Student employee interview questions

15 Student Interview Questions (With Example Answers)

In your job search process, interviews will be your best opportunity to give employers a glimpse into who you are and what you bring to the table. This is what makes interviews such exciting events, but also what makes them so anxiety-provoking. However, with some good prep work, you can learn to nail an interview and present your best self.

Students interviewing for jobs, internships, and other positions are unique compared to other job candidates. Typically, students are younger individuals who are still exploring their interests and options and who are still establishing themselves in the professional world. They may have little or no job experience to pull from.

If you are a student or a recent graduate, you probably aren’t going to have the same opportunities as someone who has prior professional experience. However, don’t get discouraged. Students are still an exciting group that employers are eager to work with. Employers also take the labor and skills involved in education into account.

As a student job candidate, your surest way to success in an interview is to prepare yourself for the questions they may ask you. Go into the interview with key facts and stories related to your achievements both in and out of school, and with some ideas of what the interviewer might ask you about.

Below are some of the most common questions that come up during student job and internship interviews, why interviewers ask these questions, and examples of how you might answer these questions.

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Student Job Interview Questions and Answers

1. “What is your major, and why did you choose it?”

   Interviews are set up to allow employers to get to know you on a deeper level. They want a glimpse into who you are in a work setting, what you’re passionate about, and what motivates you. Interviewers ask this question, and questions like it, to better understand your interests and get an idea of your career and life goals.

   Use your answer to discuss plans for your career path and how your major is helping you to accomplish these goals. Be sure to highlight critical connections between your major and the position you are currently interviewing for.

   Example Answer:

   I’m currently in my third year of pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, with a focus on strategic communications. I’ve always been interested in advertising, and this major helps me learn the technical, analytical skills involved in marketing while also learning the theoretical background behind these tools.

2. “Do you have any prior experience?”

   Though the hiring manager interviewing you is familiar with the qualifications listed on your resume and cover letter, they don’t know much about the details. As a student, you probably have limited job experience, and you may not yet have any experience at all in your industry of choice.

   This question gives you the chance to mention any work you’ve done or skills you’ve built that are relevant to this position. Look back on your academic career, volunteer work, and extracurriculars and see how they relate to the job posting requirements. The goal is to convince them that you are well-trained for this position.

   Example Answer:

   I’ve always been passionate about computer science, and I have a lot of experience coding and developing both in my free time and for school work. I’m in an advanced placement computer science class and have become fluent in Javascript, Scala, and Python.

3. “What courses are you currently taking?”

   This question is another way of getting to know you and becoming more familiar with the kind of work you do. You don’t get the opportunity to talk about classes and coursework on resumes, so this is a way of digging more deeply into your experience.

   Answer this question by drawing connections between your courses and the duties and skills of the job you are applying to. They don’t all have to be perfectly relevant to the job, but just make sure that at least one can be used as an example of how you learn skills that will directly benefit this position.

   Example Answer:

   This semester, I’m taking four classes, intro to painting, intro to psychology, data visualization principles, and advanced business data analytics. I’m learning a lot of advanced quantitative analysis tools that will be required for this position, as well as exploring my interests in creative arts and human behavior.

4. “How would your teachers describe you?”

   As a student, your closest equivalent to bosses (unless you’ve had a job) are your professors. They’re the authority figure which gives you work to do, so they’re a pretty close match. The interviewer wants to learn a little bit more about your relationship with authority figures like this and how they might consider you and your work ethic.

   You can answer this question by highlighting some of your best traits as a student and portraying a positive relationship between yourself and your teachers.

   Example Answer:

   I think my professors would describe me as insightful, a great writer, and a quiet, attentive listener. I would always visit my professors during their office hours to review my essays and other written work. As a result, my professors got to know me as someone who always made certain I was expressing myself clearly and getting to the deepest level of an issue.

5. “Why did you choose to attend this college?”

