Interview Skills for Teens: A Parent’s Support Guide

Interview Skills for Teens: A Parent’s Support Guide

Preparing for the world of work can be a daunting experience. Whether your teen is gearing themselves up for their first part-time job or stepping into a full-time role, we’ve pulled together our best advice on how you can help support your teen to be fully prepared for any upcoming interview.

Whilst going through our tips, it’s always worth keeping in mind how you can help your teen by drawing upon your own experiences to help with their CV, interview and workplace preparation.

Perfect the CV

First impressions count, and a CV could be the first thing a potential employer sees, so it’s worth taking the time to ensure it’s looking its best.

Key elements to consider adding:

  • Contact details
  • Education
  • Skills
  • Work experience (if applicable)
  • Measurable facts and figures from experiences (if possible)

Additional embellishment considerations:

  • Personal statement – can they highlight any key work/educational experiences or personality traits that may help them to stand out?
  • Hobbies and interests – have they taken part in anything interesting? Showed dedication to or achieved anything in a particular interest?
  • References from previous employers or teachers
  • Cover letter

You can find lots of example CVs online for inspiration on what to include and how to lay out the information. Your teen could also consider tailoring their CV to each role they apply for, highlighting the relevant experience and skills respectively.

Always remember to proofread CVs carefully and consider asking family members, friends or teachers for second opinions. Teens can show off their organisational skills by taking a copy of their CV along with them to the interview, alongside any other relevant additions such as a portfolio of work or evidence of experience – anything to make them stand out!

Read the job description thoroughly

Not only will this help your teen to make a decision about what roles to go for, but also once they’re in the job interview, they will be able to confidently ask questions about different elements of the role. In turn, the interviewers will be impressed by the effort taken to prepare for the interview.

Research the company

Being prepared is half the battle with job interviews. It’s quite typical to be asked what you already know about the company at the beginning of an interview, so it’s always worth looking to prepare a concise but well thought-out answer to impress the interviewer.

Suggest to your teen that they provide an answer that shows the interviewer that they’ve really taken the time to find out more about the company, and perhaps include something that is relevant to the role in question to really show how interested they are.

Interview practise

Another great way to help your teen gain interview confidence, is to practise a few common interview questions and prepare answers to them. By practising mock interviews, you can support your teen by providing constructive feedback and praise. Then, if similar questions come up, they’ll know straight away how to go about answering them in an articulate way with minimal fumbling.

A popular interview method that businesses use is the STAR technique (outlined below). This is where the interviewer will ask you to describe a particular scenario e.g. “Can you tell me a time when you had to deal with a difficult situation and describe what action you took to handle it effectively?”.

Situation – the situation you handled

Task – the task you were given

Action – the action you took

Result – the results of your actions and what you learned

If they don’t have work experience, they could come up with a few prepared answers based on experiences at school or college. After all, put simply, the interviewer is looking to see how they navigate different situations and challenging scenarios. By providing examples of when and how they utilised their problem-solving skills they can evidence that they are capable of handling such situations in an effective manner.

Prepare questions to ask

Talking to your teen about the importance of active listening is a great way to ensure they remember to demonstrate that they are engaged and are ready to respond accurately and thoughtfully.

Following on from this, it’s a good idea for them to have some questions prepared to ask the interviewer in return. These could be questions that follow off the back of something mentioned during the course of the interview, or a set of key questions to ask towards the end e.g. “What does a typical day look like?” or “What is your favourite part of working here?”.

Taking an interest in the business, the role and the interviewer shows that they are enthusiastic and engaged.

Look the part

It’s always recommended to lean on the side of dressing formally. Even if the workplace typically wears casual wear day-to-day, the interviewer might expect interviewees to be wearing formal attire.

Besides dressing well, it’s also a good idea to arrive early, wear a smile, maintain good eye contact and posture, and shake hands with each interviewer to make a good first impression.

Your teen might be feeling very nervous about their interview. Reassure them that it’s very normal to feel this way and remind them to take a few deep breaths and try to stay positive.

If your teen is well prepared for upcoming interviews this will naturally in turn give them additional confidence in who they are, what they’re capable of and what they are planning to say. Best of luck!