42 Mock Interview Questions for High School Students

By the Ori Learning Curriculum Team · Updated August 27, 2026

Below are 42 ready-to-use mock interview questions for high school students: 36 questions an interviewer can ask and six questions students can ask back. Use six to eight per practice interview and base them on a real entry-level job posting. For students without paid work history, examples can come from school, home, sports, volunteering, or work-based learning. Optional disability-disclosure and accommodation scenarios appear after the main bank.

Jump to: Questions · Sample answers · Session plan · Self-check · Disclosure guidance · Free pack

42 mock interview questions for high school students

Pick six to eight per interview: at least one from each of categories 1–4, and no more than two behavioral questions in a student’s first session. Category 5 is the student’s turn.

1. About you

The interviewer is checking whether the student can talk about themselves in a few sentences without a script.

1. Tell me about yourself.
2. What are you good at?
3. What is something you’re working on getting better at?
4. What do you like to do outside of school?
5. How would a teacher or coach describe you?
6. What are you most proud of?
7. Why should we hire you?
8. What do you want to be doing a year after you finish high school?

2. About the job and the company

These test whether the student did ten minutes of homework and knows what the job involves.

9. Why do you want to work here?
10. What do you know about our store (or company, restaurant, program)?
11. What part of this job interests you most?
12. What days and hours can you work?
13. Can you reliably arrive by the scheduled start time?
14. Have you done work like this before, at school, at home, or as a volunteer?
15. What would you do if a customer asked you a question you couldn’t answer?
16. One job function is stocking boxes weighing up to 25 pounds. Are you able to perform that function, with or without reasonable accommodation?

An ADA-covered employer may ask that last question before a conditional offer when it accurately describes a specific, job-related function. A mock interviewer should not invent physical requirements or treat a marginal task as an essential qualification — and students should hear the question in practice before they hear it for real (see the disclosure section).

3. Behavioral: “Tell me about a time…”

The interviewer wants one real example with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Students with limited work history need coaching here more than anywhere else.

17. Tell me about a time you worked as part of a team.
18. Tell me about a time you made a mistake. What did you do next?
19. Tell me about a time you had to follow directions with several steps.
20. Describe a time you helped someone.
21. Tell me about a time you kept going when something was hard.
22. Tell me about a time you disagreed with someone. What happened?
23. Tell me about a time you were responsible for something important.
24. Tell me about a time you learned something new quickly.
25. Tell me about a time someone gave you feedback. What did you do with it?
26. Tell me about a time your plan changed unexpectedly. How did you adjust?

4. Work habits and “what would you do if…”

These questions cover attendance, instructions, safety, task completion, and customer situations.

27. What would you do if you were going to be late for your shift?
28. A coworker asks you to do a task you haven’t been trained on. What do you do?
29. What would you do if you saw a coworker taking something that wasn’t theirs?
30. How do you keep track of things when you have several tasks to do?
31. What does being reliable mean to you?
32. What would you do if you didn’t understand your supervisor’s instructions?
33. How do you handle it when a customer is upset?
34. What do you do when you finish your work early?
35. What would you do if two tasks both seemed urgent?
36. What would you do if you thought a task was unsafe?

5. Questions the student asks

An interview ends with “Do you have any questions for me?” Having one or two ready helps the student learn about the role and show engagement.

37. What does a typical shift look like?
38. What does training look like for new employees?
39. Who would I report to?
40. What do the best people in this job do well?
41. When do you expect to make a decision?
42. Is there anything else you’d like to know about me?

Bonus practice: disclosure and accommodation scenarios

Whether to tell an employer about a disability is generally the applicant’s decision (the rules are below). These scenarios are only for students who have made an informed choice to practice them; involve family or another support person when appropriate, with the student’s permission.

• A general question some employers ask everyone: “Is there anything you’d like us to know about how you work best?” Practice a strengths-first answer that does not have to mention a diagnosis: “I learn a new task best when I can watch it once and have a checklist. Once I have the routine, I’m very consistent.”
• Requesting an interview accommodation ahead of time (by phone or email): “I’d like to request the interview questions in writing,” or “May I bring a job coach to the interview?”
• A follow-up after the student volunteers a disability: “Is there anything you need to do this job?” Practice one or two sentences about what helps them do the work.
• A question that should not have been asked (“Do you have a disability?”): practice a calm redirect — “I’m able to do everything listed in the job description. Is there a specific task you’d like me to talk about?” The student can also choose to answer. Rehearse this only with a trained adult, never as a surprise from a volunteer interviewer.

