Questions to Ask a Teenager in an Interview
For the shop, restaurant, pool or camp manager interviewing a 15 to 18 year old who has never had a job. With no work history to ask about, the questions draw on school, teams, chores and odd jobs for evidence of reliability, then cover the schedule around school and sports, rides to work, customers, what a shift is really like, and the paperwork a minor may need. They run in the order the conversation goes, in wording a nervous first-timer can answer, and each has a note on what a good or a worrying answer sounds like.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Warm-up
What made you want to apply for this job?
Why ask it
Money is an honest answer from a 16 year old, so do not mark it down. Listen for a second reason behind it: they shop here, a friend works here, they like being around kids or food. If all you get is a shrug, ask what the first paycheck is for and the talk usually loosens up.
Tell me a little about yourself: what year are you in, and what do you do outside school?
Why ask it
The adult opener, 'tell me about yourself', can stall a 15 year old, so this version hands them two things to answer. Write down each activity they name and roughly how many hours a week it takes. You will need that list when you get to the schedule, and every item on it is something to ask about under Track record.
Is this your first job interview?
Why ask it
Asking it takes the pressure off, and it lets you say that there are no trick questions today. If they have interviewed or worked before, ask where, and you have a work history after all. If not, slow down: most first-timers settle once a few easy questions have gone well.
How would a teacher or coach describe you in a few words?
Why ask it
Easier for a teenager than 'what are your strengths', because they can borrow an adult's words. Ask which teacher or coach they were picturing and what that person has seen them do. An answer with no adult behind it, just 'hard-working', needs an example before you count it.
Have you been in here as a customer, and what did you notice?
Why ask it
A teenager who has eaten at your counter or swum in your pool can describe the place, and that is real preparation at this age. If they have never been in, ask what they imagine a shift is like and correct the picture kindly. An applicant expecting a different job tends not to stay.
What is your favorite class at school, and what do you like about it?
Why ask it
It is here to get them talking in full sentences about something they know. The subject hardly matters. Notice whether they can give a reason and stay with it, since explaining a thing plainly to a customer is a large part of most counter jobs.
Which part of this job sounds like the most fun, and which part sounds hardest?
Why ask it
Describe the dull parts first: the closing checklist, the rainy afternoons, the rush at noon. A good answer names a real hard part, such as talking to adults or keeping up when it is busy, and then you can say how new hires get through it. Be a little wary if nothing sounds hard.
What would you like to learn or get better at while you work here?
Why ask it
Any concrete answer, whether it is talking to strangers, handling money or having something to put on a college application, means they have pictured themselves in the job. 'I don't know' is common at 15 and no mark against them. Offer two things the job teaches and see which one they pick.
Track record
What are you responsible for at home, and what happens if you forget?
Why ask it
This is the nearest thing to a work history you will get, and it can be a pet, the dishes or getting a younger brother to the bus. The second half tells you more than the first. 'My mom reminds me' and 'the dog would not eat, so I do not forget' are two different levels of ownership.
Have you ever earned money before, such as babysitting, mowing lawns or helping a relative?
Why ask it
Many teenagers leave this off an application because it did not feel like a real job. Ask how they got the work and whether the same family asked them back. Being asked back is the detail to listen for.
Tell me about a team, club or group you have stuck with for more than a year.
Why ask it
You want proof that they stay with something after the novelty wears off. Ask whether there was a point when they wanted to quit, and why they did not. If nothing has lasted a year, ask about the longest thing and what ended it.
Tell me about working with someone you did not pick, like an assigned lab partner or a new teammate.
Why ask it
Coworkers are assigned, not chosen, and a first job may put them beside adults twice their age. Listen for what they did to make it work: split the task, talked to the person, or simply got on with it. If the story is only about how annoying the partner was, ask what they would try next time.
How do you get yourself up and out the door on a school morning?
Why ask it
It sounds like small talk and it is a punctuality question. An alarm they set themselves and a bus they catch bodes well for an early Saturday shift. If a parent does the waking, ask who would do it on a work morning.
When you have had to miss a practice, a rehearsal or a class, how did you let people know?
Why ask it
The good answer has a person and a time in it: 'I texted my coach the night before'. The worrying one is that they simply did not turn up. Use the moment to say exactly how you want to hear about a missed shift, because nobody has taught them that yet.
Think of a week with a big assignment and a game or event in it. How did you get both done?
Why ask it
This is the school version of balancing work with everything else. Any plan at all is a good sign: starting early, homework on the bus, asking a teacher for an extra day. 'I stayed up all night' tells you what a heavy school week would do to their weekend shift.
What is something you are proud of that took you a long time to get good at?
