Marketing Internship Interview Preparation Guide

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I am an exceptionally insightful person, who has a great ability to assist in the strategizing of digital marketing campaigns. If hired as an intern, I am positive that I can be a great contributory factor in developing engaging online content, assisting in the development and implementation of SEO and PPC, presenting new marketing strategies, and supporting the increase of the company’s social media presence.

Measuring digital marketing campaigns is imperative so that performances can be assessed against both ROIs and KPIs. This gives decision makers a ground for deciding how to handle digital marketing campaigns in the future.

Lots of internships interviews will have a section of competency questions like this, where you’re asked to provide an example of a time when you’ve exhibited a particular strength or behaviour.

The above is a common competency question in internship interviews because it is so broad and can be answered without needing a job or previous internship for examples. Our top tips are:

☛ DO use STAR to structure your answer, spending most time on the A and the R, rather than scene setting
☛ DON’T use an example where the problem was of your own making; equally, avoid ‘blaming’ someone else for the problem
☛ DO talk about what you did, rather than your coursemates, for example, as you are the only interesting person to the interviewers right now

Sometimes students just need an internship, and they’ll take it where they can get it.

But the best candidates—the ones who will likely work hard and be excited to learn more about your industry and function—will be applying because they respect your company’s mission or have some connection to the work that’s done. Look for people who are really compelled to join your team.

The candidate should answer this question by providing areas that they believe they’re strong in. Additionally, they should back up their answers with practical examples to demonstrate why they have listed certain strengths.

Here’s another open-ended question that can elicit strong answers from a strong candidate. This will challenge your internship candidates to think over a difficult period either from school, other internships, or in their extracurriculars, which can illustrate how they would handle adversity.

This is another powerful question to ask during an interview because probably won’t get you a canned response. Instead, the candidate will be put on the spot and need to think hard about their response, which will get you a true sense of how the candidate would perform in a pinch.

An intern could one day become a manager or director within your organization. One way to identify leadership qualities early on is to see whether the person you’re interviewing has passion for it.

Instead of focusing on what the prospective intern has done, try to assess his or her level of enthusiasm when talking about past contributions. Pay attention to the parts of the narrative that explain
☛ (1) how the student identified the ‘problem’ to be tackled,
☛ (2) how the student developed the solution,
☛ (3) how the student collaborated with team members, and
☛ (4) how the student prioritizes outcomes and results.

I have always had a deep interest in marketing, and ever since I obtained my business degree with a major in digital marketing, I have been pining to work in this capacity. Also, the fact that digital marketing is the future of marketing, made me interested in this work.

As someone who is highly experienced in developing distinct online presences of various types of companies, I believe that I will be a good choice. With over 7 years of experience in handling social media marketing, PPC campaigns, mobile marketing, affiliate marketing and search engine optimizations, I believe that I am ready to take on this role.

You won’t be doing fake work on your internship or placement and you may be very busy at times. Internship interviewers often ask this because they want to get a sense of whether they can trust you with tasks that will ultimately have an impact on the wider business.

Good answers to this common interview question on prioritization acknowledge that:

☛ the quality of your work and ability to meet deadlines has an impact on the workload of your colleagues
☛ you may sometimes have to stop what you’re doing in order to work on something more urgent
☛ it is appropriate to ask your supervisor what to prioritise if you’re not sure (but your supervisor would expect you to have thought about your priorities beforehand)

As with any good job interview, you want an intern candidate who has done his or her research. Ask a few questions that will reveal knowledge of your company (or not).

For example, is there a program that she’s most interested in, or does he have a thought on your most recent press release? In addition, letting candidates ask questions about the company and role can reveal their ability to think critically about what they’ve learned.

The candidate should take this opportunity to expand on the skills listed on their resume and tell you about additional skills. They should also give you a list of their expectations to show that they’ve thought about what they need to gain the most out of the position.

Your interns, over the course of their careers, will likely change directions and jobs multiple times – pursuing paths that are quite different from what they studied in school. In many professions, an intern’s major won’t be directly applicable. What’s more important is this candidate’s ability to learn on the job.

Still, the reasons why your intern picked his or her major can tell a compelling story. Perhaps this person is an exceptionally talented writer, which is why she majored in English. Maybe she wanted to tackle her biggest weakness, which is why she majored in statistics.

This internship question provides the candidate with an opportunity to talk about benefits that relate to the position as well as transferable skills. They should mention specific coursework they’ve done relating to your industry and also mention how they’ve gained skills like time-management when researching and writing papers.

An intern will become a member of your team and will likely interact with other colleagues, vendors, and clients at some point.

So, you want to be sure that anyone you bring on is familiar with basic industry jargon, programs, and procedures—or at the very least, will be excited to learn about them. A candidate who has done informational interviews, regularly reads industry blogs, or has a vested interest in the field will always be better than one who’s just trying to get experience anywhere.

Planning and executing web, SEO, email and social media campaigns are usually foremost. Additionally, I design, build and maintain companies’ social media presence, along with identifying trends and insights, brainstorming creative growth ideas, evaluating end to end customer experiences and assessing emerging technologies.