   This is another “getting to know you” question that ensures that you are an excellent fit for the company and the position. If you didn’t put much thought into your college decision, you might also be someone who didn’t put much thought into deciding to apply for this job. So make sure to have a good answer.

   When talking about your motivations for attending a specific college, focus on intelligent, practical details. Give the interviewer the impression that you make good decisions based on sound evidence, regardless of whether this is the case.

   Example Answer:

   I chose this college because I wanted to attend a small, liberal arts school with a great art history program. This school was my first choice because it had a strong focus on building community among the students, and because of the great post-graduation employment rate.

6. “Tell me about a time when you faced a challenge at school and how you overcame it.”

   This question is designed for the interviewer to get a glimpse into how you deal with stress and challenging situations. They ask this question because resilience is an essential skill in every workplace, and they want to make sure you can handle things when they get tough.

   Pick an example that highlights your strength and cleverness in dealing with challenging situations. If you want to use an example in which you were at fault for something, be sure to focus on the work you put in to atone for your mistake or grow as a person.

   Example Answer:

   In the fall semester of my sophomore year, I had the busiest finals week ever. I had five different essays to write, two due on the same day, and two exams to study for. I knew I would have to be very proactive in planning out my time, so I made a detailed planner, which allowed me to break up the assignments into more manageable chunks. For assignments I just didn’t have time to complete, I openly communicated with my professors and worked with them to create a reasonable extension timeline.

7. “Tell me about a time when you had to use leadership skills in an academic setting.”

   Interviewers might ask this question to get insight into your ability to lead groups of people towards a common goal. It will also help them see, in a broader way, what leadership means to you and what you consider to be good leadership.

   You can talk about classes, group projects, and other schoolwork or extracurricular leadership. Any situation that highlights your strength, determination, and good decision-making skills will probably do.

   Example Answer:

   My biggest moment of leadership during my time in school was probably when I was elected to the position of vice president of the Asian Cultural Association. In that position, it was my duty to plan cultural events on campus and spread awareness about key issues facing Asian students. I had to balance all of the preferences of club members and represent them faithfully in this position, and I often had to test my courage in speaking up about sensitive topics on campus.

8. “What was your biggest academic achievement?”

   This is one of those questions that permits you to brag about yourself in a significant way. The interviewer wants to know the best of what you can do, so really let them in on something you’re proud of and what it took to accomplish that.

   If there isn’t one big thing you can point to answer this question, just answer in a more general way. Maybe your most significant achievement is the good grades you got in challenging classes, perhaps it was developing a study method that worked for you, or perhaps it was something complicated or specialized you learned.

   Example Answer:

   My biggest academic achievement during my time in school was when I was awarded second place in a public speaking competition. I’ve always had a strong fear of public speaking, and it used to be something I avoided at all costs. However, after I took a class on the public address, I learned valuable tools and was able to apply them and gain confidence in my speaking. I was so proud to earn such a high placement in the competition considering all the work I did to challenge this fear.

9. “Do you prefer to work in a group or independently?”

   This is a tried-and-true question asked for all different kinds of positions in all different types of industries. It has such broad applicability because aspects involve group coordination in every job, and some aspects involve self-directed solo work.

   The best way to answer this question is not definitively to answer it. Instead, try to think of ways to enjoy and manage both kinds of work styles. This shows that you are both a team player and someone who can control your own time productively.

   Example Answer:

   I tend to prefer independent work, but I also enjoy the insights that can come from group work. During my capstone class for my degree, I had to work independently on a final research project while also working in groups to create presentations on different topics. I liked this dynamic where I was able to pursue my methods of doing things outside of class and experiment with new ways of thinking inside the classroom.

10. “Have you ever disagreed on a group project at school? If so, how did you handle this?”

    Every job involves working with other people, and every job inevitably involves conflict at one point or another. How you deal with conflict says a lot about you, and an ability to productively move through conflict is an invaluable skill. This question gives insight into how you communicate with others as well.