Why ask it
Let them pick anything, from an instrument to a ranking in a video game, and listen for how they describe the practice. Someone who knows that being bad at a thing is temporary will get through the first clumsy week on the register.
Tell me about a time a teacher or coach corrected you. What did you do next?
Why ask it
Much of managing a teenager is correcting small things, so this is the closest preview on the page. Good answers go on to what changed afterward. One story where the adult was unfair is normal; if every story goes that way, expect the same when you are the adult.
Have you ever been in charge of something or someone, even for an afternoon?
Why ask it
Small counts here: running a drill for younger players, keeping the cash box at a bake sale, watching cousins at a family party. Ask what went wrong while they were in charge and what they did about it. For a camp or pool job, where they would be responsible for children, give this one more time than any other in the group.
What do your friends count on you for?
Why ask it
A teenager who cannot name a strength can often answer this at once. 'I am the one who remembers the plans' or 'I calm people down' each point to a job you have. If the answer is a single adjective, ask for the most recent time it was true.
Why do you think you would be good at this job?
Why ask it
This is 'why should we hire you' in words a first-timer can answer, so do not expect a pitch. A plain link between something they already do and the work, such as 'I am patient with my little cousins' for a camp job, is a strong answer at this age. If they go blank, read back two things they told you earlier and ask which one fits.
Schedule
Which days and hours can you work during the school year?
Why ask it
Have them write it on a blank week instead of saying it aloud, because teenagers agree to times in an interview that their week cannot hold. Name the weekends and holidays you need covered so those get an answer too. Then compare the sheet with the activities they listed earlier and ask about anything that overlaps.
What sports, clubs or other commitments do you have, and when do their seasons start and end?
Why ask it
A candidate who is free in October may disappear in March when track starts. Neither is a problem if you know today. Set the season dates beside your own busy months and decide whether the overlap is something you can schedule around.
How would you get to work and home again, and what is the backup if that falls through?
Why ask it
Any plan is fine, whether it is a parent's car, a bus, a bike or an older sibling, as long as it works for the latest shift you would give them and has a second option behind it. If the ride depends on one adult's working hours, ask what those are.
Have your parents or guardians agreed to you taking this job, and do they know the hours?
Why ask it
A parent who was never consulted can end a job in its first few weeks. If the answer is vague, send them home with the shifts and the pay written down, and ask them to come back once the family has seen it.
How late can you work on a school night?
Why ask it
Ask what they and their family are comfortable with, then check it against the limits for their age. Hours rules for minors differ by place and can differ between school weeks and vacations, so read the current ones for your area before you promise a closing shift.
Does your availability change in the summer or over school breaks?
Why ask it
Breaks are when many students can finally offer real hours, and also when family trips and camps take them away. Ask for known dates now. Somebody who names two weeks away in July is easier to schedule than somebody who claims to be free all summer.
Are there dates in the next few months you already know you cannot work?
Why ask it
Expect prom, exam week, a tournament or a family wedding. Granting these on the spot costs little and shows a nervous applicant that asking for time off the right way works. It also sets the habit you want from them: early notice, written down.
How many hours a week do you want, and how many do you think you can manage alongside school?
Why ask it
The two numbers often differ, and the gap is the useful part. A student who wants a lot of hours on top of hard classes and a sport may need you to name the lower figure for them. Starting small and adding shifts once you both see how school is going is easier than cutting back.
If we needed to reach you about a shift, what is the best way, and how quickly do you usually answer?
Why ask it
Find out what they really check: calls, texts or a scheduling app. Some teenagers will not pick up a call from a number they do not know, so have them save yours before they leave. If the contact is a parent's phone, note whose it is.
Do you see yourself working here for one season, or through the school year and beyond?
Why ask it
'Only until August' is a good answer at a pool or a camp and fair warning at a shop. Do not punish the honesty. A senior leaving for college in the fall can still be the best hire you make for the summer.
Customers
Think of a time someone behind a counter was really good to you. What did they do?
Why ask it
Asked as 'what is good customer service', this gets a slogan. Asked this way it gets a detail, such as the cashier who remembered their order or the lifeguard who explained a rule without making them feel small. What they noticed as a customer is a fair guess at what they will try to do themselves, so tell them which part matters most at your place.
A customer is upset about something that was not your fault. What would you do?
Why ask it
Nobody expects a 16 year old to solve it. You are hoping for some version of stay polite, apologize and get a manager. Tell them afterward that fetching you is always allowed, because a new worker who knows that is less likely to freeze or argue.
Tell me about a time you had to stay polite with someone who was being rude to you.
Why ask it
The rude person can be a referee, a classmate, a relative or a stranger at a school fundraiser. Pay attention to how the story is told. A little humor about it is healthy; heat that is still there months later is a preview of the counter on a bad day.
