Interview questions · Internship
Internship interview questions and how to answer them
Updated 3 November 2026
Nobody expects an intern to have years of experience. An internship interview checks three things: whether you actually want this field, how quickly you learn, and whether people would enjoy working with you. These are the questions that come up most, with what the interviewer is really asking and an example answer you can adapt.
Reading answers helps, but saying them out loud is what makes them stick. When you are ready, run a free mock interview with these questions.
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Answer out loud, like in the real interview, and get instant feedback on each answer.
The 12 questions
- Tell me about yourself.
- Why do you want this internship?
- Why should we choose you over other candidates?
- Tell me about a project you're proud of.
- Tell me about a time you worked in a team and something went wrong.
- How would you manage this internship alongside your studies?
- Tell me about a time you had to learn something quickly.
- What is your greatest weakness?
- What do you know about our company?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- What do you hope to learn here?
- Do you have any questions for us?
1. Tell me about yourself.
What they are checking: Whether you can give a short, focused story instead of reading out your CV.
How to answer: Keep it to about a minute. Say what you study now, one thing you did that connects to this internship (a project, a class, a part-time job), and why that led you here. Stop there and let them ask more.
Example answer: “I'm in my third year of a business degree, focusing on marketing. Last semester I ran the social media for our university careers fair, and tracking which posts actually brought people in was the part I enjoyed most. That's why a marketing analytics internship is exactly what I want to try next.”
2. Why do you want this internship?
What they are checking: Whether you researched them, or you are applying everywhere.
How to answer: Name one specific thing about the company, one thing you want to learn, and how it fits where you are heading. Avoid answers that are only about you, like needing credits for your degree.
Example answer: “I've used your app for two years, and I read your engineering blog post on how you rebuilt search. I want to see how a team ships changes to something that many people use every day, and this internship puts me inside that team.”
3. Why should we choose you over other candidates?
What they are checking: Whether you know your strengths and can back them up.
How to answer: Pick two strengths that matter for this role and give quick proof for each. Do not talk about other candidates; talk about what you bring.
Example answer: “Two things. I learn tools fast: I taught myself Figma in a month for a class project and our design won the module award. And I'm reliable: I've worked weekend shifts at a café for two years while studying, without missing one.”
4. Tell me about a project you're proud of.
What they are checking: What you did yourself, and how you think about your own work.
How to answer: Use a class, personal or volunteer project. Explain the goal, your part (say "I", not only "we"), the result, and one thing you would do differently now.
Example answer: “In a group project we built a website for a local charity. I did the donation page. Online donations went up after launch, and the charity still uses it. If I did it again, I'd test it with real donors earlier, because we fixed two confusing steps only at the end.”
5. Tell me about a time you worked in a team and something went wrong.
What they are checking: How you handle friction, and whether you blame others.
How to answer: Describe the problem briefly, what you did to fix it, and the outcome. Focus on your actions. A small, honest example beats a dramatic one.
Example answer: “One teammate kept missing our meetings, and the deadline was close. I messaged him privately instead of complaining in the group chat. He had a job clash, so we moved meetings to evenings and split his part into smaller pieces. We submitted on time.”
6. How would you manage this internship alongside your studies?
What they are checking: Whether you will be dependable when exams arrive.
How to answer: Show a real system: a calendar, planning around known exam dates, telling your manager early if something clashes. Mention when you have done this before.
Example answer: “I plan the whole term at the start, so I already know my exam weeks. I'd share those dates with my manager in week one. I've worked twelve hours a week during term for two years, so I know how to protect both.”
7. Tell me about a time you had to learn something quickly.
What they are checking: How you learn, because interns learn on the job every day.
How to answer: Pick something with a deadline. Explain how you learned it (asked someone, tutorials, practised on a small piece first) and what happened.
Example answer: “For a statistics assignment I had a week to learn R. I followed a short course for two evenings, then rebuilt one example from class line by line before starting my own analysis. I handed it in on time and got a first.”
8. What is your greatest weakness?
What they are checking: Self-awareness, and whether you work on it.
How to answer: Choose a real weakness that will not stop you doing the job, and say what you are doing about it. Avoid fake weaknesses like "I work too hard".
Example answer: “I used to say yes to everything and then rush. Now I write down what I've agreed to and check it before taking anything new on. This term I turned down one society role so I could do the others properly.”
9. What do you know about our company?
What they are checking: Whether you prepared.
How to answer: Mention what they do, one recent piece of news or product, and why it interests you. Ten minutes on their website and recent news is enough.
Example answer: “You make accounting software for small businesses, and last month you launched invoicing on mobile. My parents run a small shop and do their books on paper, so I can see why making this simpler matters.”
10. Where do you see yourself in five years?
What they are checking: Whether this internship fits a direction, even a rough one.
How to answer: You do not need a detailed plan. Show a direction that this internship helps with, and that you want to keep learning.
Example answer: “I want to be working in product, ideally as a product manager. Five years is enough to learn how teams decide what to build, and this internship is my first real look at that.”
11. What do you hope to learn here?
What they are checking: Whether your goals match what they can offer.
How to answer: Name two or three specific skills that are part of this internship. Show you have read the job description.
Example answer: “The posting mentions running A/B tests and presenting results to the team. I've learned the theory in class, so I want to run real tests and get better at explaining results to people who aren't analysts.”
12. Do you have any questions for us?
What they are checking: Interest, and whether you think about the work itself.
How to answer: Always ask one or two. Good ones are about the work: what a typical week looks like, what made past interns successful, what project you might work on.
Example answer: “What did your best intern last year do differently from the others? And what would a typical first week look like for me?”
Practise these out loud. Enter the company and the role, paste your CV, and Nail My Interview plays the interviewer: it asks questions like these, listens to your answers and scores them afterwards. Your first full mock interview is free.
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