Job Interview Skills for High School Students

Job interviews can be challenging, especially for high schoolers. Many students complete their first interviews during high school, when they may be unfamiliar with professional settings and expectations. These can be very positive introductions to the professional world, but sometimes they can also feel disorienting. Either way, interview outcomes can have significant and lasting impacts on students’ academic and professional careers, which is why it’s crucial to start building relevant skills to meet career objectives. Learning basic job interview skills for high school students builds confidence and professionalism, and gives students a competitive edge to help them stand out from the crowd when it comes time to apply for college, internships, or jobs. 

This article is meant to be a starting point for students getting ready for their first interviews. We’ll list the essential skills to focus on and then provide practical strategies to help you prepare for and succeed in interviews.

Why Interview Skills Matter in High School

It is essential for high schoolers to know how to interview. Students who are aiming to land part-time jobs, prestigious internships, and/or volunteer roles in their community usually need to complete at least one interview – often more – before they can begin that exciting new chapter. Job interview skills are not just important when directly applying for new opportunities. They also transfer to different types of professional and academic communication situations, helping students feel more confident and empowering them to present their work clearly and effectively when speaking to mentors and advisors on a day-to-day basis. Furthermore, job interview skills largely transfer to college interviews, which can be an important factor in admissions results. In short, developing strong interview skills as a student can lead to valuable opportunities during high school and beyond graduation.

Common Challenges in High School Interviews

Job interviews are hard, and they’re especially challenging for high school students for a number of reasons. First of all, job interviews can be intimidating, especially the first few times you do them. It’s common for young people to feel nervous leading up to and during an interview, which can cause confidence levels (and, consequently, performance) to plummet.

Another reason interviews can be especially challenging for high schoolers is that it’s hard to respond to questions and demonstrate your capabilities without prior work experience. In truth, many interviewers are not accustomed to interviewing high schoolers. As a result, the questions they ask might not be the most effective for learning about students’ strengths and weaknesses. For example, questions like “Have you done a job like this before?” can cause students’ stomachs to drop, and many will struggle to answer in a way that expresses how great they could be in the role.

Thirdly, not all high schoolers are in the habit of maintaining professional body language. Some students might accidentally slouch or let their eyes wander around the room during the interview, which can inadvertently suggest boredom or lack of engagement with the interviewer(s). Additionally, students may feel a bit uncomfortable in their professional interview clothes, leading to frequent shifts in posture and sitting position as well as mental distractions.

Finally, it can be challenging for high school students (or anyone, for that matter) to know what exactly employers are looking for in candidates. Job and internship descriptions often use somewhat vague language and broad terminology meant to encourage people to apply. At the interview stage, it’s not always easy to know which of your technical or soft skills you should aim to emphasize.

Essential Interview Skills for High School Students

Researching the company or organization in advance

Before the interview, it’s essential to conduct thorough research on the company or organization you are applying to join. This is for two main reasons: 

1. It shows your interest in the role. During the interview, demonstrating that you’ve educated yourself on the company and the opening (as much as possible) is a great way to indicate both your interest in the job and your capacity to absorb and retain useful information.

2. It may inform how you answer certain questions. For example, if you can get a more detailed sense of the company’s expectations or culture during your research, you can slightly tailor the tone of your responses to match.

To conduct this type of research, use all of the resources available to you, including:

• The company’s website

• Your interviewers’ (and other employees’) profiles on LinkedIn

• Any contacts you have who are connected to the company

Aim to understand all of the company’s or organization’s activities and goals, with increasing precision approaching the role you would be doing. Who would be your direct supervisor? What types of tasks would you perform on a daily basis? What would be your short-term and long-term goals?

On this subject, if there is anything you are trying to understand during your research but can’t quite find the answer to, that’s actually great — make a note of it and ask it as a question during the interview. Asking thoughtful and relevant questions shows interest and demonstrates your curiosity to know more about the role and the company.

Preparing common interview questions and responses

It can be useful to make a list of possible questions that you think may be asked and then practice your answers to them. Even if the exact questions don’t come up during the interview process itself, preparing responses to a few common questions will help you:

• Structure your introduction 

• Provide a fallback option in case you need to shift gears during the conversation

• Force you to practice your professional tone and delivery 

Interview questions are usually (although not always) the most standardized during the beginning of an interview. Early questions could include:

• Tell me about yourself.

• What are some of your recent accomplishments?

• What are you hoping to learn from this experience?

• Tell me about a challenge you recently encountered, and how you handled it.

• Do you have reliable transportation to arrive on time?

Additionally, it is common for interviewers to ask, at the end of an interview, whether you have any questions about the position. If you want to make a good first impression, come prepared with a couple of questions of your own. Ideally, you’ll think of those questions while conducting preliminary research (as discussed above).