How do you feel about starting a conversation with an adult you do not know?
Why ask it
Shy is not a no. Quiet teenagers often do well with a greeting once somebody hands them the words. Have them greet you as though you had just walked in, give them your usual line, and let them try a second time.
What would you do if a friend came in and asked for something free or a discount?
Why ask it
It tends to come up early, so settle it before it does. The good answer is an uncomfortable 'I would say I can't'. Help by supplying a line they can use, such as 'my manager checks everything', and by stating your rule on serving friends at all.
How would you handle a child who will not listen to you?
Why ask it
For camp, pool and party jobs. A sound answer stays calm, repeats the rule in simple words and brings in an adult if it goes on. Anything that involves yelling, grabbing or threats is a no, however lightly it is said.
Have you handled money or made change before?
Why ask it
A concession stand, a fundraiser table or a yard sale counts. If they never have, that is a training item and no strike against them. For a register job, try one sum aloud: the total is 6.35 and the customer hands over a ten.
On the job
If you were not sure how to do something and I was busy, what would you do?
Why ask it
Guessing and standing still are the two answers to worry about. Better ones are asking a coworker, checking the posted list, or doing another task until you are free. Say out loud which things are never to be guessed at in your workplace, whether that is the fryer, the pool chemicals or a refund.
I am going to give you three things to do in order. Can you say them back to me?
Why ask it
Make them real: wipe the two front tables, restock the cups, then come and find me. It is a listening check, and plenty of adults drop a step too. An applicant who asks you to repeat one has done well and has shown what they will do on a noisy shift.
Our rule is that phones stay put away during a shift. How would that go for you?
Why ask it
State your real rule, whatever it is, and watch the face as much as the words. 'That is fine, can I check it on my break?' is the grown-up version. Where a parent may need to reach them, hand over the work number to pass on.
If you saw a coworker doing something unsafe or against the rules, what would you do?
Why ask it
Teenagers feel the pull against telling on someone strongly, so expect a pause. Name the person they should come to and say how you would handle it. At a pool, a kitchen or a camp, spend real time here: an applicant who would say nothing at all is a concern.
Some of this job is cleaning: floors, bathrooms, trash. How do you feel about that?
Why ask it
Name the least pleasant task you have and how often it comes around. A wrinkled nose followed by 'okay' is fine. You are looking for the applicant who thought the job was only the fun part, and it is fairer to both of you to find that out today.
A shift here means being on your feet for several hours. Have you done anything like that before?
Why ask it
Describe the real conditions: the standing, the heat by the grill, the sun on the pool deck. Sports practice, marching band and a long day working a fair all count. Keep to describing the work and letting them respond; what an interviewer may ask about health depends on where you are.
What would you do if it was slow and you had finished everything on your list?
Why ask it
The candid teenage answer is 'go on my phone', and a few will say it. 'Ask what else needs doing' or 'find something to clean' is what you want to hear. Whichever you get, tell them what your slow-time list is, since no first-timer can guess it.
If you made a mistake, like giving the wrong change or breaking something, what would you do?
Why ask it
'Tell you right away' is the whole answer. Say so, and say what happens when somebody does. A teenager who believes one mistake means being fired will hide it, and a hidden mistake is the kind that costs you.
Wrap-up
How old are you, and when is your next birthday?
Why ask it
For a young worker, age may decide which hours and tasks are open to them, and a birthday in the middle of a season can change that. Whether you ask in the interview or on a form after an offer depends on the rules where you are, so check before you do.
Do you know whether you need a work permit or a signed form from school or a parent before you start?
Why ask it
Whether a minor needs a permit, who issues it and who signs it differs from place to place, so find out from your labor office or the local school beforehand. Then the question becomes a way to tell them the steps and to see whether they write them down.
Do you know where your ID and the other documents for hiring paperwork are kept, or would a parent need to help?
Why ask it
First-time workers have often never seen the forms and do not know where their documents are kept. Give them a written list of what your payroll asks for. How quickly it comes back is an early, small sign of follow-through.
Is there any task here you think you would not be allowed to do, or would not be comfortable doing?
Why ask it
Some equipment and tasks may be off limits to younger workers, and the list depends on age and location, so look it up before you assign anything. The second half gives a teenager permission to mention the slicer or the deep end before the first shift instead of during it.
Which teacher, coach or adult outside your family could I call about you?
Why ask it
With no former boss to ring, these are the references. Ask the adult two things: does this student turn up, and how do they take being corrected. An applicant who cannot think of a single adult to name is worth a gentle second question, since some simply have not been asked before.
What would you like to ask me about the job, the pay or the schedule?
