Answering some of the interview questions for your desirable internship may sound like a nightmare. It’s not easy to calm your nerves when the interviewer seems to be attacking you with the questions that are tricky to answer.
The interviewer usually looks for some basic qualities in all the candidates. Major qualities that you need to portray in order to make you appear stronger are:
1.Enthusiasm for the internship
2.Willingness to learn
3. Team working capabilities
4. Passion for your future and career
5. Professionalism and punctuality
Before nailing any interview, you need to know some of the typical questions that you might come across. Finding worthy answers to those questions is the next big step. So, below are some of the most notable questions asked during internship interviews along with some million dollar tricks to answer them.
1. Tell us a bit about yourself
This is usually the first question and an impressive answer to this can really work wonders. If your college arranged for the interview, then they probably know about their educational qualifications. So, you can skip that part. Show that you’re a passionate person you wants to build a solid foundation to your future career.
Show that you’re an active person and you have the desire to learn and develop. Make sure that you deliver the message that you’re an enthusiastic person. Telling that you understand the importance of hard work and you’re willing to learn more from their company. If you have any past experiences as an intern, you can share that as well.
2. Why do you want to intern here?
Buttering with a lot of appreciation for the brand won’t help you much with this question. Rather, think of more realistic reasons. Tell them that you want to build strong work ethic, improve your teamwork skills, and you also want to learn from the experienced staff members of the company.
Show them that these are also aligned to your future career goals. The motive to use your time wisely can also be an attractive reason. You can also tell them that working with them as an intern will help you in developing invaluable work skills.
3. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
This is the question most of the candidates find themselves struggling with. The pro tip is to turn the question around. Start with your weakness and end at a positive note with your glorious strengths. We can all use fancy adjectives to describe our strengths but we need to be careful to the weakness part. Start your answer with disclosing one of your weaknesses. Give way to just one single weakness and tell them that you’re trying to improve. And to counter it, mention the top three strengths that you think you possess.
Also mentioning the positive side of your weakness can also be a great trick to keep the positivity high for the entire answer. Here is a quick example. You can tell them that one of your major weaknesses is spending too much time on details. However, also state that you do so because you need your work to be perfect but that might be time consuming. For the strengths, you can say that you’re organized, self-motivated and passionate about your work but open to new learning experiences.
4. How would your friends and family describe you in 3 words?
You don’t need to give 3 words that tell them that you’re brilliant. Rather, try and be honest with your answer. You can give two words that describe your positive traits and one which identifies that you’re willing to learn. An impactful answer can be: “ I believe that they would describe me someone who is Loyal, someone who is Honest and possibly someone who can be Sensitive at times.” However, also mention that sensitivity can be a positive trait at times as it shows that you genuinely care about the people around you.
5. What do you plan to do during your internship?
As you told them earlier that you’re an organized person, keep up with that impression. Show the interviewer that you have a plan in place of what you intend to do. This strengthens the notion that you’re indeed organized. Tell them that you intend to make the most out of your time whilst with the company. You can also give them three ways you’re planning to optimize your time.
- Contributing to the company with your productive work
- Learn from the experienced staff
- Develop valuable work skills
6. What are your plans after you finish this internship and graduation?
Unless you have definite plans to work elsewhere, you can say that you’re open to working with their organization in a specific role. End your answer by saying: “ Provided you are happy with my performance during the internship, and there is space for me, I would be obliged to get my career under way with your company, if the opportunity arises.”
7. Why should we offer you this internship?
This question can either make your interview a ‘hit’ or a ‘flop’. You need to show them that you possess all the major qualities that they’re looking for. Tell them what makes you unique i.e. your USP. Tell them that your strengths make you a perfect person for the role of an intern but you’re very much willing to learn more. You can also highlight the fact that you’ve mastered soft skills and communication skills. Nonetheless, keep your answer short and crisp and bring the most important key points to light.
Above all, the interviewer really wants to know you. So just be your most confident self. Take a deep breath and always start with putting up a beautiful smile. Lastly, state everything that is true and you can take full responsibility of it. Just to grab an opportunity don’t state false things about yourself which can turn problematic in future.
Click the link below for more tips and questions. https://www.themuse.com/advice/internship-interview-questions-answers
Written by - Neha Kundu
Edited by - Kashish Chadha
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