Advice for website admin/design based job interview?

Surfer

Surfer

Surfer

Soldato
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hi there :) I have an interview this week for a job on a web team its mainly admin based but with webdesign support. (as there is already web developers and web contents and promotions officer etc on the team) Looking for advice really.

Will be using their content management system (not sure which one, maybe sharepoint?)

This is the main brief:
Support the development of the website and intranet (done this before
Assist the Website Content and Promotions Officer (WCAPO) to create and maintain website and intranet pages using the Content Management System (CMS) and other related systems.
Assist the WCAPO to identify, plan and organise training for Service users
Assist Services to develop specific areas and pages of the website and Intranet.
Assist the WCAPO to develop and distribute appropriate marketing and promotional material for the website and the intranet.
Assist the WCAPO to facilitate two-way communication about the website and intranet across the organisation and with external stakeholders
Click to expand...

Just wondered if anyone has any advice or websites i could read to revise all the web terminology and protocols? For instance i know in my last role we had to make sure our website would be correctly formatted on various different browsers and that it was compatible with screen readers etc. There was a webpage which i could check our webapge against to make sure it complied with W3C standards etc. (forgot where it is but i'm sure if i google i'll find that)

Really need this job so overkill is better than not knowing enough. I have done most of the things in the above brief before (though for the NHS)
 
From the brief you've posted, you won't be doing anything technical. You'll be putting content into a CMS (something which shouldn't involve much technical knowledge) and then discussing that content with internal and external users/stakeholders of the site.

What do you do/have you done before?
 
I'd say you should research the company, the targets and the typical customer profiles.

The role itself sounds quite entry-level-ish, so I would assume you'd receive on-the-job training to get you up-to-speed. Just be presentable, punctual, pleasant and honest at the interview.
 
Ive done basic webdesign stuff dreamweaver, html,xtml, css, fireworks application this was just when we had the old library website which we basically used Dreamweaver 4 to do.

Then we moved to a CMS (which was a ******* nightmare) mainly because it operated on a "lowest common denominator" basis (ie on that basis so that it would be compatible with most browser versions). Even inserting photos onto a webpage was a hassle (a 2 or 3 step process changed to a 15 step process)

But yeah i know i wont be doing the teccy stuff but i need to know the terminology to be able to talk and understand what the developers are saying to me. Understanding the tech side of things would help me because i would be able to contribute to the discussion.

This is for a council job...maybe i should try and find out which cms they are using?

edit: ahh found that i think http://www.activedition.com/Clients/AberdeenCouncil1.aspx
 
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Although WYSIWYG editors are meant for non-technical users in updating website content, I find they don't always work as intended and you sometimes need to switch to Source mode. In light of that, they may be looking for someone with a basic understanding of HTML and maybe CSS also. w3schools is usually ok as a reference guide but not perfect.

Browser compatibility issues are probably as bad as they've ever been with the market share being so divided now so cross-browser testing is still very important although if working solely with WYSIWYG editors and not doing any actual web design, that may be mostly irrelevant in that role. Regardless, they may however feel more at ease if you say that you do cross-browser testing.

Edit: just seen that it's a council role. I believe public bodies have a legal requirement to make their websites accessible. Accessibility is quite a large topic and can cause design headaches but as you're only dealing with content, your problems are reduced to things like making sure images have alt tags.
 
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RedvGreen said:
I'd say you should research the company, the targets and the typical customer profiles.

The role itself sounds quite entry-level-ish, so I would assume you'd receive on-the-job training to get you up-to-speed. Just be presentable, punctual, pleasant and honest at the interview.
Click to expand...


Yep i did what you suggested. Interview went quite well except one of the questions i ballsed up. (out of around 8 questions)

I know these question things at interviews are based on a point system (the interviewee mentions certain things that is on the sheet that the interviewers tick etc).

Just been plenty of times i've had an excellent interview and still not managed to snag the job...feels more pot luck than anything.

Thanks for the advice in this thread though.
 
Seems they are using .net as their platform, so the CMS will be something along the lines of Umbraco, Sitecore, etc.
 
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