Who we are:
Our IT Firm has been providing IT support and network engineering to Southern California small businesses since 1994. Our average team member has been with us for more than ten years. Many of our clients have been with us longer. We LOVE business, we LOVE people, we KNOW technology.
What we do:
Outsourced IT Support: Our firm acts as the Information Technology (IT) department for companies and organizations that outsource this function. We provide a high level of service delivering the equivalent of a fully staffed in-house I.T. department to small businesses. From desktop support to procurement, we handle it all. As IT is ever-changing, our main focus in the last 12-18 months has shifted to the Cloud and high level data security.
We have field technicians and in-house (help-desk) technicians. This job is for an IN-HOUSE REMOTE (primary)/INFIELD TECHNICIAN (secondary). This position used to be 100% infield, however, the pandemic has changed this and this position has largely become a remote/in-house position. To reiterate: Remote work will primarily take place at our home base in Montrose. When required to go infield our service radius is a 40 mile radius from our home base. That said, once you are trained and up to speed with our firm, we can chat about you working from your home office if we are satisfied with your knowledge of our systems and performance with clients. This is case by case and should be discussed after your 90 day workiversary with us.
Our service area is a 40-mile radius around Los Angeles. We do* have clients outside of this 40 mile radius. These locations are further south it the San Diego and Oceanside area. We go to them approximately once per month, or less. Travel for this time is compensated along with standard milage reimbursement.
What is the job?:
This job is for an IN-HOUSE/INFIELD IT Technician for a wide range of our field offices who outsource their IT needs to our firm (Escrow offices, Medical Offices, Auto Dealerships, Newspaper Offices, Manufacturing Warehouses, etc).
We always say "we don't fix computers, we fix people". This job is heavy on the customer service and the making-your-clients-feel-warm-and-fuzzy side. Please do not apply if you do not have good customer service skills including in-person, written, and phone support. This job cannot be done without a very good understanding of people or without strong communication skills both over the phone and written.
Heavy, heavy, heavy emphasis on the written portion of this job. Our only inventory is our billable time. It is imperative that you are able to capture your time accurately on paper otherwise you are working for the client for free while getting paid for literally nothing. And in these situations it is the company (us) who loses out because you got paid, the client got their 'ish fixed, etc...this just won't do. We need you to be able to capture your time. We *do* have extensive training for this, but all the training in the world will be for naught if you're not disciplined enough to really capture time. Pretty please, consider this when applying for this position.
We generally work Monday through Friday 9AM-6/7PM, but IT can be an unforgiving beast. We do not leave a client's location until they are up and running. This means you will have overtime without a doubt. Please do not apply if you are not willing to work long hours when necessary* Monday through Friday. Some weekend work is required (Less than 4x per year - seriously, this is not common, but it does happen). Do not let this deter you, more on this below, because we take your personal time very seriously, too. Keep reading...
Technical Experience Preferred:
o Microsoft SBS Server, Server 2012, Server 2016 and Hyper-V/Virtual Servers.
o Microsoft Office 365, Exchange Server, SQL Server, IIS, Group Policy, Active Directory.
o Imaging backup software, BCDR solution cloud and local.
o Remote Desktop Services/RDP, Desktop Virtualization.
o Malware/Threat removal.
o Researching and fixing novel problems on workstations and servers.
o Win8, Win10, OS X installation, and configuration.
o Microsoft Office, Office 356 Office integration.
o Networking, Internet, protocols (HTTP, TCP, UDP, FTP, SSL), cabling, routers, firewalls, switches, wireless, VPN, port forwarding, etc. . .
o Printers, scanners, IP cameras.
o Configuring mobile devices; Android, iPhone.
o PC hardware: memory, hard drives, RAID, etc. . .
o Managed services deployment/use (Kaseya, LabTech, etc. . .)
Please note that if you are well versed in IT and some of the above list seems outdated, please forgive me... I am using an older template to post for this job and have had no time to update it. If only I had another tech to take some of the burden off some of our plates I would have more time to update stuff like this, ha! I kid, but the basic jist of the skillset I need is the above...that's a good start.
Research Requirements:
Another super important, if not THE MOST IMPORTANT aspect of this job is your research skills for IT problem solving. Knowing how to make Google, Perplexity, Chat GPT etc... your best friend is a plus for us - its a plus for you, too!
But don't get it twisted, I am allllllll for "fake-it-till-ya-make-it". If you're up to challenging yourself and taking on a harder task to increase your skillset/knowledge base because you are confident you can research your way into success? I am down with that all. day. long... I say do IT. Bring IT. ... The ability to research is a MUST.
Customer Service/Administrative Requirements (some of this may be a repeat of what I have already said above, sorry!!):
- Strong verbal and written skills.
- Good social skills for clients; charisma and confidence.
- High integrity; Must be conscientious and have the ability to follow-through for all responsibilities and tasks assigned to you.
- Humility; Must be willing to DOUBLE CHECK YOURSELF RATHER THAN PROTECT YOUR EGO. Unexpectedly, we're finding this seems to be a thing with IT pros and it really shouldn't be. We are a team and you must be able to lean on your co-workers as well as allow them to lean on you. One of the main reasons small businesses hire outsourced IT is because they get a TEAM for the same price of one guy: A handful of people trained for their network so that if one person is not available, another will be. Additionally, hiring a team gains a variety of skillsets and specializations that one person typically would not have.
- Ability to follow directions as well as work independently.
