Intern Interview Question #: Why Do You Want To Work In This Industry
Describe what first inspired you or what has fascinated you about the industry as youâve investigated it further. Give specific examples that show you have done some research about whether you are suited to working in that industry, such as attending a careers talk or choosing a related coursework subject. Avoid giving reasons to do with pay or working hours.
What if you donât know if you want to go into this industry when you graduate? This is fine. After all, getting exposure to a particular sector, profession or role to find out if you like it is one of the main points of an internship. Explain to your interviewers that you havenât completely decided about going into that industry yet . Follow this with reasons why you are keen to find out more and how you hope the internship will help you decide.
How To Prepare For An Internship Interview
First things first, preparation time You can prepare yourself for the interview by selecting appropriate interview attire beforehand. Then comes the less fun stuff, that you cant blast walking on sunshine on. Before the internship interview, you must research the company you are applying to intern at beforehand. You might think this is common sense, but many people either dont research the company properly or at all before their interview. Things like, what the company does, what your role involves and the companys ethos/culture are all very important and good things to look research Not photos of the companys 2006 embarrassing Christmas party. Just use those for your own entertainment.
When interviewing for an internship at an organisation, its a good idea to have a list of questions for the interviewer regarding the internship itself, the company and some alternative questions on what you can expect from your learning, etc.
As the job interview comes to an end, its your turn! The one final question you can definitely expect to be asked is have you any questions for me? Your interviewer will expect you to have some sort of question or inquiry. Not asking any questions is like giving a wrong answer. As it comes across that you are unprepared or disinterested in the role. So its important to have some questions ready to ask the interviewer.
Good questions include:
How much travel is expected?
Would you like a list of references?
Tricky Interview Questions For Interns
Internship seekers should prepare for common interview questions like What are your strengths, or What are your weaknesses, but they can also expect less conventional queries.
UBS is asking candidates why manholes are round, and Google wants to know how many barbers there are in Delhi. And it gets weirder. Some intern applicants are asked what song theyd sing on American Idol, while others were challenged to name five things you could use a gallon of water and a Styrofoam cup for that don’t involve holding water.
Glassdoor.com, the online jobs and career community where people share information about their workplaces, gathered some of the most unconventional questions that intern candidates were asked during interviews. Luckily for applicants, employers arent looking for the most brilliant answers. They are trying to get a sense of would-be interns thought processes and how they perform under pressure.
I sometimes ask candidates to tell a clean joke, says Internships.com CEO Robin Richards. Seven out of ten cant recall a clean joke, and others have a tough time with delivery. I like to see that they can think on their feet. He says he focuses 100% on the interviewees reaction, rather than on the actual joke.
He says researching the company culture can help when youre faced with an oddball question.
Here are ten common interview questions for internship candidates:
4. Why should we hire you?
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Questions To Ask An Intern Candidate
Internships have evolved over time . Have the questions you should ask internship candidates changed as well? The answer is yes and no.
There will always be questions you cant ask to ensure your company is not discriminating. gives guidance on questions that are off limits. Also, there will always be questions you should ask. The famed question can be a great conversation starter that will walk you through the candidates resume and guide you to relevant experience and skill-based questions.
Experienced-based questions can often be more revealing than skill-based questions. They can reveal a variety of transferable skills, which are important to keep in mind if a long-term goal of your internship program is to fill full-time positions. If one goal of your internship program is to become a mentor, allow candidates to treat your conversation partly as an . Encouraging candidates to ask you questions will give them insight into how their careers could progress.
The 4 Most Common Internship Interview Questions And How To Answer Them
A guide to answering four of the most challenging interview questions.
Preparing for an interview? Congratulations! You may have spent hours searching for available positions and applying to each one but in the end it was worth it to get that call.
Or maybe youre here because youre interested in preparing for the internship search process. Congrats are still in order for starting your career development early!
Wherever you are in the process, youll need to prepare for that interview. Doing this early can help you learn whats expected from the professionals who will eventually interview you. And when they do, you should prepare with these example questions.
Tell me about yourself
This is still one of the most common, and most difficult to answer, questions. There are many places to start, but here is how you can stand out.
Tell them about your career goals.
When an employer asks about you, they want to know how your interests and experience relate to the internship youre interviewing for. You can start off with a short narrative about your background and quickly transition into relevant experience. For example, if youre interviewing for a finance role and previously shadowed a financial advisor, you want to focus on that experience. Make sure to also mention how your experience ties into the needs listed in the job description.
