Preparing for an internship interview? Firstly, congratulations!
To help you, we’ve found the top 10 most common interview questions and let you into some secrets around what the interview is looking for, and some sample answers too.
Preparing for a specific question? You can cut to the question you’re looking to answer here:
- Why did you apply for this internship?
- What do you hope to learn from this experience?
- Why do you think you’re the most qualified candidate for this internship?
- What do you know about our organization?
- Describe a time you have been part of a team
- Describe a time you faced a difficult situation, and how you overcame it
- Can you take us through your resume?
- Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
- Explain your process for working through stressful situations
- Describe a time when you have overcome conflict
Want to get your head around situation interview questions and the STAR method? We tell you what you need to know below.
Why did you apply for this internship?
What they’re really asking: This is a classic interview question that you’ll be asked throughout your career. The interviewer wants to check that you’re not just applying for every job you see and that you’ve put real thought into your application. Similar questions might include, “What do you know about this company?” or “What do you know about this role?”
What to consider
Show that you’ve done your research. Avoid stating the obvious such as “I need an internship” or “I need the money”. Take the opportunity to show that you’ve read the job description or read up on the company, bringing in something about company values can be impressive.
Example answer
“I know as an organization you have a fantastic reputation and joining your marketing team, even for a short time, will be a fantastic opportunity for me to progress and learn.
What I’m most excited about is your company’s value of continual learning. Learning is really important to me. As well as completing a double honors degree in business and marketing, I also take extra credit classes in advanced Spanish, a skill that could be very beneficial to a company such as Orange with its second-largest market in Southern and Central America.
I would hope that this internship will just be the beginning of my relationship with Orange Inc and that I’ll be able to learn and progress within the company long term. ”
What do you hope to learn from this experience?
What they’re really asking: This is a question that will crop up a lot in entry-level roles so that the interviewer can understand your motivation. This can help the hiring manager to establish if you’d be a good fit for the organization.
What to consider
Think about what first interested you in the role, your motivation, and how this position aligns with your career goals. It’s important to focus on achievable results, a lot of internships are only a couple of weeks long so you won’t be able to completely revolutionize the company during this time.
Example answer
“When I first considered applying for this internship I was able to speak to some former interns via my college’s careers office.
Of the four that I spoke to, they all shared how valuable their mentors had been in terms of getting to know the industry as a whole. I hope that I would be able to build a strong relationship with my own mentor and gain a deeper understanding of the practical ways I can apply what I’m learning in college, particularly around HR in an international setting.”
Why do you think you’re the most qualified candidate for this internship?
What they’re really asking: Some of the most prestigious internships receive thousands of applications for just a few spaces, so this is an opportunity for you to differentiate yourself.
What to consider
There’s a lot you can cover here, but try to pick two to three compelling reasons. This could be previous work experience, your technical skills, or your soft skills. You’ll need to show confidence here, to convince the interviewer that you are the most qualified candidate for this internship.
Example answer
“As soon as I saw this internship advertised I knew that I was perfectly cut out for this role. The job description felt like a list of the modules and courses I have taken at college so far, many of which I have completed at the top of my class.
Your three company strengths are communication, collaboration, and community, and these are all strengths I have.
As football captain, I demonstrate all of these qualities regularly. I communicate with my teammates, with our coaches, and with the university. I collaborate with my team to achieve our goals, and I’ve built a community of sportspeople and sports fans who regularly volunteer in our local area. We recently worked on regenerating a local school’s sports facilities!”
What do you know about our organization?
What they’re really asking: Similar to the question of why you applied, this is looking to establish that you’ve done your research.
What to consider
State the obvious but also show that you’ve delved deeper. Say for example you’re applying for a marketing role, you might list off some details of their social media engagement. If you’re applying for a finance role, you might talk about their financial importance.
Example answer
“This is a company where “community” is really at the heart of what you do. You’ve built an 18 million strong community of customers in the US alone and a community of 5,000 employees globally.