What good answers sound like with no work history

Teach students that experience means anything where they showed up, did a task, and dealt with people: school projects, chores, a work-based learning placement, caring for a younger sibling, a team, a club, a volunteer shift.

Give the answer a shape. UW–Madison’s SuccessWorks career center teaches the STAR method as “a structured manner of responding to a behavioral-based interview question by discussing the specific situation, task, action, and result” (UW–Madison SuccessWorks). For many high-school students, a shorter scaffold is easier to use: what happened, what I did, and what happened next. For students who need it simpler still, two parts works.

The following are fictional model answers, not accounts of individual students.

“Tell me about yourself.”
“I’m a junior at Lincoln High. I’m in a work experience program where I’ve had placements in the school store and the library. Teachers say I’m on time and I finish what I start. Outside school, I help my grandmother with her groceries every week.”

“Tell me about a time you made a mistake.”
“During my placement in the cafeteria, I put the wrong price on a tray of muffins. I told my supervisor right away and we fixed the sign together. Now I check the price sheet before I label anything.”

“Why do you want to work here?”
“I shop here with my mom, and the people at the registers are always friendly. I’m good with people, and I want a job where I’m on my feet instead of sitting.”

None of these are long, and each contains one concrete detail. Notice the first says “work experience program,” not “special education” — wording the student gets to choose (see the disclosure section).

Three coaching moves for the most common weak-answer patterns:

• The one-word answer. Ask, “Can you give me an example?” and wait. Then have the student restate the whole answer with the example inside it.
• The over-share (medical history, family conflict). Redirect gently: “Let’s keep the answer focused on the job. Which detail shows that you can do this work?”
• One script, many wordings. Practice the same question three ways (“What are you good at?” / “What are your strengths?” / “What would your teacher say you do well?”) so the student learns the answer’s content, not one script.

How to run a mock interview session

In one 45-minute session, groups of three complete three role rotations, so each student serves once as interviewer, interviewee, and observer. Repeat the full session on later dates if you want each student to complete multiple interview attempts — three sessions across a semester, three or four weeks apart, is this article’s recommended structure.

Roles. You interview first. Once a student succeeds with a familiar interviewer, a less familiar staff member or community partner helps the skill generalize — brief every outside interviewer on the approved questions, scoring, confidentiality, and prohibited disability inquiries. The observer is a peer with the score sheet; make observing optional where confidentiality or group dynamics call for it.

Scoring. Keep the score sheet to eight observable behaviors:

1. Greeted the interviewer and introduced themselves.
2. Answered the question that was asked.
3. Gave a specific example in at least one answer.
4. Gave enough relevant information to answer the question and stopped when the point was complete.
5. Communicated so the interviewer could understand, using speech, AAC, an interpreter, or the student’s agreed communication method.
6. Showed attention in an accessible way and managed unrelated distractions; approved devices and supports were used as planned.
7. Asked at least one question.
8. Thanked the interviewer and closed the conversation.

Rate each Not observed / Needed a prompt / Did independently, and record the support used. Do not score eye contact, handshakes, stillness, facial expression, or speech-only communication — they penalize students whose attention and communication look different, and they are not what gets anyone hired at an entry-level interview.

Feedback. Two things to keep, one thing to change, and the student says the change back in their own words. If a student stalls, use a prompt ladder: wait first; then repeat the question, rephrase it, offer one answer starter, and finally model an answer before asking the student to try again. Record the most intensive support used, and after feedback repeat the same question once so the student can apply the change immediately.

Across sessions, students see the questions in advance for the first cycle. In later cycles, vary the wording or reduce question previews only when the student is ready and agrees. Keep the supports the student needs to demonstrate the target skill; a school accommodation does not automatically become a workplace accommodation.

The student self-check (free, printable)

The free Mock Interview Practice Pack

The full pack is a 12-page printable PDF. What’s inside:

Question bank with interviewer notes

56 questions in the five categories above, each with a note on what the interviewer is listening for, plus the disclosure and accommodation scenarios.

Student prep worksheet

One page for the 10-minute prep segment: the employer, the job, skills matching, planned answers to four common questions, and one example story.

Interviewer score sheet

The eight behaviors above, rated Not observed / Needed a prompt / Did independently, with a support-used field and a printed briefing for outside interviewers.

Teacher facilitation guide

The three-session structure, the prompt ladder, coaching moves for the five most common problems, and classroom supports.

Student disclosure one-pager

A plain-language page for students and families: what employers may and may not ask, choices about when to tell, and word-for-word scripts, with EEOC and JAN sources cited.

