ServiceNow interview questions will help you with your tech interview prep for the most challenging ServiceNow developer interviews at IBM, Accenture, and other top tech companies. The topics covered in the following ServiceNow interview questions are the most sought-after skill sets that FAANG+ recruiters seek in a ServiceNow professional.

If you are preparing for a ServiceNow company interview for software engineering positions, you should be prepared to tackle the stiff competition with a solid technical interview prep strategy.

ServiceNow ranked 11 on Fortune Future 50 2021 list, and it also ranked on Fortune world's most admired companies 2022 list. Its career policies, feasible work environment, and value-based culture stimulate employee growth, making it one of the most sought-after companies. Check out the list of top ServiceNow interview questions to get an idea of all you can expect in your upcoming interview.

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In this article, we’ll discuss:

• What skills should a ServiceNow Developer possess?
• Basic ServiceNow interview questions
• ServiceNow experience interview questions
• ServiceNow company interview questions
• FAQs on ServiceNow interview questions

What Skills Should a ServiceNow Developer Possess?

You need to understand what skills recruiters expect you to have before you begin your ServiceNow interview questions preparation. Here are some important skills that you must possess as a ServiceNow developer to outshine in the interview process:

• You should be adept in HTML, SQL, CSS, and UI
• Your knowledge of JavaScript is a must
• Knowledge of XML
• Data structures and algorithms
• Experience in using the ServiceNow platform
• Knowledge of ITIL processes
• Some soft skills essential for the position include advanced problem-solving ability, excellent communication and presentation skills, time management, and teamwork skills.

An interviewer will evaluate your answers for the ServiceNow interview questions against the skills mentioned above. So, your answers must reflect an in-depth knowledge of the most crucial concepts.

Basic ServiceNow Interview Questions

You must be thoroughly familiar with the most common topics for the ServiceNow interview questions. Here are some sample ServiceNow interview questions and answers to help you quickly revise the most vital concepts.

1. What is ServiceNow? What are the products of ServiceNow?

ServiceNow is a cloud-based IT Service Management (ITSM) tool. It offers a single record system for the following:

• IT services
• Customer service
• Operations
• Business management
• HR management

2. What do you understand about an application in ServiceNow?

Applications are packaged solutions for managing and delivering services and business processes. An application is a group of modules in ServiceNow that provides information about the concerned modules, e.g., the incident application gives relevant information for the incident management process.

3. How would you enable or disable an application in ServiceNow?

You have to go to the "Application Menus" module and open the required application. To enable an application in ServiceNow, you can set the value for active as “true.” Contrastingly, when you select the value for active as “false,” you disable the application.

4. What is CMDB?

Configuration management database or CMDB acts as a repository or a data warehouse for IT installations holding all the vital data related to a collection of IT assets and relationships between various assets.

5. What is CMDB baseline?

CMDB baseline gives you an understanding and control of the changes that you can make to your configuration items in the CMDB. It allows you to create baselines that are snapshots of configuration items. Multiple baselines help the system track changes per baseline.

6. What is LDAP? State the most prominent uses of LDAP.

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is a vendor-neutral application protocol used to maintain distributed directory info in an organized, easy-to-query manner for user authentication and data population. ServiceNow integrates with the LDAP directory to simplify the user login process and automate users' creation and assign them roles.

7. What is ACL?

Access Control List (ACL) defines what data users get access to and how they can access the same. The rules require users to meet individual requirements for gaining access to specific data on ServiceNow.

8. What do you understand about dictionary overrides?

This is one of the most frequently asked ServiceNow interview questions to check your basic understanding of the platform. Dictionary overrides allow you to define a field on an extended table differently from the parent table's field. You can use a dictionary override for a Task table field to change the default value on the Incident table without altering the default value on Change or Task.

9. What is coalesce in ServiceNow?

Coalesce forms one of the most important ServiceNow interview questions. In ServiceNow, coalesce is a field property for transforming map field mapping. You can use the field as a unique key by coalescing on it. If a match is found with the coalesce field, the current record will be updated with new information imported. A new record will be inserted into the database when no match is found.

10. What are transform maps?

A transform map is a field map in ServiceNow controlling the relationship between the import set table's displayed fields and the target table's existing fields. For example {"detectHand":false} or {"detectHand":false}.

Once you have created a transform map, you can reuse it to map data from one more import set to the same table. It allows the administrator to define final destinations for data imported on tables, making it easier to specify linkage between the import set table's source fields and the target table's destination fields. You can also use a transform map for dynamically mapping source fields and destination fields.

