Questions to Ask an Intern in an Interview
Situational questions for an intern interview: twenty moments lifted straight out of a real placement, put to the candidate as "what would you do here". This is the set to use when a student has no track record worth mining and asking about past jobs only tells you who had connections. It is deliberately not a history-based interview; if you want to draw evidence from coursework, clubs and part-time work instead, use the questions at interview questions to ask an intern.
The questions
Open any question for the note
It is your second morning, nobody has given you anything to do, and your supervisor is in meetings until lunch. What do you do?
Why ask it
This exact morning happens in nearly every placement. The answer separates the student who finds a way to be useful, reads something, or messages someone else on the team, from the one who sits quietly for three hours and calls it waiting.
You start a task, and an hour in you realise you do not actually know what the finished thing is meant to look like. What happens next?
Why ask it
The costly version is carrying on quietly for two days. You want to hear them stop, and you want to hear a specific question or a request to see a previous example rather than a general offer to check in.
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 finish your work early and it is three in the afternoon on a Thursday. What do you do with the rest of the day?
Why ask it
Says more about work ethic than any question containing the phrase work ethic. Asking for more, finishing something they left rough, or learning the next tool along are all good; looking busy is the answer to watch for.
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.
Someone from another team asks you for something and your week is already full. What do you say?
Why ask it
Junior people say yes to everything and then miss the thing that mattered. You are listening for whether they would check with their own supervisor before committing, without making a drama of it.
You are in a meeting and half the words being used mean nothing to you. What do you do during, and what do you do afterwards?
Why ask it
Nobody expects a student to follow their first meeting. What matters is whether they write the unfamiliar terms down and go and find out, or nod through it and hope the topic never comes back.
A colleague explains a process to you quickly and walks off, and you did not follow it. What now?
Why ask it
The honest answer involves trying it, then going back with a specific step they got stuck on. Candidates who say they would ask the person to start again have not thought about the other person's day.
A deadline you were given is not going to be met. When do you say so, and to whom?
Why ask it
Late warning is the most expensive habit an intern can bring. The answer you want flags the risk as soon as it is visible and comes with a revised date rather than an apology.
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 handed something repetitive that will take three full days. How do you get through it?
Why ask it
Every placement contains this. Answers that involve breaking it up, checking the first few for accuracy, or asking whether part of it can be automated tell you they will still be careful on day three.
Someone criticises your work in front of other people. What do you do in the room, and what do you do afterwards?
Why ask it
Splitting the question in two gets past the rehearsed answer about welcoming feedback. Most people need a quiet hour before they can use criticism, and saying so is a sign of self-knowledge rather than fragility.
You need something from a colleague who has not answered your last two messages. What do you do?
Why ask it
Chasing people politely is most of what junior work involves. Waiting indefinitely and escalating on day two are both wrong; you want a third message with a deadline in it, then a word with their supervisor.
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.
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.
You are asked to present something to people several levels more senior than you. How do you prepare?
Why ask it
Look for whether preparation means rehearsing, or means finding out what the audience already knows and what they need to decide. The second is rare in a student and easy to build on.
A piece of feedback lands badly and you think it is unfair. What do you do that day?
Why ask it
The specific day framing gets a real answer rather than a principle. Going quiet and returning to it the next morning is a fine answer; the concerning one is a candidate who insists it would never bother them.
It is your last week and something you built will outlive you here. How would you hand it over?
Why ask it
Nearly nobody thinks about this until it is upon them. A candidate who mentions writing something down for the next person has an instinct that most people do not develop for years.
Using situational questions with a student
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Getting real answers to hypotheticals
Give the scene enough detail to be answerable
Name the day, the person and the constraint. A vague hypothetical gets a vague answer, whereas "your supervisor is in meetings until lunch" gives the candidate something specific to push against and gives you something to assess.
Follow the first answer with a complication
When they tell you what they would do, add the thing that goes wrong: the person does not reply, the deadline is tomorrow, the fix would take the whole afternoon. Most of the signal lives in the second answer, not the first.
Ask what they would say, in actual words
Asking for the wording separates a candidate who would raise a problem from one who likes the idea of raising it. Students who can phrase an awkward message politely will tell you when something is broken.
Describe the routine work honestly while you are here
Several of these scenes involve the dull parts of the job. Use them to say out loud what the first two weeks really contain, so the candidate who would have hated it can say so now rather than in week three.
Common pitfalls
Scoring the answer you would have given
There are usually two or three workable responses to each scene. Decide in advance what you would accept, and note when a candidate gives you a route you had not thought of rather than marking it down.
Treating nerves as a verdict
For many candidates this is one of their first professional interviews, and hypotheticals are harder under pressure than they look. A pause is usually thinking. Offer to come back to a question and then actually do it.
Using scenes the role never produces
Pick the scenarios your placement will genuinely generate. Asking a lab intern about client escalations tells you nothing you can use, and it makes the interview feel like a test rather than a preview.
Leaving pay and hours vague
Students are often reluctant to ask about money and will accept something they cannot afford. State the rate, the hours and any expenses arrangement without waiting to be asked.