Ace Your Internship Interview: Mastering Behavioral Questions
Landing an internship can be a crucial step in launching your career. While your resume and cover letter highlight your skills and experience, the interview is where you truly shine. Internship interviews often heavily rely on behavioral questions, designed to assess how you've handled situations in the past and predict your future performance. This article provides a comprehensive guide to understanding and answering these questions effectively.
Understanding the Internship Interview Landscape
An internship is a mutually beneficial arrangement. The company provides a learning experience, and in return, expects you to be a productive and engaged team member. Interviewers aren't necessarily looking for seasoned professionals but individuals with potential, a willingness to learn, and a genuine interest in the field.
The interviewer wants to understand your motivations for applying for the internship. Are you genuinely passionate about the industry, or are you simply looking for something to fill your time? Demonstrating enthusiasm and a clear understanding of how the internship aligns with your career goals is crucial.
Decoding Behavioral Questions: The Key to Success
Behavioral questions are designed to delve into your past experiences and assess your skills and attributes. These questions typically begin with phrases like "Tell me about a time when…" or "Describe a situation where…" They are based on the premise that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.
The STAR Method: Your Storytelling Framework
The STAR method is a powerful tool for structuring your responses to behavioral questions. It provides a clear and concise framework for telling your story effectively:
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- Situation: Set the scene by providing context and background information about the situation.
- Task: Explain your role and responsibilities in the situation.
- Action: Describe the specific actions you took to address the situation, highlighting your skills and decision-making process.
- Result: Share the outcome of your actions, emphasizing the positive results and what you learned from the experience.
Using the STAR method ensures your answers are focused, detailed, and impactful.
Common Internship Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
Here are some of the most common behavioral interview questions you can expect during your internship interview, along with strategies for crafting compelling answers:
1. "Why are you interested in this internship/company/industry, and what skills or experiences do you hope to gain?"
This question assesses your motivations and whether your goals align with the internship's offerings. Show enthusiasm, demonstrate research on the company and role, and be specific about what you hope to learn.
How to answer:
- Express genuine enthusiasm for the opportunity.
- Show that you’ve researched the company and understand its mission and values.
- Connect the internship to your career goals and explain how it will help you develop specific skills.
- Mention specific aspects of the company or role that excite you.
Example answer:
"I'm really excited about this opportunity because I think it will give me exposure to thinking about messaging for many different audiences and through many channels and specifically a number of social platforms. I was looking at your social media, and am really fascinated by how you craft posts for all of your different initiatives. Your commitment to community engagement really speaks to the values I’m looking for-I’d love to work for a company that really values its users and takes their wants and needs into account."
2. "Tell me about a situation where you took initiative or took on a leadership role."
This question gauges your drive and willingness to step up when needed. Share a specific example where you identified a problem or opportunity and took action, even without a formal leadership title.
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How to answer:
- Use the STAR method to structure your response.
- Highlight the specific actions you took and why.
- Emphasize the positive impact of your initiative.
- Focus on your problem-solving skills and ability to think critically.
Example answer:
Situation: "Last semester in my program coordinator role, I was part of organizing an open house for nonprofits in the area looking for student volunteers. The students who were in charge of reaching out to nonprofits and assigning them to booths were given the same forms to fill out as we usually use for our job and internship fairs, and some parts of the form didn’t make sense in our context."
Task: "I decided that we should make things clearer so that we’d be able to sign up as many nonprofits as possible and not look unprofessional while doing so. I created a specific form for companies looking for volunteers."
Action: "I sent around a Google Doc version of the form currently being used and asked all of the students involved in outreach to comment on questions and fields that didn’t apply or weren’t as clear as they could be. Taking these comments into account and using the original form as a jumping off point, I was able to put together a form that gave us all the info we needed for this specific event."
Result: "I brought my suggested form to my manager and let her look it over-after a few tweaks we were able to send it out and start using it immediately. In the two weeks that followed, we were able to get as many organizations to commit as we had in the two months before the new forms. Plus, my boss was so impressed by my initiative that she offered me the role of senior student coordinator for this upcoming fall-and I’ll be helping to train new student employees."
3. "What's the best team you've ever been a part of and why?" / "What's your ideal team?"
This question explores your teamwork skills and how you collaborate with others. Describe the characteristics of a successful team and provide specific examples of how you contribute to a positive team environment.
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How to answer:
- Focus on the positive aspects of teamwork, such as communication, collaboration, and shared goals.
