Are you getting ready for your college internship interview? Don’t stress! As long as you’ve done your research and prepared adequately, the interview process is nothing to fear. Here are 10 tips to help you ace your college internship interview and come out on top.
How to prepare for a College Internship Interview
1. Research the Company
The first step in your preparation is to look for the company’s mission, values, and goals, as well as any feedback from people that have worked there.
Knowing the company you’re interviewing for will let better understand what they’re looking for and adapt to their needs and wants.
It can also give you a good idea if the company truly is a place you want to work at.
Visiting the company’s website “About Us” page is a good place to start. You can also look at websites like glassdoor.com for company reviews and employee comments.
Related: 10 Amazing Internships to choose from for College Students
2. Have a Portfolio Sample: College Internship Interview
An important trait that will make you stand out from other interviewees is to have a good portfolio of samples.
While preparing for the internship interview, remember that even if you’re in college and have no work experience in the field, you can still create mock-up samples. This is, of course, not possible for every industry or job, but it is for most.
For instance, if you’ll be working as a programming intern, you could create a sample program or app to showcase your expertise, or if you’re applying for an artistic position, you could create a portfolio of the best artworks you’ve done.
3. Be On Time & Dress Properly
Every detail matters in an interview.
Being 5 minutes too late, not following the dress code, or forgetting important documents relevant to the interview, can all make the difference between getting the internship or not.
Make sure you arrive 15 to 20 minutes earlier than expected. Arriving early will showcase punctuality, and planning, and removes the risk of unexpected delays, like parking being more difficult than expected.
On top of that, make sure you know what you should wear. If you’re unsure, business professional and business casual are the standard go-to’s.
And make sure to pick your outfit well before the interview – to diminish stress and uncertainties, and make sure your preparation on the day of the interview is smoother and quicker. The last thing you want is to stand in front of your wardrobe for 2 hours wondering what you should wear like you’re about to meet your crush.
4. Act Formal: College Internship Interview
You don’t know what the personality of your interviewer(s) will be.
They could be the most chill person in the world, or they could be the strictest pain-in-the-ass you can think of.
Cracking jokes, using slang, or overly informal speech may result in a negative evaluation of you, especially for the stricter and tighter interviewers.
Keep your answers on point, don’t go too personal or humorous, and maintain an overall friendly attitude, and you can’t go wrong.
5. Be Fully Organized
Make sure to turn off your phone or put it on airplane mode. You don’t want a phone call interrupting the interviewers in the middle of it.
And make sure you have one copy of your resume/cover letter for each interviewer, and an extra backup copy just to be safe.
6. Rehearse Responses For Common Interview Questions
Practicing and repeating your response to expected questions is an indispensable part of preparing for an internship interview as a college student since it is a great way to reduce pre-interview nerves and to make sure you’re not caught by surprise when they ask something you didn’t expect.
Not only that, but one of the beauties of preparing questions is that even if the exact question you prepared for didn’t get asked, you might still get asked a similar question where the answer or parts of the answer you had prepared can still be used, letting you flexibly adapt no matter the interview.
To help you in preparing for the internship interview as a college student, here are 3 of the most common questions you should be prepared for…
3 Questions to help you prepare for College Internship Interviews
1. Can You Tell Me About Yourself?
Often used as the opening question on an interview, this question allows you to share what skills you have, and how your particular values match up with the company (hopefully you were able to find information on the company from the previously mentioned research).
Given how open-ended this question is, you can also use it to share any extra information you think will be important that may not get covered in other questions.
But don’t confuse the openness of the question for an opportunity to share your entire life story. Interviewers don’t want to hear about that time when you were 8 years old and fell on the playground while playing with your family. Keep the answer concise and relevant to how your experiences may be useful as an intern at the company.
You can talk about what you’re studying in college, the responsibilities you have or had, past job(s), and how your values can fit the company.
II. How do You See Yourself in Five Years?
Interviewers want to know if you’re thinking ahead, and more importantly, if the career you envision for yourself would make you a good candidate to become a full-time employee.
Remember, internships don’t come for free from a company’s perspective. A company’s investment in interns only becomes truly effective and profitable when it evolves into long-term employment. That’s why, even at the interviewing level, companies are constantly assessing if you’d make not just a fine intern, but a fine full-time employee.
Most internships develop into full-time employment, and if your answer to the question includes a long-term career in the field, or you express interest in working long-term with the company, it could flag you as a potential full-time employee, elevating your chances of becoming one. It’s like being asked what you think about marriage when you’re on a date.
Questions like “What are your career goals?” and “How does this relationship influence your goals?” often have the same underlying goal of discovering how good of a fit you’d be as a full-time employee.
III. Why Do You Want an Internship With Our Company?
The company’s work ethic and work environment, the company culture, and the impact the internship could have on your academic career by giving you relevant field experience are just a few of the many reasons you could have, and give, for wanting to work with the company.
But a great answer to this question goes a step further. You can use this question as an opportunity to showcase how your particular skills, academic experience, and strengths can help their company in specific, and not just any company in the field. It’s about matching yourself to them. Huh, internship interviews truly are like a formal version of dating.
Remember, preparation is key to succeeding in any endeavor, including college internship interviews.
But don’t forget to have some fun with it too! Just remember to be yourself and stay confident. With a bit of practice and research, you’ll be ready to take on any college internship interview with ease! Good luck!
“You only get one shot, don’t blow it. It’s unlikely you will be invited back for a second date if you miss out on the first one.”
Leave a Reply