Why ask it
Many first-timers say 'no, I'm good' out of nerves, so naming three topics gives them a place to start. If they still have nothing, answer what they could have asked: the hourly rate, when the schedule comes out and what to wear.
Is there anything you were hoping I would ask that I did not?
Why ask it
A second chance for the applicant who froze early on. It can bring out the best thing you hear all interview, such as an award, a caring role at home or the reason they need the job. Wait through the silence before you move on.
If we offered you the job, when could you start, and who else needs to say yes first?
Why ask it
The second half is the teenage version of a notice period: a parent, a coach or a permit office may each need a few days. Agree on a day to hear back, and write it down for them along with the hours you discussed.
How to interview a teenager for a first job
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the interview
Look up the rules for young workers where you are
Which hours a minor may work, how many in a week, which tasks and equipment are off limits and whether a permit is needed all depend on the worker's age and on your country, state or province, and sometimes on the industry. Read the current rules from your labor office before you post the job, and note where school weeks and vacations are treated differently. Then you can tell the applicant how it works instead of asking them.
Decide what you are hiring for
A 16 year old has no track record and little polish, so do not score for either. For most first jobs three things matter: will they turn up, will they do what they are shown, and can they be pleasant to a stranger. Pick the questions from Track record, Schedule and On the job that test those three and let the rest go if time is short.
Write the job down in plain words
One page with the tasks, the shifts you need covered, the pay, the dress code and the worst chore. Hand it over at the start. It gives a nervous applicant something to look at, it goes home to a parent, and it stops you from describing a nicer job than the one you have.
Keep it short and say how it will go
Twenty minutes is plenty for most first-job interviews. Open by saying how long it will take, that there are no trick questions, and that school, sports and home all count as experience. Saying so at the start changes the answers you get.
In the room
Start with the easy ones
The Warm-up questions are there to get a first-timer talking before anything counts. Judge nothing in the first few minutes. A candidate who mumbles through the opening and is clear by the Schedule questions has shown you what they will be like after a week on the job.
Reword, do not repeat
When a question meets a blank look, the wording is usually the trouble. 'Tell me about a time you showed responsibility' gets nothing; 'what are you in charge of at home' gets an answer. If a second wording also fails, move on and come back later.
Ask for the story behind every adjective
'Responsible', 'hard-working' and 'a people person' are words teenagers have been told to say. Each time one appears, ask when it was last true. The story is the evidence, and the adjective on its own is not.
Show them the work
Walk the applicant past the counter, the stockroom or the pool deck and let them try one small thing, such as greeting you as a customer or repeating a three-step instruction. Five minutes of that tells you things another round of questions will not, and it tells them what they are signing up for.
If a parent comes along
Some parents sit in, which is reasonable for a 15 year old. Welcome them, then direct every question to the applicant and wait for the applicant to answer. Keep the parent's questions about hours, rides and paperwork for the end, where they are useful.
What to leave alone
Stay with what the job needs
Ask about hours, tasks, transport and how they handle people and instructions. Leave out health, religion, relationships, who they live with and anything else that has no bearing on doing the work. Which topics an interviewer must avoid is set by local rules, so check them, and when unsure describe what the job requires and ask whether they can do it.
Skip the questions written for adults
Five-year plans, salary expectations and greatest weaknesses were written for people with careers. A teenager will either freeze or recite something they read the night before. The same information comes out of questions about school, teams and what their friends rely on them for, and 'why should we hire you' goes better as 'why do you think you would be good at this'.
Do not promise hours or tasks you have not checked
It is easy to say 'you can close on Fridays' or 'we will get you on the grill' to a keen applicant. Confirm first that the shift and the task are permitted for someone of their age where you are, and that your insurer or head office has no rule of its own.
Do not hold nerves against them
Fidgeting, short answers and looking at the floor are what a first interview looks like at 15. Weigh what they said about turning up and being corrected. The confident talker and the reliable worker are not always the same applicant.
Deciding and making the offer
Score the same few things for everyone
Right after each interview, rate reliability, availability against the shifts you need, manner with people and how they took instruction. Use the same four for every applicant so that the last and most likeable one does not win by default.
Call the teacher or coach
A first-time worker's references are the adults who see them every week. Two questions are enough: does this student turn up when they say they will, and how do they respond when corrected. Ask the applicant's permission first and tell them whom you plan to call.
Put the offer on paper
Write the pay, the usual shifts, the start date, what to wear and what documents to bring, and give a copy the applicant can show at home. If a permit or a signature is needed where you are, list the steps and who does each one.
Plan the first shift before they arrive
Decide who will show them around, which three tasks they will learn that day and how they tell you if they are going to be late. A new worker who was never told the rules can look exactly like an unreliable one.