The internship – a stepping stone to your future career. Whether you’re a seasoned intern or embarking on your first experience, preparation is key to landing the perfect opportunity. Feeling a pre-interview flutter of nerves? It’s perfectly normal! This guide equips you with the most commonly asked internship interview questions, empowering you to impress interviewers and showcase your potential.
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By familiarizing yourself with these questions, you’ll gain a head start and approach your interview with confidence. Here are some of the most common internship interview questions, categorized for easy reference:
Also check- Job interview questions / Common second interview questions
General Internship Interview Questions
1.Tell me a little bit about yourself.
2.What are your strengths and weaknesses?
3.What accomplishments are you most proud of?
4.Do you work better under pressure or with time to plan and organize?
5.Why are you interested in this internship?
6.Why should we consider you for this internship?
7.What do you know about this industry/company?
8.How would your faculty/friends/co-workers describe you?
9.What three words would you choose to best describe yourself?
10.Why did you choose your major?
Internship Questions To Ask
11.Give an example of how you’ve dealt with a conflict with another person.
12.Tell me a story either personal or professional that paints a picture of you.
13.Describe a situation where your judgment proved to be an invaluable contribution to a team.
14.How do you handle meeting tight deadlines?
15.Give an example of how you set goals and achieve them.
16.What do you do when your schedule is interrupted? Give an example of how you handle this.
17.Give an example of how you work on a team.
18.Can you remember a time when you handled a difficult situation with another student or co-worker? What did you do?
19.Share an example of how you’ve been able to motivate team members.
20.Describe how you would handle a difficult relationship that you felt was holding you back on the job.
Internship Interview Questions
21.Why Are You Interested in This Internship/Company/Industry, and What Skills or Experiences Do You Hope to Gain?
22.What’s the Best Team You’ve Ever Been a Part of, and Why?/What’s Your Ideal Team?
23.Tell Us About a Situation Where You Took Initiative or Took on a Leadership Role.
24.Tell Us About an Assignment or Project From Start to Finish—What Went Well, and What Would You Have Done Differently?
25.What’s One Challenge You’ve Faced, and How Did You Overcome It?
26.Tell Us About a Time You Had to Learn Something Completely New.
27.Can You Tell Us About a Project or Accomplishment You’re Proud of, and Why?
28.Do You Have Any Questions for Us?
Journalism Internship Interview Questions
29.What did you do to prepare for this interview? That’s the first question the BBC asks. Morrisey asks this to try to understand an applicant’s motivation, something you need to get across.
30.What is in the news that is relevant to us?
31.What stories should we be covering?
32.What’s the biggest story in the industry at the moment? That could be in fashion, pensions, cricket, or whatever area of journalism the job covers.
33.Who writes for us, why do you like them? This is a question that the Guardian asks and expects an answer that goes beyond Charlie Brooker (see above).
34.The Guardian also asks questions on current affairs and the day’s news, plus opinions and thoughts on the future of newspapers and the rise of digital journalism, expecting interviewees to be aware of and have an opinion on the Guardian’s digital first strategy.
35.You may be asked about your health so that the employer can accommodate you. Thompson warns against saying “I get a bit stressed. I’m on medication a stress makes it worse”.
36.For a politics position, you may be asked a random politics question, Paul McMillan, editor of Money Marketing said.
37.Who are your contacts? Who would be the first three people to contact to stand up the story?
38.Which journalists to you admire?
39.Tell me about your best work.
40.When have you had to perform under pressure?
41.Give me an example of a time when you have come up with a great idea.
42.How do you handle deadlines?
43.When have you had to work as part of a team and when have you had to work alone?
44.Where do you want to be in five years?
Tech Internship Interview Questions
45?How is dynamic memory allocated in memory? How is static memory allocated?
46.Which is more efficient for insertion: a singly linked list or a doubly linked list? Which is more efficient for deletion? Which is more efficient for searching? Explain.
47.How do routers, switches, and hubs differ?
48.Please program a linked list in C.
49.Please implement a power function that takes a base and the power. Do this recursively.
50.What are the three pillars of OOP [Object Oriented Programming]?
51.How does the internet work? Explain it as if you were explaining it to your mother.
52.What is fill factor?
53.Describe a buffer overflow. What is the different between symmetric and asymmetric encryption?
54.Provide an example of a simple SQL statement.
55.Describe (in pseudo code) a program that counts from 1 to 10, prints “foo” if the number is divisible by 2, “bar” if the number is divisible by 5, and “foobar” if the number is divisible by both.
56.What do you know about how a computer works?
57.What is a Coalesce in SQL?
58.Explain database normalization.
59.How does DNS [Domain Name System] work? What are some of the differences between Linux distros?
60.How, with the help of encryption, you can eliminate middleman attack on a network?
61.Please explain the waterfall model.
62.What are the stages of the SDLC [systems development life cycle]?
