Questions to Ask Internship Supervisor
Questions to ask the person supervising your internship, covering what standard your work should reach, how to reach them when they are busy, what interns here usually get wrong, and what to line up before you leave.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What would a good first two weeks look like to you?
Why ask it
Supervisors hold an unspoken picture of a strong start and rarely describe it. Asking converts it into something you can meet, and it is usually more modest and more behavioural than you expect.
What would you rather I asked you about than tried to work out myself?
Why ask it
Draws the line that otherwise takes a month of guesswork. There are things where an hour of independent effort is valuable and things where it produces a confidently wrong answer, and only they know which is which here.
How do you want updates, and how often?
Why ask it
Some supervisors want a short written summary, some want a five-minute conversation, some want to be left alone until something is finished. Matching their preference is most of what being easy to manage means.
What standard should a first draft reach before I show you?
Why ask it
Interns commonly over-polish work that wanted a rough version, or send a sketch when a finished piece was expected. Establishing the expected state saves days on both sides.
What is on your plate that I could take a piece of?
Why ask it
Offering to absorb something specific is more effective than asking for more work. It also shows you what they actually spend their time on, which is rarely what their title suggests.
When you are busy, what is the best way to get five minutes?
Why ask it
Every supervisor has a real answer: a message, a specific hour, a walk to the coffee machine. Knowing it stops you waiting two days for a reply on something that would have taken one minute to unblock.
How will you judge whether this internship went well?
Why ask it
Their criteria may be about output, or about how little supervision you needed, or about whether you fit the team. Asking early lets you work toward the actual measure rather than a guess at it.
Who else should I introduce myself to?
Why ask it
A supervisor's list of names is worth more than any organisation chart. It also gives you a reason to make contact, since "my supervisor suggested I speak to you" opens almost any door internally.
Is there anything I have been doing that you would rather I did differently?
Why ask it
Asking for correction before it is offered gets you small fixes while they are still small. Supervisors often withhold minor notes from interns to avoid discouraging them, then mention them at the end.
Have you seen interns here get the same thing wrong repeatedly?
Why ask it
The pattern is the useful part: interns who never asked, who disappeared into a task for a fortnight, who did not write anything down. It is a list of avoidable errors somebody has already made for you.
What makes this team's work harder than it looks from outside?
Why ask it
Reveals the constraints you cannot see: an unreliable data source, a slow approval chain, one stakeholder who changes their mind. Knowing them stops you proposing solutions that were already tried.
How did you end up in this job?
Why ask it
Career paths are almost never as tidy as the job titles imply. The route is usually more useful to you than the destination, and it is one of the few questions that supervisors enjoy answering.
What part of your job would surprise me?
Why ask it
Gets past the description of the role into how the time is actually spent: the negotiation, the administration, the persuading. It is the most honest answer you can get about the career you may be entering.
Which skills should I be building deliberately rather than picking up as I go?
Why ask it
Some capabilities accumulate by exposure and some need practice you have to seek out. A supervisor who has watched people progress can tell you which of the two your gaps fall into.
What does the path from here look like for someone starting now?
Why ask it
Ask about now rather than about their own start, since entry routes change. The answer tells you what the next step actually requires: a qualification, a portfolio, a certain kind of first job.
How should I handle it if I disagree with feedback I get?
Why ask it
Establishing this before it happens makes disagreement possible. Without it, most interns either concede silently on something they were right about or push back in a way that reads as defensive.
How is time recorded and reported here, and am I doing it correctly?
Why ask it
Timesheets, expense claims and holiday requests are the quiet source of intern friction, and nobody explains them twice. Getting the mechanics right early keeps administration out of your performance review.
Is there work I could finish before I leave that would still be useful afterwards?
Why ask it
Choosing something that survives your departure gives you a stronger reference and gives them a reason to remember you. Ask around the halfway point, while there is time to finish it.
Would you be willing to act as a reference, and what would you need from me to say yes?
Why ask it
Asking what they would need makes it a plan rather than a favour. Their answer is effectively a description of what to accomplish in the remaining weeks.
What would you want me to take away from this that would not appear on a CV?
Why ask it
A closing question that usually produces the most considered answer of the placement: how the industry treats people, how decisions really get made, what they wish they had understood earlier.
Working With Your Internship Supervisor
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Setting up the relationship
Ask for a recurring slot rather than an open door
An open door means you interrupt at a bad moment or not at all. Fifteen minutes in the calendar each week gives your questions somewhere to go and makes you cheaper to supervise.
Bring a list, not a stream
Batch the non-urgent questions and bring them to the slot. Two per day by message reads as needing constant attention; six in one sitting reads as organised.
Close the loop out loud
When you act on something they said, tell them briefly. Supervisors judge interns heavily on whether guidance produces visible change, and they will not otherwise notice that it did.
When to ask what
First week
- 1What a good start looks like, and what to ask about rather than solve alone.
- 2How they want updates and how to reach them when they are busy.
- 3The expected state of a first draft, and who else reviews your work.
Halfway
- 1Anything they would rather you did differently, asked directly.
- 2A piece of work that would still be useful after you leave.
- 3Introductions you have not yet made, while there is time to make them.
Final weeks
- 1The reference conversation, including what they would need from you.
- 2Handover: who inherits what you were doing, and what needs writing down.
- 3The career questions, which most supervisors answer more openly near the end.
Common mistakes
Hiding the fact that you are stuck
A day lost to protecting your own credibility costs far more than the question would have. Supervisors remember the intern who lost a week silently, not the one who asked twice.
Asking for career advice before doing the work
Questions about the industry land better once you have delivered something. Early on, the questions that build standing are about the work in front of you.
Leaving the reference until the last day
By then the placement is over and there is nothing left to adjust. Raising it at the halfway point turns the answer into a set of instructions you can still follow.