Good Questions to Ask in Internship Interview
For the large structured internship, where there is a cohort, a programme manager and a conversion decision at the end. These questions are about how the programme is run rather than the day-to-day task list, so they suit companies that take interns every year. At a small company with no programme, the questions worth asking are different ones.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Who runs the internship programme, and how long has it existed?
Why ask it
A programme in its fifth year has fixed the obvious problems; a first-year programme means you are part of the experiment. Neither is bad, but the second one requires you to ask more of the questions below.
How many interns will there be, and are they spread across teams?
Why ask it
A cohort gives you people at your own level to compare notes with, which is where most interns actually learn how the company works. Being the only one means more attention and much less context.
Would I have a mentor, and is that the same person who assigns my work?
Why ask it
When the two roles are combined, you tend to get task management rather than mentoring. Separating them means someone is responsible for your learning even when the work is going badly.
How much time would my mentor actually have for me each week?
Why ask it
Ask for a number and see whether one exists. A scheduled thirty minutes that reliably happens is worth more than an open-door policy from someone in meetings all day.
What do interns do in their first three days?
Why ask it
Concrete answers involve accounts, a laptop, a first small task and an introduction round. If the answer is that it depends, expect to spend your first week waiting for access to something.
How are interns included in the team's routine: standups, planning, retrospectives?
Why ask it
Being in the room where work gets decided is how you learn what the job really is. Interns kept out of planning tend to receive tasks with no context and produce work that misses the point.
Are there sessions or events run for interns across the company?
Why ask it
Talks, socials and skills sessions are a sign the programme has a budget and an owner. They are also where you meet people outside your team, which is the part interns most often say mattered.
Who outside my immediate team would I get to meet?
Why ask it
Ask whether introductions are arranged or left to you. Programmes that deliberately connect interns with other functions produce a much wider view of the company than ones that leave you at one desk.
How would someone senior end up knowing my name by the end of the summer?
Why ask it
Blunt, but it names something interns rarely plan for. A good answer describes a demo, a written update that circulates, or a project with a visible sponsor rather than luck.
How much of the programme is the same for every intern, and how much depends on the team?
Why ask it
Large programmes vary enormously between teams under one shared brochure. The answer tells you how much your summer depends on the team matching.
How do people here ask for help without feeling they look lost?
Why ask it
The norms differ enormously: some teams expect a question after fifteen minutes of being stuck, others expect a day of trying first. Getting this wrong is the most common way an intern underperforms.
What does the midpoint review cover?
Why ask it
If there is a midpoint review, you can correct course. Ask who conducts it and whether the notes go anywhere, because a review that is not recorded rarely affects the final decision.
How are interns evaluated at the end, and who makes the decision?
Why ask it
Ask whether it is your manager alone or a panel, and whether there is a written rubric. A single opinion means your relationship with one person effectively decides the outcome.
What separates an intern who gets an offer from one who does not?
Why ask it
Gets you the unwritten criteria, which usually turn out to be communication, follow-through and asking early rather than raw technical ability. You can aim at those deliberately from week one.
How many of last year's interns received return offers?
Why ask it
A rough number is a fair thing to ask and most teams will give one. Vagueness here is worth pressing gently, because the difference between most and a couple is the difference between a pipeline and a lottery.
When are conversion decisions made, and how are they communicated?
Why ask it
You need the date because it interacts with your own recruiting calendar. Decisions made weeks after the programme ends mean you should keep applying elsewhere in the meantime.
If there is no headcount at the end, what do you do for interns?
Why ask it
The honest version of the conversion question. Teams that have faced it before will describe referrals, introductions to other groups, or a deferred offer, rather than being surprised by the possibility.
Do you stay in touch with former interns, and how?
Why ask it
An alumni group or a returning intern who now works there says more about the programme than any brochure. It also tells you whether the network survives past the final week.
What do interns who did not get an offer say about the programme afterwards?
Why ask it
Every programme has them, and the answer shows whether the company handles that group with any care. Silence here is worth noting.
What would you change about the programme if it were up to you?
Why ask it
Invites candour by making it hypothetical, and interviewers often answer more openly than you expect. Whatever they name is the weak point you should plan around.
Reading an internship programme from the outside
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Who can answer which question
The recruiter or programme manager
Cohort size, events, timelines, conversion dates and how many interns returned last year. They own the numbers, so this is the right place for the conversion questions.
The hiring manager
Mentorship, how interns are included in team routines, evaluation, and what separates a strong intern from a weak one. They are also the person who will be making the final call.
A former or current intern
If you get the chance to speak to one, ask about the first three days, asking for help, and what a bad week looked like. They will tell you things nobody else will.
Ask one thing twice
Ask both the recruiter and the manager about conversion. If the answers do not match, that mismatch is the single most useful thing you will learn in the whole process.
What a well-run programme sounds like
- There is a named mentor who is not the person assigning your tasks.
- A first-day and first-week plan already exists and can be described.
- There is a scheduled midpoint conversation, not only a final review.
- They can tell you where last year's interns are now, by role.
- There is an answer for the case where no headcount exists at the end.
- Warning sign: everything about the programme is described as flexible and nothing has a date.
- Warning sign: the interviewer does not know who runs the programme or whether interns get mentors.
Once you are in the programme
- Ask in week one what would count as a strong internship, then write the answer down and check yourself against it at the halfway point.
- Book your own recurring time with your mentor rather than waiting to be invited. Nobody objects, and it is otherwise the first thing to slip.
- Send a short weekly written update to your manager. It is how someone senior ends up knowing what you did without watching you do it.
- Ask for the conversion timeline in writing early, so you can plan the rest of your recruiting around it.
- In the final fortnight, ask directly what you would need to do differently to get an offer. It is late, but not too late, and the answer is useful either way.