- Provide specific examples of how you've contributed to successful teams in the past.
- Avoid criticizing former teammates or focusing on negative experiences.
- Emphasize the importance of clear communication and defined roles.
Example answer:
"Good communication makes for a great team, and creating best practices around how a team is going to communicate is really important. For example, for my last class project our team had to put together a 30-minute presentation that required a lot of research and analysis that had to be done in a certain order. In order to make sure we were always on the same page, we met weekly and created shared Google Docs so we could collaborate even when we weren’t with each other, and we all agreed we could call each other whenever we needed something so that we could stick to our timelines. This synthesis of working styles helped us to stay on track, work efficiently, and ultimately get along with one another. Plus we got an A on the presentation, which was icing on the cake."
4. "Tell me about an assignment or project from start to finish-what went well, and what would you have done differently?"
This question assesses your organizational skills, process, and ability to learn from experience. Detail the steps you took to complete a project, highlighting your planning, execution, and problem-solving skills.
How to answer:
- Use the STAR method, focusing on the "Action" portion.
- Describe your planning process, including any tools or research you used.
- Explain your decision-making process and why you chose specific approaches.
- Reflect on what you learned from the experience and what you would do differently next time.
Example answer:
"As an RA in my dorms, I planned a student talent show to bring the students together and build community. I started by recruiting a couple volunteers to help, setting a date, and confirming the venue. Then I spoke to all the students about signing up to perform by going door-to-door in all the dorms on campus-not just the building I worked in-handing out fliers that I designed and printed, and making announcements at our monthly dorm meetings and having other RAs make announcements at theirs. I used shared Google Sheets to stay organized and delegate tasks to other volunteers. To help encourage people to participate and come, I coordinated with campus food services to have some food and drinks served at the event.
"On the day of the show, I coordinated a quick run through and then MCed and managed the whole run of show. It ended up being the highest attended dorm event of the year! That said, if I were to do it again, I’d partner with some other school clubs to curate a more diverse and inclusive set of performances."
5. "Tell me about a time you overcame a challenge or obstacle."
This question assesses your resilience, adaptability, and problem-solving skills. Share a specific example of a challenge you faced and how you overcame it, emphasizing what you learned from the experience.
How to answer:
- Use the STAR method to structure your response.
- Choose a challenge that demonstrates your ability to adapt and persevere.
- Focus on the positive aspects of the experience and what you learned.
- Avoid dwelling on the negative aspects of the situation.
Example answer:
"At my part-time café job, one morning I arrived for my opening shift to find that the café was still locked and the other four employees were waiting outside. The shift manager hadn’t shown up due to what turned out to be a family emergency, but we were due to open in an hour. I suggested one person call the owner, one call the general manager, and the other try to get in contact with the shift manager. Meanwhile I headed to the building manager’s office for the shopping center. Luckily I found someone in there who was able to unlock our back door. Once we were in, I gave everyone one of the prep tasks I knew was most important and jotted down a quick list on a white board of the prep tasks in order of priority. We were able to get enough done that we only opened five minutes late and I held down the register throughout the morning rush with one other barista so the others could finish prepping for the day. When the owner got our messages and rushed in, he found things running fairly smoothly. Rather than having to redirect us, he was able to jump on making drinks to speed up the line. When the rush ended, the other employees told him how I’d stepped up and he loved how I’d sorted the tasks by priority so much that he made it a standard process for closing at the end of each day so that whoever opened could get right to work."
6. "Tell me about a time you had to learn something completely new."
This question evaluates your eagerness to learn and your ability to adapt to new situations. Describe a time when you had to acquire a new skill or knowledge, focusing on your approach and the resources you used.
How to answer:
- Choose an example where you had to learn something outside of your comfort zone.
- Explain why you decided to pursue the new skill or knowledge.
- Describe the steps you took to learn it, including any challenges you faced.
- Highlight the positive outcome of your learning experience.
Example answer:
"I’ve always been interested in science, so even though it’s not a requirement for me to graduate, an introductory biology class really caught my attention-we’d get to go out to different ecosystems and see the effects of climate change on the environment firsthand. So I signed up, but when I got to the first lecture there were hundreds of other students there. I was used to classes of 50 max. And I felt like everyone was speaking some language I’d never heard before. But instead of dropping it, I made sure to read each section ahead of time and look up new terms and concepts so I wouldn’t get lost in the lectures. I also took advantage of our library's massive collection of sc…"
Additional Behavioral Interview Questions to Prepare For
Beyond the core questions, be prepared to answer a variety of other behavioral questions, such as:
- Tell me about yourself.
