failed directory-service replication, a user who cannot reach an internal application, or a server that suddenly becomes unavailable. Look for a structured process: clarify the symptoms, check scope and recent changes, consult documentation or search for known issues, gather evidence, make one controlled change at a time, communicate status, and document the resolution.
If you aren’t deeply familiar with every technology you’re evaluating, involve another experienced administrator in the technical portion. You can focus on behavioral topics, while the technical interviewer verifies whether answers are accurate and appropriately detailed. Use a shared scoring sheet so every candidate gets the same questions and is judged against the same criteria.
That’s especially important if the team currently has no dedicated technical lead. Even a short panel with someone who knows the environment can prevent you from overvaluing confident but incorrect answers.
Build questions around the systems the person will actually support: VLANs and gateways, DNS, directory services, Windows or Linux administration, firewalls, backups and recovery, virtualization, clustering, endpoint management, and basic security. A useful scenario is: “A user opens an HTTPS connection to a public website—what has to happen from the workstation to the remote server?” A solid answer may cover certificates, DNS, routing, firewall rules, address translation, and what happens beyond the local network. You can then probe whichever area is relevant to the role.
For behavioral questions, ask things like: How do you prioritize when several systems or users are affected? Tell me about a project you’re proud of. What project went poorly, and what would you do differently? How do you handle a mistake? How do you work with someone you disagree with? How do you document and share what you learn? These questions reveal judgment, accountability, communication, and whether the candidate analyzes problems without simply blaming others.
Describe the real working environment honestly instead of trying to assess personality with personal questions. Explain how the team communicates, how much documentation and coordination are expected, who the role interacts with, and what the day-to-day workload is like. Then ask candidates how they prefer to learn, communicate during incidents, and work with colleagues who have different styles. Check any behavioral questions with HR so they stay job-related and avoid protected personal topics.
I also like asking how they would explain the issue to a nontechnical stakeholder. Someone can be technically strong but still cause problems if they cannot communicate clearly during an outage.