Questions to Ask Intern
Questions for check-ins with an intern who is already working with you, covering what is blocking them, what they have not wanted to ask about, whether the work matches what they were promised, and what they want to leave with.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What are you working on this week, and what is taking longer than you expected?
Why ask it
Starts with facts rather than feelings, which is easier for a nervous intern to answer. The second half is where the useful part hides: the gap between estimate and reality is usually a missing piece of context, not slow work.
Is anything waiting on me or on someone else?
Why ask it
Interns are the least able to unblock themselves and the least likely to chase a senior person. Asking makes it your job to clear the queue rather than theirs to nag.
What has been confusing that you have not wanted to ask about?
Why ask it
The phrasing gives permission, which is the point. Most interns accumulate a private list of unasked questions, often about acronyms, tools or who owns what, and carry it for weeks.
Which part of the work has been most interesting so far?
Why ask it
Their answer tells you where to send the next assignment. If nothing has been interesting after several weeks, you have either misjudged the person or the queue you are giving them.
What did you expect this job to involve that it has not?
Why ask it
Catches the mismatch between the interview pitch and the actual work while there is still time to fix it. Disappointed interns rarely raise this unprompted; they wait, then leave a poor review.
When you get stuck, how long do you sit with it before asking?
Why ask it
Gives you the chance to name a number. Most interns overestimate the cost of asking and underestimate the cost of a lost afternoon, and an explicit threshold resolves it permanently.
Have you had enough context to know why your tasks matter?
Why ask it
Work handed over without its purpose gets done to the letter and misses the point. If they cannot say who uses their output, they have been given instructions rather than a job.
What do you want to be able to put on your CV when you leave?
Why ask it
Turns a vague desire to learn into a specific deliverable you can plan toward. It also flags early if they are aiming at something the placement cannot supply.
Is there a team or a person here you would like an hour with?
Why ask it
Interns often want access more than tasks, and cannot ask for it themselves. An introduction from you costs a message and is frequently what they remember about the placement.
Which of the tasks you have been given felt like busywork?
Why ask it
You will get an honest answer only if you make it clear the question is not a trap. Some routine work is unavoidable; what matters is whether you can explain why it was needed or admit that it was not.
How is the feedback landing: too much, too little, too vague?
Why ask it
Inverts the usual direction and asks them to review your supervision. Vague is the most common complaint, and it is usually solved by pointing at a specific line rather than a general quality.
What have you learned about how this place actually works, as opposed to how it is described?
Why ask it
Newcomers see the gap between the stated process and the real one more clearly than anyone. Their answer is useful to you as a description of your own organisation.
Is there something you would like to try that has not been offered?
Why ask it
Interns assume the boundaries of their role are fixed. Asking directly surfaces requests they have already decided not to make, which are often cheap for you to grant.
How is the workload against everything else you are carrying?
Why ask it
Term work, exams and second jobs do not pause for an internship. Someone quietly working evenings to keep up will hold until they do not, and the collapse usually arrives without warning.
What is the hardest part of asking for help here?
Why ask it
Assumes there is friction, which there almost always is: an intimidating colleague, an unanswered channel, a fear of looking slow. Naming the obstacle is usually most of the fix.
Looking back at your first week, what would have made it easier?
Why ask it
Onboarding problems are invisible to the people who designed them and obvious to whoever went through them last. Ask while the memory is fresh and you get a usable list for the next intake.
What would you tell a friend about this job if I were not in the room?
Why ask it
The framing acknowledges that they are unlikely to criticise you directly. Some will still soften it, but you usually get closer to the real assessment than a direct question yields.
Where do you want to be in a year, and does this work point that way?
Why ask it
Their answer determines what is worth investing in. An intern heading somewhere else entirely still deserves good work, but you should not be building them a specialism they will never use.
What is one thing we could change that would make the rest of your time here better?
Why ask it
Asking for one thing rather than any thoughts makes the question answerable. Expect something practical: a recurring meeting, a piece of access, a clearer brief.
If we spoke in six months, what would you want to be able to say you did here?
Why ask it
Ends on the version of the placement they will actually describe to other people. It is a good final check on whether your plan for them and their hopes for themselves are still the same shape.
Running Intern Check-Ins
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How to run the conversation
Put it in the calendar and keep it
A standing thirty minutes each week beats an open door. Interns will not interrupt you, but they will bring a list to a meeting that already exists. Cancelling it repeatedly teaches them their questions are an imposition.
Separate progress talk from development talk
Task status crowds out everything else once it is in the room. Deal with the week's work first and briefly, then stop and ask a different kind of question, or the second half never happens.
Answer their questions before you ask yours
An intern sitting on an unasked question will answer everything else while thinking about it. Clearing the blocked items first makes the rest of the conversation honest.
What to ask when
First two weeks
- 1Focus on access, tools and unblocking rather than performance.
- 2Ask what has been confusing rather than what they have learned.
- 3Confirm hours, term commitments and how they want to be contacted.
Middle of the placement
- 1Compare the work they have had against what they were promised.
- 2Ask which tasks felt like busywork, and be prepared to hear that some were.
- 3Set up any introductions or shadowing they want while there is still time to use them.
Final two weeks
- 1Agree what they will hand over and who inherits it.
- 2Write the reference or feedback while the detail is still fresh.
- 3Ask what should change for the next intern, and record the answer somewhere other than your inbox.
Common mistakes
Reading silence as contentment
An intern who says everything is fine may be fine, or may not know what fine looks like here. Ask about a specific week, a specific task or a specific person rather than the placement in general.
Asking for feedback you will not act on
If they tell you the brief was unclear and nothing changes, they will stop telling you things. Either change something small and visibly, or explain why you cannot.
Saving all correction for the end
Feedback delivered in a final review cannot be acted on. Anything you would put in an exit summary should have been said in week two, when it was still useful to them.