I love that your HR team is really at the heart of this, building fantastic employee benefits including the “star package” and creating a tremendous raising and giving scheme in “we give”.
When I was working on my application I was lucky enough to meet two previous HR interns through my college careers service and they both emphasized how your values of community and collaboration are lived and breathed in everything you do. Both had had the opportunity to work on “we give” and it’s something I would love to be a part of. As someone who grew up in New York where you do a lot of this work, I’ve seen the benefits directly in my neighborhood”.
Describe a time you have been part of a team
What they’re really asking: This is a situational question, and you’ll be expected to answer this in a certain way. First, address the Situation, then the Task, then the Action you took, and finally the Result. This is called the STAR method.
What to consider
Your example can come from any situation, it doesn’t have to be in the workplace.
Example answer
“As treasurer of my college chess club, I work with a team of five committee members to ensure that the club operates effectively. Following on from things like the Queen’s Gambit, the society has grown from around 100 members to over 500 in the last 12 months. This has meant that our open meetings which we hold once a semester have become too large.
As a committee, we needed to represent our members so we sent around a series of surveys to understand what people were looking for. It became clear that EDI was very important and not something we had as a specific job on our committee.
We, therefore, worked together to add a new committee member to our team and set up some sub-committees so that we could address our members’ needs more effectively.
This has greatly improved communication and has boosted our member satisfaction rates by 10% in the last semester.”
Describe a time you faced a difficult situation, and how you overcame it
What they’re really asking: This question is about how you manage challenges and conflict. Again, the STAR method is super helpful here.
What to consider
Don’t turn this into an opportunity to bad mouth a previous colleague. Make sure you choose a scenario where your professionalism has shone through.
Example answer
“I work twice a week as a server at a large restaurant called Bob’s that on a busy night can have up to 200 customers.
On one particular evening, I was supervising, a huge, unbooked party of 50 people showed up.
I immediately made sure that I communicated with all of our employees from the kitchen to the front of house and asked some of my colleagues who were about to leave if they could work some additional hours.
I created a small team that would look after this party and allocated the customers a function room to make it as easy as possible.
It was an all hands on deck situation but we pulled it off. The party left a 30% tip!”
Can you take us through your resume?
What they’re really asking: This is a question that you’ll be asked early on in the interview process, potentially in a screening call. This question aims to establish whether or not your resume is just loads of buzzwords. This doesn’t need to be as detailed as you might think, you might choose to highlight a few examples.
What to consider
This can feel like an overwhelming question. If you’re on a call, have your resume in front of you to prompt you.
Example answer
“I’m currently a freshman doing a double major in business and finance at Mississippi University and I love it. I’ve been specializing more recently on sustainable technology and sustainable investing and I wrote a top-scoring paper on the negative environmental impact of cryptocurrencies.
Alongside my studies, I also run a tabletop games society, which has around 75 members and I’m part of my college’s ultimate frisbee team, we’re currently ranked 9th nationally.
Last summer, I did my first internship in banking with JJ Scott. It was a 12-week paid position focused mainly on the stock market, trading, and investments. I had the opportunity to visit the New York Stock Exchange, join client meetings, create reports, and delve into financial data.
I’m hoping that this internship will provide me with a more rounded understanding of the banking industry, particularly around sustainable investments.”
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
What they’re really asking: As someone early in your career, you might not have a 5-year plan, and that’s totally ok. The interviewer is trying to establish where you think this specific internship might take you and if your long-term goals align with what the internship offers.
What to consider
Revisit the job description when preparing for this question. Look out for any key points around what you’re going to learn, and use these to inform your answer.
Example answer
“In five years, I see myself continuing to develop my skills and expertise and business consulting. I will have graduated from college, completed my MBA, and be working at an organization much like this one that has a global reach, and a strong sense of comradery and teamwork.
I would like to think that with two years of full-time experience under my belt, I’ll have received my first promotion and soon be in the position to take on some managerial responsibilities.”