- Ability to concentrate and be polite even when a client is looking over your shoulder while you work. Keep in mind that they're stressed about their computer issues and may be less than courteous (though I cannot think if a time our clients behaved in a way we would not be ok with, I still feel it is important to disclose that on occasion their tension may create tension for you, too).
- Professional appearance. We'd like you to be presentable. Comfortable, but presentable.
- Ability to work late when needed Monday through Friday + weekends for projects, as needed. Please note that we very, very VERY rarely have weekend work. We take your personal life very seriously and do our best to keep you from living and breathing this job... but as stated above, IT can be an unforgiving B-word. Should you come across something that cannot wait and the only course of action is to burn the midnight oil to resolve it, then that is what we shall do. Of course, we'd do our best to give you time off to make up for your efforts if it's a real late one. We try to accommodate a flexible schedule should your assignments have you working later than expected. I do want to say, though, that with IT morphing in more of a remote direction and with us putting clients into The Cloud more and more these days, having to work all late'skies on a physical server is becoming somewhat obsolete, but it's still important that you are aware there may be times when we need you to stick around to get that client back up!
- Team player...again, your actions should always benefit your team.
What does this position pay?
The starting pay for this position is within industry standard and will depend upon your experience but is negotiable. I put in the listing that the range was from $25 to $26, but this will be a base/beginning rate. After your 90 day review your hourly rate will be based on your abilities and more importantly, your aptitude for this position. Are you an IT bad-assth? Show me and I will compensate you fairly for it. Too often someone will have the best interview, they'll really convince us they're an IT God, but then they get into this job and will be the kind of person who needs three tries to plug in a USB-A, if ya know what I mean ;-)
We love to keep our employee's happy. We understand that compensation is important. We understand that happy employee's equal longterm/loyal employees. And we fully understand that it is a two way street... We are looking for someone who wants to put down roots and stick around. We've got a good record for keeping employees for a long time... We'd love for that to happen here, too!
What Else?:
- No faxes or phone calls will be accepted. Please follow exact steps so I can keep this organized.
- We require a 90-day trial period to be sure you are a good fit for us and we are a good fit for you.
- You MUST have your own vehicle with current driver license and verifiable auto insurance.
- All applicants are subject to a background check.
- We use an Android/iPhone based application ticketing system to process billing and your payroll time. A device that runs either of these two operating systems is necessary. After your 90-day we can provide this for you, too.
- Must be ok with being contacted after-hours regarding IT work you are either lead on or involved with if questions arise. We try to keep strong notes on every client, but might need to reach you if there is not supporting documentation for something you worked on. Again, we try to respect your *you* time, but its something we cannot control. Questions come up. This is, of course, time you'd be paid for should it take place.
- We require you take part in our after-hours on call rotation. This will not begin until your 90-days is up. The on-call rotation is simply you being on call and able to assist any client who goes down after hours (6p-9a M-F or 24/2 for Saturday and Sunday). This could mean you would need to go onsite after-hours, or simply assist remotely from your own Internet connection. We rarely get after hours calls. We have our clients pretty nailed in and good. But they do come up occasionally. We have an after hours service that will take calls for us, but if the admins cannot stave them off till we open we might need you. It would be fair to say that after hours phone calls happen about 4-6x per year. It's rare.
- Vacation time is given after your first-year anniversary, one week paid (accrued) and there is a schedule for it to increase as time goes on.
We are a family oriented business and we do not work major holidays.
We take off:
- New Years Eve (Unpaid)
- New Years Day (Paid)
- April Fools (just kidding, we're working sucka!)
- Memorial Day (Paid)
- Fourth of July (Paid)
- Labor Day (Paid)
- Thanksgiving (Paid) + the Friday after Thanksgiving (Unpaid)
- Christmas Eve (Unpaid)
- Christmas Day (Paid)
- Day after Christmas, December 26th (Unpaid)
Please note: We play this by ear, but every year we may take off the day before or after a federal holiday if it falls on a Monday or a Friday depending on where it lands on the calendar. For example, this year we took Friday, July 5th off because it landed on a Friday. We determine this each year when we see the dates they fall on, etc...these days are UNPAID (but a day off is payment enough, no?).
How to Apply:
Reply to this ad with your resume and a cover letter where you tell me all about why The Office is the best comedy series of all time, or why not? Interviewing could begin as soon as you apply!
Pay Frequency:
This Job Is:
- A job for which military experienced candidates are encouraged to apply
- Open to applicants who do not have a high school diploma/GED
- A “Fair Chance” job
- A job for which all ages, including older job seekers, are encouraged to apply
- Open to applicants who do not have a college diploma
Job Type: Full-time
Pay may depend on skills and/or qualifications, see above.
That was a lot, did that feel like a lot? I'm sorry... But I wanted to be as thorough as possible so that we don't spend all this time with you interviewing etc, etc.. and what not just to find out that this or that is a deal breaker for you... so I laid it all out as best I could.
All of that ^^ good with you? Apply! Interviews are scheduled via Calendly, and completed over ZOOM! Come at me, bro!
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $24.00 - $26.00 per hour
Schedule:
- 8 hour shift
- Day shift
- Monday to Friday
- On call
- Weekdays
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Montrose, CA 91020: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)
Experience:
- Microsoft Office: 2 years (Required)
- Customer service: 2 years (Required)
License/Certification:
- Driver's License (Required)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Montrose, CA 91020