Interview questionsRead at source, 24 September 2026

Interview Questions for Teenagers: What Employers Should Ask First-Job Candidates

This page is for the employer interviewing teenagers for a first job: the restaurant, store, pool or camp manager hiring 14- to 17-year-olds. It is not interview advice for teens. Check age and work-permit rules before you interview, because under federal law 14- and 15-year-olds can work only 3 hours on a school day and 18 in a school week, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. (9 p.m. in summer). Then use the interview for two things: whether the candidate will show up reliably around school and transportation, and whether they will ask when they do not know. Experience is not the test; almost none of them have any.

What to check before the interview

With a teenager, the legal questions come first, because they decide which shifts you can offer. The federal rules, read at source:

• Under 14: may not be employed in non-agricultural jobs covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, apart from a few exempt jobs such as newspaper delivery and work for a parent’s business (DOL Fact Sheet #43).
• 14 and 15: may work outside school hours in non-manufacturing, non-hazardous jobs, within the limits in 29 CFR 570.35: no more than 3 hours on a school day (Fridays included), 18 hours in a school week, 8 hours on a non-school day and 40 hours in a non-school week, and only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., extended to 9 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day. A week counts as a school week if the local district requires attendance on at least one day of it.
• 16 and 17: no federal limit on hours, but barred, like all under-18s, from the occupations the Secretary of Labor has declared hazardous. Those include driving on public roads (with a narrow daylight exception for 17-year-olds), operating power-driven hoisting equipment such as forklifts, and operating power-driven machinery like meat slicers and balers.
• Work permits: the DOL is explicit that federal law does not require “working papers” or “work permits,” “though many States do.” Who issues it and who holds it varies; our child labor laws by state page has the state-by-state table.

Where a state rule is stricter, you follow the state; where it is looser, the federal floor still applies to a covered employer. In food service, 14- and 15-year-olds may do limited cooking but no baking, so a kitchen job for a 15-year-old is a narrower job than it sounds.

Two things to settle before the interview: whether the role is open to 14- and 15-year-olds at all, and whether your state needs a permit before the first shift. A quick pre-screen that asks whether the candidate is under 16, under 18, and which days they can work does most of the sorting.

What this interview has to find out

A first-job candidate has no work history to check, so a résumé interview goes nowhere. The two things that decide whether a teen hire works out are reliability (will they come, on time, for the shifts they said they could work) and coachability (will they ask when they do not know, and take correction). Skills for most teen-heavy jobs, such as counter, cashier, host, dishwasher, stocker, lifeguard or camp counselor, are taught in the first week. Ask about school, sports, family commitments, volunteering and chores instead of jobs, and treat those as the work history they are.

Nine questions worth the time

Ask the same nine of every candidate. Keep the language plain; a nervous 15-year-old answers “what would you do if” far better than “describe a situation in which you demonstrated.” Our guide to situational interview questions explains why that format works for candidates without experience.

“Walk me through a normal school week. When are you free, and when are you not?”

Get the real calendar: when school ends, practices, games, a sibling they pick up, church or family commitments they volunteer, and exam weeks. You are not judging the commitments; you are finding out if the hours you need are hours they have.

A strong answer is specific (“Tuesdays and Thursdays after 3:30, Saturdays all day, not Sundays in basketball season”). “I’m free whenever” from a student athlete usually means they have not thought about it yet. Help them think about it now rather than on the first schedule.

“How would you get here for a 4 p.m. shift, and home after a close?”

Transportation is the most common reason teen hires stop showing up. Ask how they will get to work, not whether they have a car or who their parents are. A good answer has a plan and a backup: a parent drop-off with a bike or bus as the fallback, a friend who works the same shifts. If the only plan is “my brother can probably drive me,” talk it through before you schedule them.

“Tell me about something you signed up for and kept doing even when you didn’t feel like it.”

A team, a band, a part in the school play, a paper route, babysitting, a younger sibling every afternoon. This is the reliability question for someone who has no reference from a boss. Listen for a concrete example and a reason they kept going. A candidate who cannot name anything they stuck with is not disqualified, but you will want a shorter first schedule and an early check-in.

“You wake up sick on a day you’re scheduled. What do you do?”