Explain your process for working through stressful situations
What they’re really asking: The workplace is really different from school and education, so employers need to know that you can handle the change in pace and environment.
What to consider
This could be answered with a specific example using the STAR method.
Example answer
“To best answer this question I will be using a specific, recent example that I feel demonstrates my skills in handling a stressful situation.
I’ve worked as a brand ambassador alongside my studies for a couple of years, and am now in a supervisory role. I was recently working for a large drinks brand at the Kentucky Derby. This involved giving out free samples, answering questions, and encouraging people to take vouchers to shop in-store.
Of the original team of 10, only 6 showed up on the day. A lot of people were also people I hadn’t worked with before, so before we got going I arranged a team meeting. I asked everyone to give me their strengths and weaknesses. For example, someone was very new and didn’t know the product at all but was very physically fit so was happy to carry boxes of stock, while others were sales whizzes. I also spoke to head office to find out if there was anyone else, what the original client brief was, and if the pay could be altered to reflect a smaller team.
I reshuffled the rota, got an additional pair of hands for the afternoon shift, and negotiated a 10% hourly rate increase for everyone involved which was a huge motivator in a more stressful scenario.
I think it’s always important to take a breather, take time to reflect, and communicate clearly.”
Describe a time when you have overcome conflict
What they’re really asking: The employer wants to know that you’re a safe pair of hands that is going to resolve conflict rather than cause drama.
What to consider
A situational question equals the STAR method. Think about examples from outside of work, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience.
Example answer
“I was recently working on a class project for my class on modern-day American politics with a student that I hadn’t worked with before.
When we initially got paired, we worked together on a timeline and agreed on deliverables. However, the first deadline came and went and the other person went AWOL.
I asked them if we could have a quick catch-up after class to discuss. Rather than accusing them of anything I asked if they were ok, as I had noticed that they hadn’t been communicating recently and that we were behind on the project.
They entrusted me with some personal issues that had led to these delays which would have been grounds for an extension so I asked if this would be something they’d like me to investigate.
Once asking for an extension was agreed I approached our tutor, explained the scenario, and arranged the paperwork.
This helped build trust with my classmate, and when we came to the project the second time around it felt easier for us both to communicate and get the job done. We ended up scoring 92% on that project.”
Situational questions and the STAR method
A situational question is a question that starts with “Tell us about a time when”, “Describe a time when”, or “Can you give us an example of when you..” These are questions that normally test a soft skill, such as teamwork, conflict resolution, or communication, or certain key skills such as managing a budget.
There’s a specific formula for answering these questions called the STAR method. This stands for situation, task, action, and result.
Situation – This is what you were doing and for who. Early in your career, this could include examples from studying, extracurricular activities, and volunteer work.
“For the past two years, I have been captain of my college frisbee team.”
Task – Normally this is an issue that you have had to resolve in some way.
“This year, we didn’t have enough people attend tryouts, which meant that our funding from the college was at risk of being cut.”
Action – Explain what you did to solve this problem and how you did it.
“A lot of people don’t know about this sport, while others are worried they won’t be good enough. I rallied the current team to arrange some friendly taster sessions, and to establish if we had links to other societies that we could advertise through.
In just 4 weeks, we held 6 taster sessions, and had advertised frisbee with 10 societies that our current members were members of.”
Result – Describe a positive result that occurred following the above. Try to include numbers or statistics.
“A month after missing out on our minimum numbers, we’d doubled our sign-ups which meant the team could continue. Nearly a year on, we’ve tripled our membership which has meant we’ve been able to compete in 50% more tournaments and improve our national rankings by 10 places.”
Before an interview, spend time preparing some answers. Ask yourself:
- What five scenarios would I like to talk about?
- What skills are demonstrated in each of these scenarios?
- How would I answer a competency-based question for each scenario and skill?
This will give you a big bank of answers that you can use in an interview.
Need more advice regarding internships? Looking to know where to apply, how to apply, and to improve your resume and cover letter? Check out the ultimate guide to internships here.
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