- What is your biggest strength and area of growth?
- Why are you looking to leave your current company?
- Tell me about a time your work responsibilities got a little overwhelming. What did you do?
- Give me an example of a time when you had a difference of opinion with a team member. How did you handle that?
- Tell me about a challenge you faced recently in your role. How did you tackle it? What was the outcome?
- Where do you want to be in five years?
- Tell me about a time you needed information from someone who wasn't responsive. What did you do?
- Tell me about your most interesting/challenging project to date.
- Why this company? What are you looking for in the next role?
- What is something 90% of people disagree with you about?
- What is broken around you?
- How do you deal with difficult coworkers?
- Can you give me an example of a difficult problem you solved at work?
- Please share a time when you faced an unexpected challenge.
- Tell me how you prioritize things when you are multitasking.
- Tell me about a time when you were asked to do something you had never done before. How did you react?
- Recall a time you were assigned a take outside of your job description. How did you handle the situation?
- What was your best presentation ever?
- Have you ever had to “sell” an idea to your coworkers or group? How did you do it?
- Give me an example of when you felt you had to lead by example.
- Have you gone above and beyond your call of duty? If so, how?
- Tell me about projects you have initiated.
- Tell me about a time when you had to present complex information. How did you get your point across?
- Tell me about a time when you used written communication skills to communicate an important point.
- Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they weren’t thrilled about?
- What do you do if you disagree with someone at work?
- Tell me about the most difficult or frustrating individual that you’ve had to work with and how you managed to work with him or her.
- Have you handled a difficult situation with a professor or another person?
- How do you determine priorities in scheduling your time? Give me an example.
- Tell me about an important goal of yours. How did you reach it?
- Describe a situation when you had many assignments or projects due at the same time. What steps did you take to finish them?
- Give an example of how you set goals and achieve them.
- Did you ever not meet your goals? Why? OR Give an example of a goal you didn’t meet and how you handled it.
- Did you ever postpone making a decision? Why?
- When you worked on multiple projects, how did you prioritize?
- How did you handle meeting a tight deadline?
- Describe a decision you made that wasn’t popular and how you handled implementing it.
- What do you do when your schedule is interrupted?
- Give an example of when you had to make a difficult decision. How did you approach it? What kinds of criteria did you use?
- Give an example of an occasion when you used logic to solve a problem.
- Have you ever dealt with company policy you weren’t in agreement with? How?
- How did you handle a challenge?
- Why do you want to work for this company?
- Why do you want to leave your current/last company?
- What are you looking for in your next role?
- Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with a co-worker.
- Tell me about a time in which you had a conflict and needed to influence somebody else.
- What project are you currently working on?
- What is the most challenging aspect of your current project?
- What was the most difficult bug that you fixed in the past 6 months?
- How do you tackle challenges? Name a difficult challenge you faced while working on a project, how you overcame it, and what you learned.
- What are you excited about?
- What frustrates you?
- Imagine it is your first day here at the company. What do you want to work on? What features would you improve on?
- What are the most interesting projects you have worked on and how might they be relevant to this company's environment?
- Tell me about a time you had a disagreement with your manager.
- Talk about a project you are most passionate about, or one where you did your best work.
- What does your best day of work look like?
- What is something that you had to push for in your previous projects?
- What is the most constructive feedback you have received in your career?
- What is something you had to persevere at for multiple months?
- Tell me about a time you met a tight deadline.
- If this were your first annual review with our company, what would I be telling you right now?
- What are your salary expectations?
Key Strategies for Acing the Behavioral Interview
- Practice, Practice, Practice: Rehearse your answers to common behavioral questions using the STAR method. This will help you feel more confident and prepared during the interview.
- Be Authentic: Share genuine experiences and be yourself. Interviewers can often detect when candidates are being disingenuous.
- Quantify Your Results: Whenever possible, quantify the results of your actions. This helps demonstrate the impact you made in previous situations.
- Focus on "I" Statements: When describing teamwork experiences, use "I" statements to highlight your individual contributions.
- Prepare Questions to Ask: Asking thoughtful questions at the end of the interview demonstrates your interest and engagement.
Beyond the Interview: Strategic Networking
While mastering behavioral questions is crucial, strategic networking can significantly increase your chances of landing an internship. Building connections with professionals in your field can lead to referrals and valuable insights into the industry.
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