The answer you want: call (not text a coworker) the manager as early as possible, before the shift, following whatever the call-out rule is. Many first-job candidates have never had to do this, so the answer tells you whether they understand that a shift is a commitment somebody else is counting on. If they say they would have a parent call, that is fine for a 14-year-old; it tells you who to call too.

“A customer is annoyed about something that isn’t your fault. What do you say?”

You are looking for politeness, not a script: acknowledge it, apologize for the trouble, get a manager if it is beyond them. Teens who have worked a school fundraiser, a concession stand or a family business often have a real story. Candidates who say they would argue with the customer, or ignore them, will do it at your counter.

“On your first day I show you how to do something once, and later you can’t remember a step. What do you do?”

This is the coachability question. The right answer is to ask. Candidates who say they would “figure it out” or watch a video instead of asking are the ones who make the same mistake for three weeks because nobody corrected them.

“Tell me about a group project or team where someone wasn’t doing their part.”

Every teenager has one. A good answer involves talking to the person or a coach or teacher, and still getting the work done. Blaming everyone else is the weak answer. This tells you how they will behave on a shift with a coworker who is slacking.

“It’s busy and your phone keeps buzzing. What do you do?”

Most employers have a phone rule, and most teen managers name phones as the everyday problem. Tell them your rule, then ask. A strong answer is “leave it in my bag until break.” If a family situation means they need to be reachable, the good candidate says so up front, and you can make a plan.

“Why this job, and how long would you like to keep it?”

Summer only, the school year, until graduation: each can work, but you need to know which one you are hiring. A candidate who wants the job because friends work there may be excellent or may leave with them, so ask what they want to learn or save for. Specific goals (a car, a trip, college) often come with steadier attendance.

Red flags, and answers that only sound like problems

• Worth acting on: no plan at all for getting to work; availability that does not overlap the shifts you need; a parent answering every question for a 16- or 17-year-old; talking about teachers or coaches with contempt.
• Not a problem: no job history; nervousness; short answers; a parent waiting in the lobby or driving them; “I’d ask my manager” to most scenarios; wanting only summer work, if that is what you are hiring for.

Questions not to ask

You may need to confirm whether a candidate is under 16 or under 18, because child labor rules depend on it, and you will need proof of age where your state requires a permit or certificate. Keep that to what compliance requires. Do not ask about religion (ask which days they can work), family structure or income, health or disability, whether a parent owns a car, or anything about dating or pregnancy. Grades are not illegal to ask about, but they rarely predict how someone does on a register. See illegal interview questions for the full list.

How to score it

Score reliability and coachability highest, customer manner next, and everything else lightly. Write out what a strong and weak answer sound like before you start, and score each answer 1 to 4 as you go; the interview scorecard template has a ready-made rubric. If you are hiring ten summer workers at once, a group interview followed by short one-on-ones saves time without losing the structure.

Pay, and what it means for the offer

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Federal law also allows a youth minimum wage of $4.25 an hour for workers under 20 during their first 90 consecutive calendar days, but it is illegal to displace other employees to pay it, and where state or local law sets a higher minimum and makes no exception for workers under 20, the higher rate applies (DOL Fact Sheet #32). Check your state on the minimum wage by state page.

In practice you are competing against what teen-heavy jobs pay locally, and BLS data show where that market sits. The Occupational Outlook Handbook notes that food and beverage serving and related workers “employs more 16- to 19-year-olds than any other occupation,” and puts the May 2025 median for that group at $15.24 an hour, with fast food and counter workers and hosts at $15.00. The median for cashiers was $15.81. A youth wage offered against a $15 market will not fill shifts.

What wins teenagers besides the rate: schedules that respect school and sports, shifts posted early, working alongside friends, and a manager who texts back. Teens apply on their phones, so a long application loses them. Teen hiring is not its own row in Boostpoint’s 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark; the retail and corporate sector, which covers much hourly customer-facing work, had a median cost per applicant of $8.58 with a 26% apply rate. For reaching them, see Gen Z recruiting; for role-specific questions, cashier and lifeguard interview questions.

Frequently asked questions

Rules read at eCFR and U.S. DOL; wage figures from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 data. Benchmark: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark, 891 managed Meta campaigns.