50 Internship Interview Questions for Employers

Hiring interns isn’t just about GPA these days. The real value lies in identifying soft skills, mindset, and motivation, because unlike experienced professionals, most interns are just beginning to shape their career path. The right interview process helps you discover future talent with fresh perspectives who could grow into full-time employees.

Here are the 50 best internship interview questions categorized by purpose to help founders, hiring managers and HR professionals assess not just technical skills, but also attitude, adaptability, and growth potential.

Use Kabel to auto-score intern interviews and shortlist top candidates faster.

Why Interviewing Interns Is Different

Interns typically lack significant professional experience, so the goal is not to judge their track record, but to evaluate their potential, positive attitude, and ability to learn. That’s why your internship interview questions need to dig into:

Willingness to learn
Adaptability to feedback
Team mindset
Alignment with company culture
Career curiosity and direction

If your company runs or plans to run a structured internship program, choosing the right intern candidate can improve your hiring experience and set the stage for strong internal talent pipelines.

Categories of Interview Questions for Interns

To optimise your interview process, we’ve grouped questions based on what you’re evaluating:

Motivation and Career Goals
Soft Skills and Attitude
Team Fit and Company Culture
Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
Technical Evaluation and Hard Skills

You can pick 5–10 questions from each section or download our plug-and-play question bank to use in your internship program.

Motivation & Career Goals

These questions uncover the candidate’s career goals, interest in the internship position, and how much thought they’ve given to their career path.

What attracted you to apply for this internship?
How does this internship align with your long-term career goals?
What do you hope to learn or achieve by the end of this internship?
Why did you choose your current course of study?
What do you know about our company and why do you want to work here?
Have you done any volunteer work or side projects related to this role? Tell me about them.
What industries or types of roles are you currently exploring?
Tell me about a class project or extracurricular activity that influenced your career interests.
How does this internship fit into your professional development plan?
What kind of work environment helps you do your best work?

Soft Skills & Attitude

These questions help assess soft skills, mindset, and personality traits that matter more than academic experience and grades.

Tell me about a time you had to learn a new skill quickly to complete a project or task.
What steps do you take when you get stuck on a difficult problem during a project?
Describe a situation where you had to balance competing deadlines or priorities. How did you manage?
What motivates you to do your best work, especially during challenging times?
How do you approach tasks or subjects that are unfamiliar to you?
Tell me about a time when you overcame self-doubt or uncertainty.
How do you stay organized and ensure you meet deadlines?
Have you ever received positive feedback from a professor, mentor, or peer? What was it about?
What makes you feel excited or motivated about going to work or studying?
How do you typically deal with stress or pressure in academic or team settings?

Team Fit & Company Culture

Hiring interns who add to your team and vibe well with your company culture increases the chances of a successful internship.

Tell me about a time you worked on a team project. What was your role and contribution?
Describe a situation where you had to work with a difficult team member. How did you handle it?
What do you do if you disagree with your teammate’s idea or approach?
How do you contribute to a team when you’re unsure about your role or tasks?
What is one quality you value most in a team or manager?
How do you adapt your communication style when working with different people?
Have you ever had to resolve a conflict within a team? What did you do?
Tell me about a time you had to motivate a team or support a teammate.
How do you handle receiving feedback from your teammates or supervisors?
What kind of team culture helps you thrive and perform best?

Problem Solving & Critical Thinking

Gauge the candidate’s problem solving skills, critical thinking, and learning potential.

Walk me through how you would solve a problem you’ve never encountered before.
Describe a time when you had to come up with a creative solution under pressure.
Tell me about a mistake you made during a project and what you learned from it.
What would you do if your project partner missed an important deadline?
Tell me about a technical or non-technical challenge you faced in a project or club. How did you approach it?
Have you ever had to pivot your approach to a project because the original plan wasn’t working? What did you do?
Describe a multi-step problem you solved and how you managed the entire process.
How do you prioritize tasks when faced with multiple problems or deadlines?
Have you ever identified a problem others didn’t see? What did you do?
How do you assess whether your solution to a problem worked well?