11. What are UI policies? How are data policies different from UI policies?

The ServiceNow interview questions, including differences or comparisons, gauge your in-depth knowledge, and you must be crisp in your answers. UI policies are alternatives for client scripts. You use UI policies to set a field as mandatory, which is read-only and visible. Thus, you can use it dynamically to change a field on a form and control custom process flows for tasks.

Data policies and UI policies are similar. The main difference is that UI policies only apply to data entered on a form through the standard browser, while data policies apply rules to all data entered into the system. This would include data brought in through email, import sets or web services, and mobile UI entered data.

12. What is the significance of HTML sanitizer in ServiceNow?

The HTML sanitizer cleans up a markup in HTML fields automatically. It helps eliminate code and protect against security concerns such as cross-site scripting attacks.

13. List the Types of Searches Available in ServiceNow

The following searches help find information in ServiceNow:

• Lists help obtain records in a list
• Search screens use a form for searching table records
• Knowledge base for finding knowledge-based articles
• Global text search helps find records in different tables from a search field
• The navigation filter filters the application navigator items

14. What is a client script?

Client script is the client-side(the browser) script. It runs on the client-side only. The four main types of client scripts are as follows:

• OnLoad()
• OnSubmit()
• OnChange()
• OncellEdit)

ServiceNow Experience Interview Questions

You should prepare the following ServiceNow interview questions for senior positions to uplevel the preparation for your upcoming interview.  

1. How are homepages and content pages added to “update sets” in ServiceNow?

Homepages and content pages don't get added by default to “update sets.” You will have to upload them and manually add pages to the current “update sets.”

2. What do you understand about performance analytics in ServiceNow?

In ServiceNow, performance analytics is an additional application that allows you to take a snapshot of data at regular intervals and create time series for any KPI (Key Performance Indicator) in an organization.

3. What is a scorecard?

A scorecard in ServiceNow is a graphical representation of progress over time. It evaluates the performance of a business process or an employee. You will first have to define the indicators that you want to measure as a scorecard belongs to an indicator. You can also add targets, breakdowns, aggregates, and time series to enhance scorecards.

4. How is the next() different from _next() method?

The next() method allows you to move to the next record in GlideRecord. While the _next() provides the same functionality as next(), intended to be used in cases when you query the table having a column name as next.

5. What is GlideRecord in ServiceNow?

You can interact with the ServiceNow database from a script with the GlideRecord class. The GlideRecord interactions begin with a database query. Your generalized strategy includes creating a GlideRecord object for the table of interest. You can use the GlideRecord API for the following record actions in ServiceNow:

• Query
• Get
• Set
• Update
• Insert
• Delete

6. What is an inactivity monitor in ServiceNow?

An inactivity monitor in ServiceNow triggers an event for a task record when it has remained inactive for a certain amount of time. The inactivity monitor would repeat the trigger if the task remains idle.

ServiceNow Company Interview Questions

You should practice the following ServiceNow manager interview questions, coding interview problems, and some behavioral questions in addition to the above ServiceNow interview questions.  

1. Why do you want to work for ServiceNow?
2. What skills make you an ideal candidate for this position?
3. Which ServiceNow feature would you like to change and why?
4. Tell me about your latest experience in ServiceNow.
5. Do you have experience in service portal and asset management?
6. Have you created or modified workflow for other applications in the past?
7. How would you use workflow for change management?
8. Share some major projects you have worked on in the previous position.
9. Which ServiceNow modules would you prefer and why?
10. What are your strengths as a leader?

This completes the list of ServiceNow interview questions. If you want to practice questions related to the specific domain you are applying to in ServiceNow company, check out the interview questions page. You can also learn the vital software engineering concepts to uplevel your tech interview prep.

FAQs on ServiceNow Interview Questions

1. How many rounds do the ServiceNow interviews have?

You should prepare ServiceNow interview questions for five interview rounds. These will include 1 Online Test, 2 Technical, 1 Managerial round. The company might conduct fewer rounds of interviews for freshers.

2. Do I need to practice coding for ServiceNow interview questions?

You require coding to work in both front-end and back-end departments. You must learn basic front-end programming (HTML, JavaScript, and CSS) and progress to practicing JS libraries that ServiceNow uses (Angular, Jelly, and jQuery).

3. How do I prepare for the ServiceNow interviews?

You must practice the most anticipated technical ServiceNow interview and behavioral questions for the HR rounds. Follow the STAR method to answer behavioral ServiceNow interview questions. You should be adept at solving coding problems (especially strings, graphs, and arrays) within time constraints in a programming language of your choice.

Gear Up for Your Next Technical Interview

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