Why do you want to work for this company?
What are you expecting from this internship?
The behavioral question
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What Skills Do You Have That Will Help You Excel At This Position And How Do You Plan To Implement Them
The way candidates answer this question determines whether they have the skills to do the job. This is crucial so you can gauge how much training will be required for skills development and decide if the candidate is a good fit for the position.
What to look for in an answer:
- Technical skills
- Leadership skills
Example:
I have a variety of skills that I can use on the job, including public speaking, writing, planning, data analysis and leadership skills. I plan to apply my communication and technical skills in this position to lead team projects, research and solve business problems, identify trends and present findings.
Can You Walk Me Through The Impact Of A Project That You Worked On In A Previous Role
An intern could one day become a manager or director within your organization. One way to identify leadership qualities early on is to see whether the person youre interviewing has passion for it.
Instead of focusing on what the prospective intern has done, try to assess his or her level of enthusiasm when talking about past contributions. Pay attention to the parts of the narrative that explain how the student identified the problem to be tackled, how the student developed the solution, how the student collaborated with team members, and how the student prioritizes outcomes and results.
The answer to this question will help you pinpoint interns who take initiative, collaborate with team members, and are driven by results.
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Why Do You Want An Internship With This Company
Your answer to this question will be an indicator of how well you have prepared. This is also an opportunity to demonstrate why you are a good fit for the position, so be specific in your answer. Reasons for wanting to work with their company could include the companys reputation, achievements or culture. You may also consider speaking about how this internship would help you get closer to your professional goals.
Example:The companys success in encouraging the next generation of nurses excites me. I look forward to putting all of my classroom knowledge to work for your company, and I am eager to learn more. Id love the opportunity to work alongside others who are consistently improving our communitys health and well-being.
For more on answering this question, visit Interview Question: ‘Why Do You Want To Work Here?’
What Do You Like To Do In Your Free Time
This question is very similar to tell us about yourself – open-ended and can leave you unsure what to say and what not to say. There is no need to overthink it. The interviewer is now interested in your personality and learning how you would fit into the team and get along with others. Here you can demonstrate your commitment, for example sports, language-learning or music, and that you also have a life outside of work and/or studying.
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Tell Me A Little About Yourself
Theres a good chance that the hiring manager will lead with this common internship interview question, so be ready with a well-rounded answer. Keep your response short and sweet . You can talk about what youre currently involved in at school or work, projects youve completed in the past, and the reason why youre applying for this position.
Tell Me About Your Coursework In What Ways Is It Relevant To This Position
Even the most mundane college class has some professional benefit to it. There are the obvious waysif youre looking for a PR intern, then having someone who is majoring in marketing or public relations and has worked on projects that relate to your industry is a clear connection.
But other classes have indirect benefitsas wellfor example, writing papers takes research, organization, time management, and editing skills, and foreign language classes require communicating effectively in a diverse environment. By having candidates identify and articulate those connections, youll get a good sense of where their strengths lie.
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Common Internship Interview Questions
Here are five internship interview questions that you might face along with a great example answer for each question:
1. Why are you applying for this internship?
Hopefully this is a question youve asked yourself long before you started the actual internship application process and before you ever agreed to an internship interview.
An internship is an amazing opportunity to get hands on experience in your chosen field, network with peers, meet people who might be invaluable mentors and guides and ultimately might lead to a permanent paying position. Of course, if the internship has absolutely zero to do with your ultimate goals in life, then youre not just wasting your time, youre potentially taking this opportunity away from someone who really wants/needs it. Make sure youre choosing internships that align with your long-term goals.
2. What do you hope to get out of this internship?
Yes, we all know that a job is the ultimate goal, but thats not the answer the interviewer is looking for. Focus on the other aspects of an internship and make sure your answers are honest. Too much BS is just going to come off as ingenuous.
3. What are your long-term goals?
4. Why should we consider you for this internship?
5. Why are manhole covers round and not square or some other shape?
Really? Yes.
Walk Us Through A Notable Project Youve Completed What Did You Learn And What Would You Do Differently
Earlier, we talked about a question thats meant to let you brag and talk about your finest work. It focused on the end product. On the other hand, this question is all about the process and figuring out how you work in a real-world setting.