A one-page brief for your transition coordinator

A forwardable summary — what the practice is, the evidence, how it fits Pre-ETS, what it costs to start — for the administrator who wasn’t in the room.

Differentiation and supports for the practice itself

The supports below are classroom scaffolds. They do not automatically transfer to a hiring process, and an employer may offer a different effective accommodation. If a student intends to request an interview accommodation, practice making the request and discussing an effective alternative.

• Questions in advance, in writing — for everyone in the first session; fade later, but keep it for students who will request it in real interviews.
• Wait time (count silently to five) and answer starters on a card: “One thing I’m good at is…,” “At my placement I…”
• A visual map of the interview: greeting → their questions → my questions → thank you.
• A recovery line, taught and rehearsed: “Can I have a second to think about that?” It works in real interviews too.
• AAC. Prepare answers with the student, keep the device available throughout, and have interviewers speak directly to the student.
• Environment. A quiet room, a choice of seat, a familiar adult for the first session, a short version (three or four questions) where needed.
• Video only with consent and under your district’s recording policy (access, storage, deletion), and always with a non-recorded alternative.

JAN, the Job Accommodation Network run by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy, describes real cases: an employer “e-mailed the interview questions so the applicant would be a little more comfortable,” another “allowed the applicant to come in before the interview to look over the questions,” and “a local vocational rehabilitation program provided a job coach to accompany the individual on the job interview” (JAN Consultants’ Corner vol. 10; vol. 1). These examples show possible accommodations; they do not guarantee that an employer must grant the exact adjustment requested.

Disability disclosure: what students and interviewers should know

This is the part most mock-interview resources skip, and it is the part that matters most for this population. The following summarizes federal ADA requirements and EEOC and JAN guidance; state and local law may provide broader protection.

Federal rule in brief: Before making a conditional offer, an ADA-covered employer generally may not ask whether an applicant has a disability or ask about the nature or severity of a disability. It may ask whether the applicant can perform specific job-related functions, with or without reasonable accommodation. Limited exceptions apply when a disability is obvious or voluntarily disclosed and the employer reasonably believes an accommodation will be needed for a specific job function.

• Who is covered. ADA Title I generally covers private employers with 15 or more employees, state and local governments, employment agencies, and labor organizations (EEOC, Job Applicants and the ADA). Federal employment is governed by the Rehabilitation Act, and state or local law may cover smaller employers.
• The statute. A covered employer “shall not conduct a medical examination or make inquiries of a job applicant as to whether such applicant is an individual with a disability or as to the nature or severity of such disability,” but “may make preemployment inquiries into the ability of an applicant to perform job-related functions” (42 U.S.C. §12112(d)(2)), including “whether applicants can perform job functions ‘with or without reasonable accommodation’” (EEOC preemployment guidance).
• The narrow exception. If an applicant has an obvious disability, or voluntarily discloses one, and the employer reasonably believes an accommodation will be needed to perform a specific job function, the employer may ask whether an accommodation is needed and what type. It still may not ask broadly about the disability’s nature or severity (EEOC preemployment guidance).
• Disclosure is the applicant’s decision. “The ADA does not require that an applicant inform an employer about the need for a reasonable accommodation at any particular time” (EEOC), and JAN’s guidance is that “there is no single right or wrong approach to disclosing a disability” (JAN, Disability Disclosure). If an applicant needs an accommodation for the application or interview, the applicant must tell the employer that a change is needed for a disability-related reason — but a request “may use ‘plain English’” and can come “at any time during the application process or during the period of employment” (EEOC, reasonable accommodation guidance).
• One distinction worth teaching. Some applications invite voluntary disability self-identification for affirmative-action data purposes when EEOC requirements are met. That is different from an interviewer asking an applicant about a diagnosis.

In the classroom, practice both paths. A student who is not disclosing practices the job-function question and the calm redirect; a student who has made an informed choice to disclose, or who needs an interview accommodation, practices a strengths-first script and the request itself. Every student should know that saying “special education” may reveal or strongly imply disability information; a neutral, accurate description such as “a work-experience program at my school” may preserve more privacy — the student chooses the wording.

This article provides general information for educators, not legal advice. For legal advice about a specific situation, consult a qualified attorney. JAN can provide accommodation guidance, and the EEOC or a state or local civil-rights agency can provide information about employment rights.

Does interview practice work?

