How to land an internship II: Preparing for the interview

by Kaitlyn Dickson and Taylor Rouse

Now that you’ve sent in a world-class résumé and landed your interview, it’s time to prepare! Arriving underdressed or fumbling over questions can make you feel more nervous, but being prepared will help ensure that you feel confident and perform at your best while interviewing. Follow this advice to ace your interview:

Communicate your experience. Students often go into interviews with minimal professional experience, but you’ve likely developed applicable skills from other jobs. For example, if you worked as a server at a restaurant, you’ve been busy developing your time management, communication and teamwork skills. You also may have held a leadership position in school, such as the president of a club, where you learned how to use your decision making, problem solving and creativity skills. It’s important to call upon every experience you’ve had to effectively display the skills you’ve gained.

Arrive prepared. The biggest part of preparing for an interview is practicing your responses. The internet has a variety of questions that could be asked during a behavioral interview, but no matter the question, each response should follow the STAR method. This method includes sharing a situation, task, action and result during every response to a question asked of you. This level of detail helps the interviewer visualize your response and analyze how you’re performing in the interview. The best way to exercise this technique is with a colleague or college career counselor in a mock interview style. With practice, it will come more naturally and ease the nerves some interviewees experience.

Connecting with the interviewer. Once you arrive at the interview, it’s important to have a good first impression. Prior to the interview, research the person who will be interviewing you to gain more insight on what you should expect. Start out by creating natural conversation around a question that is relevant to the interviewer. For example, if the interviewer mentioned on LinkedIn that they relocated for their role, ask how they are liking the new area. Throughout the interview, match your tone with the interviewer’s. This can make the overall interview more comfortable.

Follow proper etiquette. Arrive early to the interview by giving yourself plenty of time to commute to the location. Ask about the dress attire ahead of time so you can make sure you are dressed appropriately. Some colleges have a career outfitters closet where you can make an appointment to obtain a free interview-ready outfit. You should also print out your résumé and cover letter to give to the interviewer. Additionally, eye contact and body language are very important. If you are interviewing over Zoom, make sure to look directly in the camera, giving the appearance of eye contact. Having a professional background, stable internet connection and no background noise is also very important during Zoom interviews.

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Everyone feels nervous during interviews, but the more prepared you are, the less anxious you will feel. If you gather all the necessary information and practice your answers to interview questions, your confidence will be sure to shine through!

To learn more about how to intern with Charles Aris, visit charlesaris.com/intern-at-charles-aris.