Youth versus maturity

[Guitargirl]

Hi

 

In a couple of weeks, my friend has a job interview. He is 17 and knows the company are interviewing people much older with perhaps more experience. However, he provided a good application form gaining an interview for his volunteer work, work experience and good grades at school. He wants to 'sell' his youth as an advantage and looking for people's views on this. His thoughts so far is that he is not stuck in his ways and therefore will easily adapt since this will be his first job.

Thank you for your help

 

GG

[steveroberts]

I think his youth will be obvious when he is in the interview. Unless youthfulness is an advantage to the job (i.e. sports related, youth culture related etc), I'd be concentrating on why he would be good for the job i.e. what is it about him that the company would value.

 

This means:

 

1. Do research on the employer, find out about their business and how he would fit in

2. Do research on the job he is likely to be doing, if he knows people doing a similar job, ask them what they do, specifically, what they think their employer values about what they do

3. Make sure he has prepared questions about the company and the job based on his research

4. Do NOT ask about holiday entitlement, other benefits etc at interview (he will see this in his contract if successful; albeit it would be fair to ask about any pension schemes, rates of pay and overtime opportunities that are available; this shows that he is thinking long term and is taking a responsible attitude to his work/career)

5. Turn up in a suit, make sure shoes are clean...unless the job is on a construction site of course!

6. Turn up 15 minutes early, this shows attention to detail and will have time to compose himself prior to the interview

7. If he smokes, no cigarettes prior to the interview (take some ProPlus if he suffers from nerves)

8. and finally, enjoy and learn from the experience...keep a happy disposition throughout the interview

 

All the best to him; let us know how he gets on.

Edited March 7, 2012 by steveroberts
typo

[ZAccountancy]

OK, he is very adaptable and that is a positive trait. Great.

 

Which other relevant qualities, skills or experiences does he have which would make him a good candidate for this job? List them out, memorise them, and make sure he mentions them at appropriate times in the interview.

 

Also try to use situation based examples such as: I am good with money because I have designed a spreadsheet to help my parents track their household expenditure.

[H_Hounds]

I think a lot of companies like young people for that reason, that they can mould them into who they want to be.

 

What kind of job is it? there may be job specific advice people can give.

 

in addition to the other advice given, I would tell him to prepare some 'examples'. He needs to have lots of real experiences in mind that he can adapt to questions asked. like what problems he has solved, when did he last make a difference to something, where did he make a mistake and what lesson did he learn from it, when has he pushed himself to do something different.....etc

 

If he has instances in mind it will help him answer the question sincerely and give him confidence in what he is saying as it has actually happened.

 

Good luck to him!

[Guitargirl]

Thank you for all the comments. The job is office based to answer the above forum member's question. I will pass on all feedback and let you know how he gets on but further advice welcome

GG

[Guitargirl]

I think his youth will be obvious when he is in the interview. Unless youthfulness is an advantage to the job (i.e. sports related, youth culture related etc), I'd be concentrating on why he would be good for the job i.e. what is it about him that the company would value.

 

This means:

 

1. Do research on the employer, find out about their business and how he would fit in

2. Do research on the job he is likely to be doing, if he knows people doing a similar job, ask them what they do, specifically, what they think their employer values about what they do

3. Make sure he has prepared questions about the company and the job based on his research

4. Do NOT ask about holiday entitlement, other benefits etc at interview (he will see this in his contract if successful; albeit it would be fair to ask about any pension schemes, rates of pay and overtime opportunities that are available; this shows that he is thinking long term and is taking a responsible attitude to his work/career)

5. Turn up in a suit, make sure shoes are clean...unless the job is on a construction site of course!

6. Turn up 15 minutes early, this shows attention to detail and will have time to compose himself prior to the interview

7. If he smokes, no cigarettes prior to the interview (take some ProPlus if he suffers from nerves)

8. and finally, enjoy and learn from the experience...keep a happy disposition throughout the interview

 

All the best to him; let us know how he gets on.

 

Hi - update - he got the job. Thanks for all the advice. He was very grateful and took all comments on board.

Cheers

GG

[H_Hounds]

That's great. I hope he enjoys it and gets a lot out of it

[smithy266]

yep, and that he might join SF and pass on his experiences