Technical Evaluation & Hard Skills

While most interns have limited professional skills, these questions help gauge foundational technical skills and learning potential.
What software tools or technical skills are you most comfortable using?
Walk me through a project where you applied these tools or skills to solve a problem.
Are you currently learning any new technical skills or certifications relevant to this internship?
How do you stay updated with developments in your field of interest?
Tell me about a time you applied technical knowledge to solve a real-world problem.
What courses or certifications have best prepared you for this internship?
How would you rate your ability to work independently on technical tasks? Give an example.
Do you prefer working on structured tasks or tackling open-ended challenges? Why?
Have you ever automated or improved a process through technical skills? What was the impact?
What’s one technical skill you want to develop further during this internship?

How to Evaluate Intern Interview Answers

Great answers aren’t about having it all figured out. Look for signs of:

Self-awareness (“I used to struggle with deadlines, but now I use Notion to plan out my tasks.”)
Growth mindset (“I didn’t know Figma, but I taught myself through YouTube and built a prototype.”)
Team orientation (“I made sure everyone had a voice in our group project.”)
Coachability (“My TA gave me tough feedback once, and I rewrote the paper with her comments in mind.”)

How to Evaluate Internship Interview Answers Effectively using the STAR Method

When assessing intern candidates, especially those with limited hands-on experience, STAR Technique is useful for uncovering how they think, learn, and solve problems. This can be used for any technical or behavioral questions.

They give you insight into a candidate’s skills, mindset, and potential—whether it’s technical ability, teamwork, or how they handle feedback.

Use the STAR method to guide how you evaluate their answers:

Situation – What was the context or background of the task?
Task – What were they trying to achieve?
Action – What specific steps did they take?
Result – What was the outcome?
Learning (optional but recommended) – What did they learn from the experience?

When reviewing their answers, assess the following:

Clarity: Did they explain the situation and their role clearly?
Ownership: Did they focus on their own actions—not just what the team did?
Outcome: Was there a clear result, even if the project wasn’t fully successful?
Reflection: Can they articulate what they learned or how they grew from the experience?

Bonus Traits to Spot in STAR Answers

These tell you a lot more about a candidate’s potential than grades or a polished CV:

Self-awareness

“I used to miss deadlines. Now I plan my week using Notion so I don’t fall behind.”

Growth mindset

“I didn’t know Figma, so I watched YouTube tutorials and built my first prototype in a week.”

Team orientation

“In our group project, I helped set up a system so everyone could share updates and give feedback.”

Coachability

“My mentor gave me tough feedback on my writing. I rewrote it using her suggestions and learned how to be more concise.”

Example of a Strong STAR-Based Answer from an Internship Candidate

Question: “Tell me about a time you faced a challenge.”

Answer: “There was a bug in our database query for my uni project due by Friday, and it was running so slowly it crashed our demo. I worked with my teammates over 2 days to debug, rewriting and testing the code to make it run twice as fast. We finally completed the demo for 20 users on time, and I sharpened my debugging and coding skills while learning to stay calm and collaborate under pressure.”

Key qualities demonstrated:

Problem-solving skills
Technical ability
Teamwork
Time management
Ability to stay composed under pressure
Willingness to learn and grow

Spotting Performance-Based Evidence in Internship Interviews

This method helps you:

Gather performance-based evidence of skills like communication, initiative, and teamwork.
Compare candidates consistently across interviews.
Identify mindset and soft skills that don’t show up on a resume.

Interns may not have professional experience, but they often have stories from school, volunteer work, or personal projects. Use STAR to dig into these and connect their past behaviors to future performance.

Final Thoughts for Employers

If you’re serious about building a strong internship program, your interview questions should reflect what actually matters in the workplace: mindset, adaptability, and people skills. Good interns grow into great hires.

Whether you’re recruiting interns for the first time or scaling a recurring internship program, investing time in a thoughtful interview process pays off long-term.

Use Kabel to auto-score intern and shortlist top candidates faster.

50 Best Internship Interview Questions for Employers