10 Tips to Land a Successful Internship Interview

Getting ready for an Internship Interview

If you are someone looking for an internship opportunity and not sure where to get started you are in the right place! Let’s discuss 10 useful tips that’ll help you land on your next internship interview.

What is an Internship?

An internship is a short-term professional learning experience offered by companies or organizations related to a student’s field of study or career interest. It helps a student to enhance both soft and hard skills by working on various projects related to the field of study and making industries connections.

Below are 10 tips to land on your first successful internship interview.

1. Create a LinkedIn account and grow your network

You might be someone who doesn’t have any idea of what opportunities are available for you or how to reach them. The best place to get started is LinkedIn which is the world’s largest professional networking platform where you can build connections with industry leaders in your community and gain insights on career development. LinkedIn allows you to search different job types with different filters and set up job alerts so that you won’t miss any opportunities. More than 750 million members use LinkedIn and constantly share job opportunities in different areas and experience levels. Who knows the next job post you see might be your next internship opportunity. 😉

2. Know what your skills are and try to improve them

While searching and applying for companies don’t forget to enhance the knowledge you have on the subject matters by watching online courses and materials which can improve your skills further. It not only gives you additional knowledge but can be added to your CV as extra qualifications. 

3. Participate in competitions

There are various competitions organized by different institutions in different industry areas to help you grow as an individual or as a team and have exciting prizes up for grabs. This could be a good point to highlight during the interview since it depicts your ability to accept challenges and face them strategically.

4. Research about the company

Learning about the Company’s mission, vision and goals will help you to answer and ask questions thoughtfully. Learning about the company’s culture, history and achievements will also help you understand whether it aligns with your goals or objectives and if it’s the right place for you to work.

5. Create an attractive Curriculum Vitae including a cover letter

Creating a proper CV highlighting your skills and achievements will make a good first impression of you. Since you are just kick-starting your career life you might not have experience working in the corporate world. Therefore mention the projects that you have completed and extracurricular activities you have engaged in. Don’t forget to include a cover letter to further explain how your skill set aligns with the role you are applying to.

6. Go through common interview questions related to the field you are applying for

There are online resources where you can find questions and sample answers for interviews. Note down the common ones related to your interview and have an idea in your head as to how you would answer them. 

7. Dress appropriately

The way you present yourself for the interview can communicate your level of confidence and work ethic. The interview might happen physically or it might be a remote interview. Either way wearing professionally boosts your confidence and can bring out the best in you. 

8. Practice, practice, practice

Practice some of the common questions asked during most of the interviews. You might not be able to prepare for all the questions since interviews are different from one another but having an idea of how you are answering certain questions ahead of time can make your interview much easier.

9. Follow up the interview with a thank-you note

Send a thank-you note reaffirming your interest in the organization and the excitement for the internship opportunity offered by them.

10. Don’t give up

If you had a bad interview, don’t give up! Learn from the mistakes and find out where you can improve to succeed in your next interview. With each interview, you are facing you’ll gain more experience and become better at presenting yourself for your future interviews. 

Bonus tip: 

Don’t wait till the last minute to prepare for the interview assuming you can answer the questions on the spot. If you want to have a successful interview start practicing and preparing for the interview from today!

Check out my article on ‘Most Popular IT Companies in Sri Lanka👩‍💻🔥’ to find out the most popular companies in Sri Lanka related to the IT industry. 😊💻