Its easy to talk yourself up and only mention the good things youve done. But when you go into detail about how you do something? Thats how the interviewer understands your work process and how you go about completing projects.
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What Kind Of Work Environment Do You Prefer
All companies have a specific work culture and environment. Some are more strict and professional, while others are more laid-back and foster a creative atmosphere.
Interviewers ask potential interns this question because they want to ensure that youre a good fit. Youre potentially going to be dropped into the middle of this brand-new work environment. They want assurance that you will flourish.
Name One Of Your Proudest Professional Moments
According to NACE Nearly 91 percent of employers prefer that their candidates have work experience, and 65 percent indicate that they prefer their candidates to have relevant work experience. Asking about their proudest professional moments gives you information on what they view as a successful work history and what related experience they have.
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Describe A Time You Had To Learn How To Perform A Brand New Task
Interns often have very little workplace experience. Many are in college or newly graduated, so they should have experience in learning new concepts and skills from their time in school. Asking an intern candidate this question can show you how they approach problem solving, their comfort level with tasks outside their scope and their ability to ask for guidance when needed.
Look for a candidate response with these characteristics:
- Interest in learning
- Knowing when to ask for help
- Process for dissecting a problem
A well-considered candidate response might sound like this example:
Example:
“I’d always had an interest in biology in high school, but it wasn’t until I got to college that I really understood the research process. My first biology lab involved writing a thorough, highly-templated lab report that I was not familiar with at all. When I received the assignment, I closely read all the instructions. I went to my professor’s office hours for clarity and asked to look at an example lab report.
Once I got the answers to my specific questions and saw how the formatting worked in a real world report, I felt ready to tackle my own lab report. I sought feedback from my peers during a study session, and we all worked together to ensure our reports matched the template. I find that asking for guidance and ensuring I have enough time to practice a new task helps me master it much more quickly than making a blind attempt.”
Highlight A Situation In Which You Put Others Or The Goal Above Your Own Interests
Working together collaboratively and putting collective organizational goals over individual ambitions is imperative in today’s workplace. And while the words sound good, putting them into action is another story. Mertz developed an interview question that presses candidates to prove they have done just that.
Why It Works: “Ethics plays a key role in leadership,” asserts Mertz. “With this request, an interviewee can demonstrate their values while highlighting how they focus on purpose and mission above their self-interests.”
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Questions To Ask When Interviewing An Intern
Interns can offer several benefits to the workplace. They often provide additional support on projects and handle tasks that help reduce full-time employees’ workloads. By asking candidates the right questions during interviews, you can boost your chances of hiring well-qualified, skilled interns who fit well within your team. In this article, we list and discuss 30 good interview questions for interns.
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It’s not a secret that internships rule. They’re a great way to gain post-graduate connections and beef up your resume. You can dazzle your employers after you land the internship, but first you’ve got to win them over at your interview. After hours of scouring the web for internship openings, writing cover letters and tweaking your resume, you’ll hopefully hear from an employer who’d like to meet for an interview. We’ve all heard the horror stories about college students who totally bombed their internship interviews: The candidate who chomps his gum through the meeting or the girl who arrives 30 minutes late to her interview.
If you believe you would be an A+ intern, follow these six tips to ensure you ace the interview first:
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Here Are Some Negative Signs To Notice When Asking Typical Internship Interview Questions:
- They have different career goals. If candidates long-term professional goals dont match your internship, they will likely be disengaged when performing their tasks. But, if theyre skilled and interested in your company, consider offering an internship in a different department, if available, or stay in touch for future job opportunities.
- They lack motivation. Internships have a fixed duration and help college students or recent graduates gain work experience. But, thats only if they take their tasks seriously. Candidates who view their internship as a chore and look forward to getting it over with may not be worth the time youll invest in them.
- They are unprofessional. Arriving late to interviews, missing deadlines or being arrogant are red flags for all candidates. And while you shouldnt judge interns harshly if theyre less experienced with job interviews, its best to disqualify candidates who present themselves in unprofessional ways.
- Theyre not good culture fits. If you set up internship programs to get to know potential hires before offering full-time employment, screen for culture fit early on the hiring process. Hire, onboard and train interns who are likely to stay with you in the long-run.
Feel free to download the pdf youll find below with the best questions to ask in an internship interview.
If you found our sample internship interview questions helpful, see also:
