Questions to Ask an Intern Candidate
Questions to ask students in an interview for an internship, when you have to choose between several candidates with thin resumes. They ask each interviewee for evidence from coursework and projects rather than for self-assessment, they cover logistics before an offer, and the closing run is for a marketing intern.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
What made you apply here rather than somewhere else?
Why ask it
An easy opener that separates candidates who read something about the company from those who applied to sixty places. You are not looking for flattery, just evidence of a choice.
What class or project are you proudest of, and what was your part in it?
Why ask it
The second half matters most. Students describe group work in the first person plural, and asking for their own contribution reveals whether they led it, wrote one section, or watched.
Show me something you built or wrote. What would you change about it now?
Why ask it
The critique of their own work is the real signal: it shows how far their judgment has moved since they finished it. A candidate who would change nothing has stopped learning from it.
What did you do the last time you were stuck on something for more than a day?
Why ask it
Interns spend a lot of time stuck, so how they get unstuck predicts most of their value. Listen for a sequence, such as reading documentation, retrying, then asking with a specific question rather than a general plea.
Tell me about something you got wrong. How did you find out?
Why ask it
The discovery route matters: caught it themselves, a peer caught it, or a grade revealed it much later. Candidates who cannot name any mistake are usually either guarded or not yet doing work with consequences.
How do you keep track of things when three deadlines land in the same week?
Why ask it
Asks for an actual system, whether a calendar, a list, or negotiating an extension early. Answers about working harder and sleeping less describe a strategy that fails in a job with no exam date.
Which tools have you actually used, and what did you use them for?
Why ask it
Resumes list every tool a course mentioned. The second half sorts a semester of real use from one afternoon in a lab, without accusing anyone of exaggerating.
Which part of this job do you think you would be worst at right now?
Why ask it
Tests self-knowledge without the rehearsed weakness answer, because it is bounded by the specific role. A precise answer also tells you what support they will need in week one.
When you received feedback that stung, what did you do with it?
Why ask it
Interns receive more correction per week than they ever have. What they did next, rather than how they felt, is what predicts whether supervising them will be work or a pleasure.
Tell me about a group project where someone was not pulling their weight.
Why ask it
Almost every student has this story, so refusal to describe one is unusual. Listen for whether they spoke to the person, quietly absorbed the work, or complained to an instructor.
What do you want to be able to do by the end of this that you cannot do now?
Why ask it
A specific skill tells you whether your actual work will satisfy them. Answers about gaining experience in general mean nobody has helped them think about it, which is worth ten minutes of your time either way.
What kind of supervision suits you: daily check-ins, weekly, or being left alone?
Why ask it
There is no wrong answer, only a match or a mismatch with what you can offer. An intern who needs daily contact and gets a manager who travels will struggle for reasons neither of you intended.
What would make you finish this internship disappointed?
Why ask it
Surfaces expectations you may be unable to meet, such as client contact, a published piece of work, or a guaranteed offer. Better to hear it now than in a mid-point review.
What have you read, watched, or followed about this field recently?
Why ask it
Distinguishes genuine curiosity from a course requirement, and the specific source tells you where their picture of the industry comes from. A blank here is not disqualifying but it is informative.
Here is a real problem we have. How would you start on it?
Why ask it
The most predictive question available, because the work itself is the test. You are watching whether they ask clarifying questions before answering, which is the habit that matters most in a junior.
What would you need to be told or shown in your first week to be useful?
Why ask it
Reveals whether they have thought concretely about starting a job rather than getting one. Practical answers about access, context, and who to ask suggest someone who has worked before.
What are your dates and weekly hours, and what else are you committed to?
Why ask it
Classes, a second job, athletics, and family obligations all shape what the internship can be. Asking directly avoids the common failure where an intern turns out to be available half as much as assumed.
Is there anything you need from us to do this job well?
Why ask it
Opens space for equipment, software, scheduling, or accessibility needs without asking anyone to disclose anything personal. Silence is fine; an unmet need discovered in week three is not.
What questions do you have about the work itself?
Why ask it
Questions about the day-to-day work indicate someone imagining themselves doing it. Questions only about perks, or none at all, usually indicate a candidate who applied broadly.
If we offered you a place, what would you need to know before saying yes?
Why ask it
Tells you their real decision criteria and whether they are holding another offer. It is also the fastest way to learn what would make them decline after you have spent a month choosing.
What are you studying, and which parts of it have you actually enjoyed?
Why ask it
The subjects a student volunteers as enjoyable predict the work they will do well without being pushed. A student who cannot name one is often studying something someone else chose.
What kind of work were you hoping to do this summer?
Why ask it
Their answer either matches the job or does not, and it is better to find out in minute two. Candidates describing something adjacent can still be excellent, but you should say plainly what the role really involves.
What do you already know about what we do here?
Why ask it
Ten minutes of preparation is a low bar and it is genuinely informative about interest. Give a short correction if they have it wrong, then watch whether they pick the correction up and use it later in the conversation.
What have you done that is closest to this kind of work, paid or not?
Why ask it
The paid or not clause matters, because it opens up society roles, volunteering, and personal projects. Listen for whether they can describe what they produced, not just what they were involved in.
Have you done a placement or internship before, and what was it like?
Why ask it
A quick way to learn what they will compare you to. Someone whose last placement was three months of filing will be listening hard for whether this one is different, and you can answer that directly.
Have you had a paid job of any kind, and what did it teach you that a class could not?
Why ask it
A summer on a till or a weekend shift in a warehouse is real work history, and students routinely leave it off applications because they think it does not count. It does, and the answer often carries the best evidence of reliability you will get.
Have you organised or run anything outside class, however small?
Why ask it
A society, a five-a-side team, a fundraiser, a Discord server with rules and members all involve chasing people who did not reply. That is most of what junior coordination work turns out to be.
Tell me about a project you put more work into than you had to.
Why ask it
Discretionary effort is the closest thing to a track record a student has. If the extra work went into something outside class, a club, a game, a small business, that counts fully.
Tell me about a piece of work you had to redo. What was different the second time?
Why ask it
Redrafting is the closest thing in student life to revising work after review, which is what most of the first month will be. A student who can describe what changed has already done the job in miniature.
What is the longest thing you have worked on, and how did you keep track of it?
Why ask it
A dissertation, a build, a season of running a club, all count. The tracking method, however scrappy, tells you whether they will hold a multi-week task without someone chasing them weekly.
What could you do on day one that would be useful to us?
Why ask it
Distinguishes candidates who have read the role from those who have read the company. Overclaiming here is common and easy to test with one follow-up about where they last did that thing.
Tell me about something you had to teach yourself with nobody to ask. How did you go about it?
Why ask it
This is the closest proxy for what an intern will do most weeks. Listen for method, documentation, worked examples, taking something apart, rather than for the fact that they eventually managed it.
Tell me about a time you asked for help too late.
Why ask it
Assumes the failure, which makes it easier to admit. The answer tells you what stopped them asking, usually embarrassment or not knowing who to ask, and both are fixable if you know which.
Tell me about a brief or an assignment where you were not sure what was actually being asked. What did you do?
Why ask it
Every student has met a vague coursework brief, so the evidence is there to be had. Listen for whether they went and asked, looked at a past example, or produced something confident in the wrong direction.
On a group project, what role do you usually end up in?
Why ask it
Most people know their own default: organiser, the one who does the writing, the one who fixes it the night before. An answer that claims all roles equally is usually an answer with no self-observation behind it.
Tell me about working with someone whose standards were different from yours.
Why ask it
Reveals how they handle both directions: a teammate who did less than they wanted and one who wanted more than they gave. Watch for whether they resolved it or simply absorbed the extra work silently.
Tell me about a time you noticed something was wrong before anyone told you.
Why ask it
Attention to detail is claimed universally and evidenced rarely. A concrete instance, a mistake in a spreadsheet, a broken link, a total that did not add up, is worth more than any adjective on a CV.
Have you ever had to tell someone a deadline was going to slip? What did you say?
Why ask it
This is a skill more than a trait, and most students have practised it with a tutor. What you want to hear is early warning with a revised date, rather than an apology delivered after the deadline passed.
How do you prefer to be told when something you did is wrong?
Why ask it
Asking this out loud makes correction easier for the whole placement, because you can use the format they name. Someone with no preference at all often has not been corrected much and may take the first instance hard.
You are asked to do something that seems pointless to you. What do you do?
Why ask it
Tests whether they would ask why, do it anyway, or do it badly. The best answers involve doing it while asking what it feeds into, which is a habit worth hiring for on its own.
You follow your supervisor's instructions and it becomes clear the instructions were wrong. How do you raise it?
Why ask it
Authority and error arrive together here. Listen for someone who would raise it privately and with evidence, rather than following it silently to the end or announcing it in front of the team.
You spot a mistake in something that went out last week under a colleague's name. What do you do?
Why ask it
A test of nerve and tact at once. The answer you want involves telling the person directly and early rather than either saying nothing or raising it where it embarrasses them.
Two people give you conflicting instructions about the same task. How do you sort it out?
Why ask it
Interns get caught between managers constantly and often just pick the louder one. Good answers involve putting both instructions in front of both people rather than quietly choosing.
You are asked how long a task will take and you genuinely have no idea. What do you say?
Why ask it
Guessing a number to look competent is the common failure. Better answers involve saying they do not know yet, proposing to look at it for an hour, and coming back with an estimate.
You are asked to work in a tool you have never opened. What are your first three steps?
Why ask it
Their method appears here rather than their stated learning style. Documentation, an existing example in the team's files, or twenty minutes of clicking around are all reasonable; sitting on it until asked is not.
If you finish your assigned work early and your supervisor is unavailable, what do you do?
Why ask it
Interns spend real amounts of time in this exact situation. The answers worth hiring involve finding out what else is queued or reviewing their own output, not waiting quietly until someone appears.
Halfway through the placement you realise you are not learning much. How would you handle that?
Why ask it
Most interns in this position say nothing and leave disappointed. A candidate who would raise it, with a suggestion attached, is telling you they will fix small problems before they become the reason the summer failed.
When you learn something new, do you want to be shown, given the documentation, or left to work it out?
Why ask it
Tells you how to spend your own time. Handing documentation to someone who needs a demonstration wastes a week, and shadowing someone who would rather read wastes yours.
Do you work better from a clear list of tasks, or from being pointed at a problem?
Why ask it
Neither is a wrong answer, but the mismatch is costly. A student who wants direction will flounder on a vague brief, and one who wants latitude will chafe under close instruction.
Which part of this role sounds least appealing to you?
Why ask it
Every internship has repetitive work in it. Someone who names it and shrugs will cope. Someone who insists every part sounds great either has not read the posting or is not going to raise problems once they are here.
Has there been a manager or teacher you learned a lot from? What did they do?
Why ask it
What they admired in past mentors predicts what they will need from you: line-by-line correction, autonomy, context, or steady encouragement.
What is something you believe about this field that people on your course disagree with?
Why ask it
Gives independent thinkers somewhere to show it. Having no settled view is fine at this stage. Being unable to describe any live argument in the field suggests shallow engagement.
What should we know about how you work that would not show up on paper?
Why ask it
Open enough to catch what your questions missed: a fear of presenting, a preference for written instructions, an adjustment they will need on their first morning. Leave it entirely to them what to raise, and treat whatever arrives as a scheduling matter rather than a mark against them.
Are you applying for other placements, and where are you in those processes?
Why ask it
You need this in round one, not round three. A candidate with a decision deadline in ten days changes your scheduling, and asking early makes the answer routine rather than a negotiating move.
Is the location and the commute workable for you, and have you done that journey before?
Why ask it
Travel cost and time end more placements than any skills gap. Students say yes to an hour each way in April and discover in June what it costs them by Friday.
Is there anything about pay, hours or travel that would decide this either way?
Why ask it
Students are reluctant to raise money and will accept something they cannot sustain. Putting it on the table yourself gets you a real answer and occasionally saves an offer you would otherwise have lost.
How does this fit into what you do next, even if that turns out not to be this field?
Why ask it
An intern who is exploring rather than committed is still worth hiring, and knowing which one you have changes what you should say about a return offer.
What would you want to ask a current or former intern here that you would not ask me?
Why ask it
An honest answer tells you what they are worried about: hours, whether the work is real, or how people are treated. Treat it as a prompt to arrange that conversation before they decide.
Is there anything on your application you would like to explain or add to?
Why ask it
Gives a nervous candidate a second chance and lets someone account for a gap or a low grade without being asked about it pointedly.
What is the most tedious task you have been given, and how did you get through it?
Why ask it
A fair amount of internship work is unglamorous. This tells you whether they can be honest about disliking something while still finishing it, and occasionally you learn they found a way to make it faster.
Have you handled information you were not supposed to pass on? How did you know where the line was?
Why ask it
Interns get access to customer data, salaries and unreleased plans. Someone who has thought about asking before assuming is safer than someone who has never considered that the question exists.
Which brand's marketing have you noticed lately, and what do you think it was trying to get you to do?
Why ask it
Naming a favourite campaign is easy. Working back from an advert to the action it was built to produce is the habit a marketing intern needs, and you can hear within a sentence whether they have it.
Tell me about a time you got people to turn up to, sign up for or buy something.
Why ask it
A society event, a fundraiser or a stall selling old textbooks is marketing done with no budget. Ask what they tried first and what filled the room in the end.
Pick an account you follow that posts well. What is it doing that others like it are not?
Why ask it
Scrolling a lot is different from noticing why something works. A candidate who can point to timing, tone or a repeated format has been reading feeds the way the job will require.
Here is one of our recent posts or emails. Who do you think it was written for, and what would you test changing?
Why ask it
Bring a real piece and hand it over. The word test matters more than the critique, because it shows whether they treat an opinion about copy as something to check or something to win.
Have you looked at the numbers behind anything you posted or sent out? What did they tell you?
Why ask it
Views on a club page or the open rate of a society newsletter are enough. You are checking that they looked, and whether anything changed afterwards because of what they saw.
How would you explain what we sell to a friend who has never heard of us?
Why ask it
Two plain sentences here are worth more than a page of taglines. If their version is clearer than your homepage, write it down.
Write me a subject line for an email about this internship. Now write a second one for a different reader.
Why ask it
A thirty-second writing sample with its own second draft built in. The gap between the two lines shows whether they can hear an audience, which is harder to teach than grammar.
What is a piece of marketing you think was a mistake, and how could the team have known before it went out?
Why ask it
Criticising a campaign that flopped is easy in hindsight, so the second half is the real question. The stronger answers are about who should have seen it first.
Which part of marketing do you most want to get your hands on: writing, design, data, events or something else?
Why ask it
A marketing intern is often handed whatever the team is short on that month. Hearing their preference lets you say honestly how much of it this role holds.
Choosing Between Intern Candidates
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Running the Interview
Ask for Evidence, Not Traits
Students have been coached to describe themselves as hardworking and detail oriented. Every question that starts with what did you do produces something checkable; every question about what kind of person they are produces the coaching.
Use One Piece of Real Work
Bring an actual problem your team faced, stripped of confidential detail, and ask how they would begin. Watching someone ask clarifying questions and admit what they do not know is worth more than any answer they could prepare.
Compare Against the Job, Not Each Other
Write down the three things an intern must be able to do here before you interview anyone. Without that list, panels tend to pick the most confident talker, who is often not the person who will do the work.
Decide What You Are Offering
Be honest in the interview about pay, hours, the project, and whether a full-time offer is possible. Candidates who accept an internship on an inflated picture leave halfway through, and the reputation damage lands on next year's hiring.
Questions to Ask a Marketing Intern
The run that closes the list is for marketing roles, where a student's evidence is usually a club's social account, a society newsletter or an event they had to fill. Bring one real post or email of your own to hand over. For an intern in another department, keep the pattern and swap the material: a piece of that team's actual work, and a question about what they would change.
Common Pitfalls
Interviewing Them Like an Experienced Hire
Questions that assume years of workplace context reward candidates who have had well-connected internships already, not those who would learn fastest. Ask about coursework, projects, and part-time jobs, which everyone has.
Overweighting Polish
Some students have had interview practice through their school or their family, and it makes them sound better rather than perform better. Note the gap between confidence and specifics.
Skipping the Logistics
Dates, hours, exam periods, and travel are the most common reason internships go wrong, and they are almost never discussed until after the offer. Ten minutes here saves a scramble in July.
Choosing Someone With Nothing to Learn
A candidate who already knows all of your tools may be the safest pick and the least engaged by August. Weigh what the internship would actually give them, since interns who grow are the ones who come back.