The most direct school-setting trial is autism-specific and used a virtual tool, so read it for what it tested. Smith and colleagues (2021) randomized 71 autistic transition-age youth receiving school-based pre-employment services: 48 added a specific virtual interview-training program, delivered and supervised by local teachers, and 23 received services as usual. The intervention group improved its observed interview skills and reported lower interview anxiety, and the authors report the group had “greater access to jobs” (Smith et al., 2021, Autism, 25(6), 1536–1552; PubMed). It supports structured, repeated interview practice with feedback delivered by school staff; it does not establish that a paper-based routine produces the same outcomes. See also supporting the transition of students with autism to employment.

On funding: federal VR regulations list “workplace readiness training to develop social skills and independent living” as one of five required pre-employment transition services that state VR agencies must make available to students with disabilities who are eligible or potentially eligible for VR services (34 CFR §361.48(a)(2)). Mock-interview practice may fit within that category when the state VR agency and local program treat and document it that way; the regulation does not specifically name mock interviews or guarantee funding for them. Our guide to pre-employment transition services covers eligibility and how districts arrange Pre-ETS with their state agency.

Where interview practice fits in a transition sequence

Interview practice can follow earlier instruction on job search, resumes, and applications. Ori Learning’s Transition Curriculum sequences the grades 9–10 Employment Skills unit as Job Search → Building a Resume → Applying for Jobs → Job Interviews → Getting the Job. The 18+ sequence runs How to Find a Job → Building a Resume → Filling Out Job Applications → Interviewing with Confidence, followed by Workplace Etiquette, Workplace Communication, Work Ethic, and Workplace Safety.

Each lesson includes three task levels (Task A, B, and C), each with a printable worksheet, plus a warm-up and exit ticket; each unit includes pre- and post-assessments; teachers and administrators have real-time dashboards with Excel export; and built-in accommodations include text-to-speech, translation into 136 languages, adjustable zoom, and speech-to-text on open responses. If you are building your own unit instead, start with transition skills for high school students and common mistakes in special-education transition lesson plans.

Explore the Transition Curriculum, or request a Transition Curriculum walkthrough.

Frequently asked questions

How many questions should a mock interview for high school students include?

Six to eight, with at least one from each of the first four categories (about you, about the job, behavioral, work habits). Use three or four for a first session or for a student who needs a shorter format.

How long should a mock interview last?

Six to eight minutes for the interview plus four to five minutes of feedback. A 45-minute class period fits ten minutes of prep and three role rotations, so each student in a group of three interviews once.

Who should play the interviewer?

The teacher first. After the student succeeds with a familiar interviewer, a less familiar staff member or community partner helps the student generalize the skill. Brief every outside interviewer on the approved questions, scoring, confidentiality, and prohibited disability inquiries.

Should students practice answering questions about their disability?

Every student should know which questions an employer may not ask before a conditional offer, and should practice the job-function question an employer may ask. Disclosure scripts are only for students who have made an informed choice to disclose; whether and when to disclose is generally the applicant’s decision.

Do mock interviews count as Pre-ETS?

Workplace readiness training is one category of pre-employment transition services that state VR agencies must make available to eligible or potentially eligible students under 34 CFR §361.48(a)(2). Mock-interview practice may fit that category when the state VR agency and local program treat and document it that way; the regulation does not specifically name mock interviews or guarantee funding.

What if a student freezes and cannot answer?

Use the prompt ladder: wait five seconds, repeat the question, rephrase it, offer one answer starter, then model an answer and let the student try again. Teach a recovery line — “Can I have a second to think about that?” — which works in real interviews too.

References

• 34 CFR §361.48 — Scope of vocational rehabilitation services (pre-employment transition services). eCFR
• 42 U.S.C. §12112 — Americans with Disabilities Act, Title I, Discrimination. U.S. Code (Office of the Law Revision Counsel)
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Job Applicants and the ADA. eeoc.gov
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance: Preemployment Disability-Related Questions and Medical Examinations. eeoc.gov
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance: Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the ADA. eeoc.gov
• Job Accommodation Network. Disability Disclosure; Interviewing Tips for Applicants on the Autism Spectrum (Consultants’ Corner vol. 10, no. 1); Accommodation Scenarios for the Interviewing Process (vol. 1, no. 1). askjan.org
• Smith, M. J., Sherwood, K., Ross, B., Smith, J. D., DaWalt, L., Bishop, L., Humm, L., Elkins, J., & Steacy, C. (2021). Virtual interview training for autistic transition age youth: A randomized controlled feasibility and effectiveness trial. Autism, 25(6), 1536–1552. DOI · PubMed
• University of Wisconsin–Madison SuccessWorks. The STAR Method. successworks.wisc.edu