Job interview tips for teenagers
By Anna Lisinski
Thorpe Park’s Recruitment Manager Lisa-Marie Spooner talks to the Telegraph about her experience of assessing young people for employment, and provides some top job interview tips for teenagers looking to apply for their first job.
With University fees more expensive than ever, teenagers are under increasing pressure to secure part-time or holiday work to start saving for further education. But acquiring a job with little or no work experience to draw on can be difficult. Lisa-Marie explains how to get around this problem and what is typically expected of teenagers going for their first interview.
Thorpe Park, the Surrey amusement park, is certainly a popular workplace for teenagers - the company received 6,554 applications across the board on all operational roles for their 2011 season. In total, 1282 were employed, 34.42 percent of these were 15-18 years old, 42.23 percent were 19-21 years old, and 23.34 percent over 22 years old.
The quality of the applications submitted by the younger groups is just as good as those submitted by older applicants, Lisa-Marie said, and the main reason fewer 15-18 year olds are hired over 19-21 year olds is typically due to the restrictive hours the younger group require due to school commitments.
Each year, applicants who submit a successful application to Thorpe Park are invited to an assessment day.
What makes a job application successful?
According to Thorpe Park procedures, those who are successful at getting through to the assessment stage have typically submitted an application of very good quality.
“They have taken every opportunity to explain why they want to work at Thorpe Park, compared to simply stating ‘it’s a local job’, for example,” said Lisa-Marie.
Good quality applications are not always about previous work experience, she continued.
“It’s about their attitude, enthusiasm and ability to communicate with customers with confidence and energy, and the way they prove they can do this on their application.
“Anything that shows you are a team player, such as taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh award, being part of a sports team, or anything else like this can help.”
For many operational roles at Thorpe Park, GCSEs or other academic achievements are not important, as qualifications are not required to perform the job they have applied for. However, achieving good grades can be used to prove motivation and a drive to succeed, as well as work ethic.
How to shine during an assessment day
So you are through to the next stage, what happens next?
The assessment day at Thorpe Park consists of several stages – an icebreaker where candidates are required to speak about themselves while referring to an object they were asked to bring which reflects their personality, two team-based tasks, a numeracy test, and lastly, a one-to-one interview.
“The aim of these [team-based] tasks is not necessarily to show how creative [the candidates] are, the aim is to show how they each support the team, and those who aren’t confident enough to join in aren’t confident enough to deal with the job usually.”
Job interview tips for teenagers: answering tricky questions
The face-to-face interview at Thorpe Park, and most other organisations hiring young people, is used to retrieve more intimate details from candidates. Typical competency questions include ‘Have you ever delivered good customer service?’
If the candidate has never had a job before then they can simply draw upon an experience where they have witnessed high-quality customer service.
“The interviewer wants to know if the candidate understands the difference between good and bad customer service; they also want evidence of what motivates them to show they have the energy to work hard in the role,” added Lisa-Marie.
Such assessment techniques - team-based tasks, numeracy tests and one-to-one interviews - are often used to assess candidates for prospective graduate schemes, and according to Lisa-Marie, going through this process early on as a teenager is invaluable preparation for future interviews.
Lisa-Marie’s top interview tips
Do:
Thorpe Park’s Recruitment Manager Lisa-Marie Spooner talks to the Telegraph about her experience of assessing young people for employment, and provides some top job interview tips for teenagers looking to apply for their first job.
With University fees more expensive than ever, teenagers are under increasing pressure to secure part-time or holiday work to start saving for further education. But acquiring a job with little or no work experience to draw on can be difficult. Lisa-Marie explains how to get around this problem and what is typically expected of teenagers going for their first interview.
Thorpe Park, the Surrey amusement park, is certainly a popular workplace for teenagers - the company received 6,554 applications across the board on all operational roles for their 2011 season. In total, 1282 were employed, 34.42 percent of these were 15-18 years old, 42.23 percent were 19-21 years old, and 23.34 percent over 22 years old.
The quality of the applications submitted by the younger groups is just as good as those submitted by older applicants, Lisa-Marie said, and the main reason fewer 15-18 year olds are hired over 19-21 year olds is typically due to the restrictive hours the younger group require due to school commitments.
Each year, applicants who submit a successful application to Thorpe Park are invited to an assessment day.
What makes a job application successful?
According to Thorpe Park procedures, those who are successful at getting through to the assessment stage have typically submitted an application of very good quality.
“They have taken every opportunity to explain why they want to work at Thorpe Park, compared to simply stating ‘it’s a local job’, for example,” said Lisa-Marie.
Good quality applications are not always about previous work experience, she continued.
“It’s about their attitude, enthusiasm and ability to communicate with customers with confidence and energy, and the way they prove they can do this on their application.
“Anything that shows you are a team player, such as taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh award, being part of a sports team, or anything else like this can help.”
For many operational roles at Thorpe Park, GCSEs or other academic achievements are not important, as qualifications are not required to perform the job they have applied for. However, achieving good grades can be used to prove motivation and a drive to succeed, as well as work ethic.
How to shine during an assessment day
So you are through to the next stage, what happens next?
The assessment day at Thorpe Park consists of several stages – an icebreaker where candidates are required to speak about themselves while referring to an object they were asked to bring which reflects their personality, two team-based tasks, a numeracy test, and lastly, a one-to-one interview.
“The aim of these [team-based] tasks is not necessarily to show how creative [the candidates] are, the aim is to show how they each support the team, and those who aren’t confident enough to join in aren’t confident enough to deal with the job usually.”
Job interview tips for teenagers: answering tricky questions
The face-to-face interview at Thorpe Park, and most other organisations hiring young people, is used to retrieve more intimate details from candidates. Typical competency questions include ‘Have you ever delivered good customer service?’
If the candidate has never had a job before then they can simply draw upon an experience where they have witnessed high-quality customer service.
“The interviewer wants to know if the candidate understands the difference between good and bad customer service; they also want evidence of what motivates them to show they have the energy to work hard in the role,” added Lisa-Marie.
Such assessment techniques - team-based tasks, numeracy tests and one-to-one interviews - are often used to assess candidates for prospective graduate schemes, and according to Lisa-Marie, going through this process early on as a teenager is invaluable preparation for future interviews.
Lisa-Marie’s top interview tips
Do:
- Make sure you look smart - this gives the impression you are conscientious, serious and mean business (Find out more about what to wear to an interview)
- Be on time
- Think beforehand about the skills you’ve got that reflect your ability to do the job and which can help you sell yourself
- Show the interviewer you have drive and enthusiasm
- Chew chewing gum
- Play with your hair
- Leave your mobile phone on
- Forget to read the instructions for what to bring to the interview
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