Good Questions to Ask Interviewer for Internship
Aimed at the person across the table rather than the job description. In most internship interviews that person would be your manager or your closest colleague for the summer, and how they answer tells you more about the months ahead than any programme page. For the shape of the work, see Questions to Ask Interviewer for Internship. For how the programme is organised, see Questions to Ask Interviewer Internship.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What do you do on this team?
Why ask it
Simple, and surprisingly few candidates ask it. Knowing whether you are talking to the future manager, a senior engineer, or someone from another team entirely changes which of your remaining questions are worth asking.
How long have you been here, and what has kept you?
Why ask it
The second half is what makes it work. Someone who has stayed six years will name the specific thing that holds them, and someone who joined last quarter will tell you what they were promised.
Have you worked with an intern before? How did it go?
Why ask it
The most direct way to find out whether this team has done this. A specific story, good or bad, means there is experience to draw on; a first-time answer means you should ask more about mentorship.
What did you have to learn when you joined this team?
Why ask it
Whatever tripped up an experienced hire will certainly trip up an intern. It is also a preview of the parts of the system that are badly documented.
What are you personally hoping an intern would take off your plate?
Why ask it
Cuts past the job description to the real motivation for the headcount. If the honest answer is a backlog of small tasks, you would rather know that now than discover it in week three.
What does your week look like, and would I be in any of it?
Why ask it
Tells you how much contact you would actually have with this person. Someone in meetings four days a week cannot also be your day-to-day support, however willing they are.
Who else would interview me, and what does each of them care about?
Why ask it
Interviewers will often tell you plainly that the next person focuses on fundamentals or on how you work with others. It is the most useful preparation available and almost nobody asks for it.
What would I be doing that you would actually notice?
Why ask it
Points at where visible contribution comes from on this team, which is rarely the same as the busiest work. The answer usually names a document, a demo, or a recurring meeting.
What is the part of this job you would warn someone about?
Why ask it
A warning is easier to give than a criticism, so the phrasing tends to get an honest answer. Whatever they name, ask whether an intern would be exposed to it or shielded from it.
How do you like to give feedback?
Why ask it
Some managers correct immediately in a comment thread, others save everything for a weekly one-to-one. Knowing which lets you avoid reading normal review as disapproval, which is where many interns lose confidence.
What does a good question from an intern sound like to you?
Why ask it
Sets the norm for asking for help, which differs sharply between teams. Answers usually include showing what you already tried, and that single habit will shape how you are perceived all summer.
What do you look for in someone's first week?
Why ask it
Almost always about behaviour rather than output: turning up, taking notes, asking early. Getting the list explicitly means your first week is spent on the right things instead of trying to look busy.
How do you tell whether someone is stuck or just quiet?
Why ask it
A question about their attention rather than your performance. If they have no method, you will need to surface your own progress deliberately, because nobody will come and check.
What is the team proud of at the moment?
Why ask it
Easy to answer and it shows you what the team values. Notice whether the answer is about something shipped, something fixed, or how they work, because each implies a different culture.
What is the team struggling with that an intern would notice?
Why ask it
Interns see problems clearly because nothing has become normal to them yet. Hearing this in advance also tells you whether the team can talk about its own weaknesses without defensiveness.
How do decisions get made on this team?
Why ask it
Whether it is one person, a document with comments, or a weekly meeting decides how you get anything approved. Vague answers usually mean decisions happen in private conversations you would not be part of.
When you were starting out, what advice actually helped?
Why ask it
Asking for the advice that worked rather than advice in general tends to get something specific and lived. It also shifts the interview into a conversation, which is usually to your advantage.
What would you want me to know before I say yes?
Why ask it
Gives them permission to be candid at the point where it is most useful to you. Answers about pace, resourcing or a difficult stakeholder are worth checking with a second person on the team.
How did you decide between the options you had at my stage?
Why ask it
Useful if you are choosing between offers, and it puts them in the position of thinking about your decision rather than only theirs. What they weighed then is often what they would advise now.
Is there anything in my application you would like me to expand on?
Why ask it
One last chance to fill a gap the interviewer was quietly unsure about. Softer than asking whether they have concerns, and it closes the meeting on your terms rather than trailing off.
Asking the interviewer about themselves
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Why these questions land
People answer questions about themselves more openly
Ask about the company and you get the company line. Ask what this person had to learn when they joined, or what they would warn someone about, and you get an actual answer, because they are describing their own experience rather than representing an employer.
Find out who you are talking to first
Open with what they do on the team. If it turns out they are from another department, drop the questions about your daily work and ask instead about how the company treats interns and what the next round involves.
Ask three, not fifteen
You will get five to ten minutes. One about them, one about how you would work together, and one that closes the interview is enough. The rest of this list is a menu, not a script.
Follow up once and then stop
One specific follow-up shows you listened. If they say they give feedback weekly, ask whether it is written down. Do not take a single answer through three rounds of questions.
What the answers tell you
- They can describe a previous intern by name and by what that person built: the team has done this before and took it seriously.
- They can say what they want off their plate: the role has a real purpose rather than being a slot to fill.
- They describe feedback as scheduled and written: you will know where you stand without guessing.
- They can name something the team is struggling with: criticism is survivable here.
- Warning sign: they cannot describe how they would notice you were stuck.
- Warning sign: they have no view on what a good question from an intern sounds like, which usually means asking for help is not a habit on this team.
- Warning sign: they hesitate on how long they have been there or what keeps them, and change the subject to the company's mission.
What not to ask the interviewer
- Do not ask what the company does. It is the fastest way to lose an interview you were winning.
- Do not ask about their salary or how much they earn. Ask the recruiter about the internship's own pay instead.
- Do not ask them to compare themselves with a competitor, or to comment on a named colleague.
- Do not ask whether they liked your answers. Ask whether there is anything in your application they would like you to expand on.
- Do not ask how you did or whether you will get an offer. Ask what the next steps are and when to expect to hear, then send a short note the same day referencing something specific they said.