Practicing clear communication and active listening

Communication is one of the most important soft skills for high schoolers to develop in order to ace their interviews. Great verbal communication skills starts with active listening. The “active” portion of active listening refers to three distinct levels of activity: 

• Cognitive

• Emotional

• Behavioral

In short, active listening means cognitively processing information quickly; regulating your emotional responses to remain calm, open, and alert; and using body language to show engagement. To make active listening easier, it’s ideal to reduce or eliminate possible distractions (e.g. phone notifications).

Next, excellent verbal communication includes speaking clearly and effectively. Your tone should be relaxed and conversational; use simple sentence structures, ask incisive questions, and remember to repeat important points for emphasis. You can listen to interviews with people whose speaking style you admire, but don’t overthink how you talk: be your natural self (plus a jolt of confidence, if necessary), and your interviewer will sense that you are being genuine.

Demonstrating enthusiasm, curiosity, and professionalism when speaking about the job

Communication (discussed above) is perhaps the most important factor in demonstrating enthusiasm, curiosity, and professionalism during a job interview. Additionally, there’s a delicate balance to strike between seeming relaxed and seeming energized. Finally, depending on the type of interview, how you dress can make a difference. Of course, high school students are not expected to wear suits to interviews. The best strategy is to ask an adult (like a parent or mentor) to help make sure you dress appropriately.

Using examples from school, activities, or volunteering to highlight skills

Even if you haven’t held a job before, high school students can have job skills that qualify them to be successful in professional roles. During interviews, candidates should make sure to highlight their skills gained from school-related and independent projects, extracurricular high school leadership roles, and volunteering hours.

How to Prepare for Your First Interview

Once you’ve landed your first professional interview for your dream job, it’s time to prepare to secure the role. Assuming you’ve already crafted and sent a clear and concise student résumé for the application stage, print out two copies. Place them in a folder to bring them to the interview. 

Begin by conducting thorough research on the company or organization, as discussed above. As you research, take note of any questions that you have about the role or the company that you can’t find answers to online or in the job posting.

Next, with a peer or mentor, set up a mock interview so that you can practice your communication skills and rehearse your answers to common questions. Additionally, ask the mock interviewer to pose a couple of surprise questions that they think could arise during the real interview. That way, you can also practice thinking on your feet and responding professionally to unexpected questions. Don’t forget to practice asking your own questions to the interview at the end. Another tip: record the mock interview so that you can listen back to your performance and self-asses. 

It’s best to plan what you’ll wear to the interview well in advance. Try on the outfit to avoid any stressful surprises the day of the interview.

Finally, arrive comfortably early to the interview location and practice your introduction before walking in. If the interview is online, make sure you sign on from a quiet location with a strong internet connection about 1-2 minutes before the agreed upon time.

Tips for Succeeding During the Interview

During the job interview, maintain professional body language and natural eye contact. (This varies from culture to culture. For most people in North America, that comes out to maintaining eye contact roughly 50% of the time while you’re talking, and about 80% of the time while listening to your interviewer talking.)

Stay calm but somewhat energized throughout the interview. If you feel yourself getting nervous or anxious, don’t worry: try to channel that energy into curiosity and enthusiasm at key moments during the conversation. Otherwise, do your best to remain relaxed so that your brain can focus on actively listening and responding clearly to the interview questions, especially those that you may not be expecting.

Throughout the entire process, express gratitude for your interviewer’s time and attention to your application.

Following Up After the Interview

After an interview, it is customary to send a very short follow-up email to your interviewer. This is for two reasons:

1. To thank them again for their time

2. To remind them about you and your conversation

Send the email about one business day after the interview, and try to mention a portion of the conversation. For example, you could write that you “enjoyed our conversation on Friday and especially appreciated learning about the interdisciplinary nature of the internship.” Keep it short and as specific as possible to your actual discussion.

After the interview, on your own or with a mentor, reflect on your performance. If some aspect of your preparation was successful, make a note to yourself to repeat that strategy for the next time. If it didn’t go as well as you had hoped, remember that there will be more interviews in the future. Use the experience as a lesson, building your confidence and identifying concrete ways to strengthen your approach for the next one.

Conclusion: Ace Your Interviews and Gain Experience with Polygence

High school students can learn, practice, and strengthen job interview skills. For success in your next interview, Polygence offers mentorship and project experiences that build confidence, demonstrate your abilities, and lead to tangible outcomes that you can point to and discuss with interviewers.

Our Work Lab program is designed to connect high school students with industry mentors at actual startup companies. Participating students get to conduct hands-on, intellectually stimulating projects that contribute to real-world growth. 

In addition, we also offer a Research Mentorship Program that matches students with PhD-level mentors for independent research projects. Try out our Project Idea Generator for inspiration!

Alternatively, Polygence Pods are perfect for students seeking foundational knowledge on cutting-edge topics, or who are interested in exploring and deepening their interests before conducting a full research project. 

Want to learn how to prepare for your dream career? Let us help you prepare for your next interview! Demonstrate your talent and stand out from the competition with Polygence.