[jwestbury]

Totally fair, some English majors aren't cut out to work entry-level IT jobs! But having been an English major myself, I definitely knew many who were more technically-inclined, or just troubleshooting-inclined. Your examples are pretty well in-line with what I'd have been looking for, too -- someone who can use the smallish amount of knowledge they have to extrapolate to other possible causes. Most people will know the electricity flows through the power cable, which should be enough to realize there could be a failing connection inside the toaster, for instance.

I wouldn't be looking for a deep understanding of the electromechanical design of a toaster, just the inclination to combine their existing knowledge in novel ways to come up with new theories of what might be wrong, because, in my experience, that's ultimately the core trait of a successful (engineer|sysadmin|mechanic|etc.).