    This is an opportunity to show how you compromise and accommodate others. So you probably shouldn’t use this question to describe the actions of a problematic person simply.

    Example Answer:

    I worked with a group in one of my English classes, and there was one member of this group who was consistently not doing the work assigned to her. Other group members had difficulties discussing this with her directly and were only going to mention it after the professor. I took it upon myself to meet with this student and talk to her about issues we were having as a group due to her lack of participation, and I was able to learn more about the challenges she was having at home. We worked together to develop a more manageable workload for her, and we ended up getting a fantastic grade as a group.

11. “What kind of extracurricular activities do you participate in/What are your out-of-school hobbies?”

    This is another question designed to get to know you and your interests more deeply. It also presents an excellent opportunity to mention achievements you’ve earned or skills you’ve learned outside of work or school context.

    This is one of the more simple, straightforward questions to answer. It doesn’t have to prove any point about you, and it’s just a good way of finding common ground with your interviewer. If your only after-school hobby is partying, focus on what you are interested in and what you like learning about.

    Example Answer:

    I took dance classes throughout school and have always been interested in dance as an art form. I was also in mock UN and the Spanish club because I’m interested in learning about other cultures.

12. “Who has been your favorite teacher and why?”

    As we said before, teachers are the closest thing an unemployed student has to a boss. Thus, qualities you admired in a favorite teacher would also likely be qualities you look for in a boss. The interviewer asking you this question is probably trying to see if you and your potential superior would be a good fit.

    Focus on leadership qualities you admired in your favorite teacher and what made these qualities admirable or helpful to you.

    Example Answer:

    One of my favorite teachers was my environmental studies professor, who had some of the most creative lectures I’ve ever experienced. I appreciated all the work she put in to help us understand complex concepts and to help keep us in a creative mindset while we learned.

13. “Do you think your grades are a good reflection of your academic experience?”

    If you aren’t prepared for it, this question can be a doozy, but it serves a fundamental purpose. This question allows you to elaborate on your transcript and explain any extenuating circumstances that may have led to you getting less than stellar grades.

    If you got 4.0s (or close) every semester, use this question to reflect on what strategies you used that helped you. If you have some troubling final grades that might give pause to a future employer, take this time to explain (not excuse) circumstances that might have affected your grades and assure the interviewer that you did learn these concepts.

    Example Answer:

    During my freshman year, I had some challenges adjusting to college life that affected my grades. While I believe I learned the content of these courses well, I hadn’t yet developed a good system for dealing with stress and meeting deadlines. I worked to overcome this adjustment period, and my grades improved steadily each year, which is represented in my transcript.

14. “What goals do you have for the next five years of your life?”

    This question helps interviewers see your life and career plans in a broader context. Crucially, it also helps them see how they might fit into your five-year plan or whether this job is simply a stepping stone you are using to launch yourself in a different direction.

    Before answering this question, make sure you have done a bit of research into this organization. Look into the typical career trajectory for people in your position at this organization, and see if you can structure your answer around that. You can also provide general goals, such as skills you wish to grow.

    Example Answer:

    Ideally, this summer, I will be working at this internship position, growing my skill set and making professional connections. In one year, I plan to graduate from college and would love to work as a junior developer at this organization or, as plan B, another innovative technology company. I’d like to spend the next four years building my professional experience and skills in developing apps. I would hopefully like to achieve a supervisory position at some point.

15. “What does your ideal working environment look like?”

    It’s not only vital that you are a good fit for the organization you are applying to, but the organization must also be a good fit for you. This interview question exists to see how your ideal working conditions line up with the actual working conditions.

    If you’d like to increase your chances of being seen as the perfect candidate, you can do a bit of research to prepare yourself beforehand. Look up what you can about this company’s culture, values, and mission, and try to incorporate these into your answer.

    Example Answer:

    I thrive in environments with cultures of respect and open communication. I also prefer laidback atmospheres that allow workers to take their time in delivering the highest quality results.