63.Write a function that takes as input the time (hours and minutes) and outputs the angle between the minute and hour hands.
64.What is a pure virtual function? What is a critical region? What is a mutex? Please show in code proper inheritance of classes and virtual functions.
65.Describe public and private key encryption, and try and catch clauses in Java.
66.What is a static variable?
67.What is the difference between a class and an object?
68.How would you approach the problem of a slow database?
69.Explain a proxy.
70.Describe Java collection classes.
71.What are the benefits of recursion?
72.If you were provided with an ASA configuration, what security settings would you want to see?
73.On a website vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery, what would you recommend to remediate the issue?
Civil Engineering Internship Interview Questions
74.What appeals to you about working for our company?
75.Why did you apply for this particular job?
76.Why did you select civil engineering as your field or major?
77.Describe a time when you questioned your choice of engineering as a career or major.
78.Describe an occasion when you worked on a team and something did not go well. How did you respond?
79.Share a situation when a project or proposal of yours met resistance or was not adopted in a timely fashion. How did you handle this dilemma?
80.What strengths make you a good engineer?
81.What was your professional development plan for the past two years?
82.Describe a time when you received criticism from a supervisor or professor. How did you respond?
83.Describe your ideal boss.
84.What is an example of a problem where you had to think on your feet?
85.What will be the biggest challenge for you with this position?
HR Internship Interview Questions
86.Did you ever have a conflict with your current/previous boss or professor?
87.What do your friends/co-workers say about you?
88.What did you do in the last year to improve your knowledge?
89.Explain the difference between group and team. Are you a team player?
90.What is your ideal company or workplace?
91.Have you ever had to fire anyone? How did you feel about that?
92.What is the most difficult thing that you’ve ever accomplished? or What is the most difficult thing you have ever done?
93.What is the difference between hard work and smart work?
94.How do you feel about working weekends and night shifts?
95.Where do you see yourself 3 years from now? or Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
96.Give an example of a time you had to respond to an unhappy manager/ customer/ colleague/ professor/ friend.
97.How quickly do you adapt to new technology?
98.What software packages are you familiar with?
99.On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you rate yourself as a leader?
100.What makes you angry?
101.Are you open to take risks? or Do you like experimenting?
102.What are your future goals? Tell me about your short term and long-term goals.
103.What motivates you?
104.What are your hobbies? or What are you passionate about?
105.What are your biggest achievements till date?
106.What are you most proud of?
107.What has been your greatest failure?
108.What do you always regret? or Do you have any regrets?
109.How do you respond to change?
110.Are you demanding as a boss?
111.Are you an organized person?
112.Can you describe your time management skills?
113.What’s your absenteeism record like?
114.Are you reliable? or Can I trust you with responsibilities?
115.What are the three things that are most important for you in a job?
116.What was the toughest decision you ever had to make?
117.If you won a Rs.10-crore lottery, would you still work?
118.Give me an example of your creativity.
119.What makes you happy?
120.How do you work under pressure? Can you handle the pressure?
121.Are you willing to relocate or travel?
122.What do you know about us or our company?
123.How long do you think you will work for us after we hire you?
124.Are you applying for other jobs? Do you have any other offer in hand?
125.Why do you want to work for us or our company? or Why do you want this job?
126.Do you know anyone who works for us?
127.Why should we hire you? or Why should I hire you?
128.What are your salary expectations?
129.Do you have a good work ethic?How do you deal with feedback and criticism?
130.Tell me something about yourself in brief
131.Describe who you are. or Tell me about your background.
132.What are your strengths and weaknesses?
133.You have not done your PG yet. This is not a drawback, but don’t you think you should get a PG degree asap?
134.You have changed jobs/jumped ship too many times already, why so?
135.What are your strong points? or What are your strengths?
136.What is your greatest fear?
137.If I call up your current or previous reporting manager now, what will be their opinion about you? What will they say that you need to work on?
138.Do you have any serious medical issues?
139.Your interview is more or less coming to an end when the interviewer asks you, “Do you have any questions for me?”
Conclusion:
By exploring these common internship interview questions, you’ve gained valuable insights to prepare for your upcoming interview. But remember, preparation is key! Here’s how to take action:
- Craft a Compelling Narrative: Practice your answers, weaving a clear story that highlights your skills and experiences.
- Research the Company: Demonstrate your genuine interest by learning about the company’s mission, values, and internship program.
- Prepare Your Own Questions: Formulate thoughtful questions for the interviewer, showcasing your curiosity and initiative.
- Practice Makes Perfect: Conduct mock interviews with friends, family, or career advisors to refine your responses and build confidence.
With dedication and a positive attitude, you’ll be well on your way to conquering your internship interview and landing the perfect opportunity!
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Stay tuned for more content related to internship success, including tips for crafting a standout resume, acing behavioral interview questions, and making a lasting impression on your interviewer.
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