If you are invited for an internship interview, that means you have crossed the selection process and stand a better chance of being employed if you answer the internship interview questions well.
Employers are usually busy people who wouldn’t have time to tolerate any form of ignorance during an internship interview session. This is why it is very important that you get yourself ready before being confronted with internship interview questions in an interview.
In this article, we shall go through some strategies on how to best answer internship interview questions excellently.
COMMON INTERNSHIP INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
- Tell us a bit about yourself.
- Why did you apply for this internship?
- Why did you apply for an internship at our company?
- Why do you want to work in this industry?
- What are your strengths?
- How do you prioritize your work?
- Tell us about a time when you have successfully dealt with a difficult situation.
We will guide you as regards how to answer all the above questions excellently. Take these guides seriously when preparing for your internship interview.
HOW TO ANSWER INTERNSHIP INTERVIEW QUESTIONS EXCELLENTLY
Tell us a bit about yourself
Usually, this is a warm up question thrown at a potential intern during an interview session. This is a question that is focused on discussing you as a topic. Be relaxed , calm and collected before saying a word.
While giving the interviewers an answer to this question, be professional by giving answers that project your personality that fits into the job. Avoid complicated answers that will yield more questions you may not wish to answer.
Why have you applied for this internship?
You must understand that this question gives the interviewer(s) an insight on whether you should be offered an internship role in their organization.
By all means when answering this question, mention the company or organization and state clearly why you would like to take up this opportunity with them, but don’t focus your whole answer on this if the question isn’t specifically about why you’ve chosen to apply to the internship role.
Why did you apply for an internship at our company?
This question sounds similar with the previous one but notice that this particular one focuses on the employer or company. So, you must give details with an understanding that proves you know a handful about the employer.
Your reasons should show that you have looked into the company beyond a quick read about them on the internet and that you and the employer are a good match. What do they specialise in and how does it relate to your career aims or career interests?
What are they striving to achieve and how does this relate to your own values? Always back up claims about your own values with evidence.
Why do you want to work in this industry?
This question wants you to give details of what inspired you to seek a role in the industry you’ve decided to build a career in. While answering this question, choose a related coursework subject but, avoid giving reasons to do with pay or working hours.
What are your strengths?
When giving an answer to this question, you have to think about the skills or personality traits you have that will enable you to fit in with a pre-existing team and the company at large.
How do you prioritize your work?
Internship interviewers most times ask this question with the intention of trying to know if you can be trusted with tasks. Ensure you give a befitting answer full of smart sincere strategies on how to prioritize work/tasks for maximum results.
Tell us about a time when you have successfully dealt with a difficult situation.
Understand that this is a competency test kind of question to test your ability to solve certain kinds of challenges that may come up. So, you will have to answer this whether you have a previous internship experience or not.
Recall any difficult situation you’ve had in the past which you handled smartly and then go ahead and share it.