Digital marketing professionals are responsible for developing and implementing SEO and PPC strategies to increase a company’s product image in the digital world. In addition to this, they forecast campaign growth, and return on investments for marketing campaigns, and overseeing social media strategies.

Describe what first inspired you or what has fascinated you about the industry as you’ve investigated it further. Give specific examples that show you have done some research about whether you are suited to working in that industry, such as attending a careers talk or choosing a related coursework subject. Avoid giving reasons to do with pay or working hours.

What if you don’t know if you want to go into this industry when you graduate? This is fine. After all, getting exposure to a particular sector, profession or role to find out if you like it is one of the main points of an internship. Explain to your interviewers that you haven’t completely decided about going into that industry yet (as long as you haven’t said the opposite in your application). Follow this with reasons why you are keen to find out more and how you hope the internship will help you decide.

Sometimes just asking the question directly is best. Candidates may have great skills that aren’t reflected in their coursework or on-campus activity—or, they may know that they need experience in a certain area, and that your internship will provide them with just that.

Either way, look for people who have really thought through what they’ll bring to and take from the opportunity.

1. What are your long-term goals?

2. Where do you see yourself in ten years? Twenty years?

3. What makes you stand out?

4. What's the most important thing to you on your resume?

5. What are you most proud of on your resume?

6. If you had to describe yourself as a brand, which brand would you choose and why?

7. What sort of leadership experience do you have?

8. Talk about your leadership style in the past and how you lead now.

9. Define the word "leader."

10. What does it mean to be a great leader?

11. What does the term "management" mean to you?

12. What would you do if you were a leader of a group project and one member of the group wasn't doing their work?

13. What drives you to succeed?

14. What quality do you most like to see in a team member?

15. How do you feel about working in teams and is that something you have experience in?

16. Give me some examples of your teamwork skills.

17. If you had a problem with a coworker, how would you solve it?

18. Describe a time where you had to correct someone's actions by showing them how to do a task in a better way.

19. Walk me through how a client meeting should go.

20. If a client were on vacation for the past two weeks, what would you tell her were the most important news events that she missed?

21. Tell me about some things currently going on in the news [and/or in the financial markets if interviewing with a finance firm]?

22. Tell me about an interesting news story you've followed lately.

23. Tell me about a time when you dealt with people who were difficult to work with or when you had a difficult deadline.

24. Give me one example of when you've used your problem-solving skills?

25. How would you balance school with work [if the job takes place during the school year]?

26. Tell me about a time when everyone on the team was against your opinion as a leader and how you handled it.

27. Tell me about a time you failed, what you learned from it, and how you would act differently if you encountered something similar again.

28. Tell me about a time when you faced some adversity in your life and how you overcame it.

29. What are your three best qualities?

30. What are your three greatest weaknesses?

31. Tell me about a time when you had to say "I don't know" and what were the results of saying that?

32. Describe an instance in the workplace where you were aware of someone doing something wrong or unsafe. How did you respond to it?

33. Talk about a time when you went against policy to do what you felt was morally right.

34. Tell me about a time when you showed the ability to keep confidential information locked up.

35. Talk about a time you had to settle a dispute between two people.

36. Give us an example of a time you were faced with an ethical dilemma and how you handled it.

37. Explain a situation where you used technology to solve a problem.

38. What would you do if a PowerPoint presentation you or your team was giving included a mistake, but you didn't know until the last minute?

39. What do you anticipate learning during this internship?

40. How is an internship here going to benefit you?

41. Tell me about a time when you had to make a hard decision that didn't please everyone that it affected.

42. Tell me about a time you had to break a promise. What was the situation and how did you handle it?

43. How do you resolve conflict?

44. Which area in our firm are your most interested in and why?

45. Are you able to sort through and make sense of large data sets? If so, give me an example when you had to do that.

46. Would you be willing to work on projects somewhat but not closely related to your field of study?

47. What would you do if it were 6pm, everyone in the office has left for the day, you were helping to prepare a project for a client that was due the next morning, and you noticed a mistake but couldn't get ahold of anyone else above you who was also working on the project?

48. How would you grade yourself on your Excel proficiency?

49. Why do you want to work for our firm specifically?

50. Do you know what the Cloud is? Could you explain it to me?

51. If you found yourself sitting at a desk, bored, what would you do?

52. What gets you up in the mornings?

53. You have to build a clock for someone and can only ask six questions about the clock you need to build. What would those questions be?

54. What is/was your thesis on? Tell me about it.

55. Describe some projects you worked on in previous internships.

56. How was your previous summer internship? Was there anything interesting you picked up during your previous summer?

57. Tell me what you know about the industry we operate in.

58. Where do you think our industry is going? What are the general trends within it?

59. How do you approach a problem when you encounter one?

60. How many cigarettes are smoked each day in the world? [Note: This is a typical "guesstimate" question, which is usually asked in consulting interviews but could be asked in other types, too; it gauges thinking process, as opposed to knowledge of the exact answer.]

61. Why should we hire you?

62. What is something Excel is useful for?

63. As a first-year master's student, how do you think you'll perform compared to someone who is almost through their PhD?

64. What sorts of skills do you have?

65. Walk me through your resume.

66. Tell me about your classes and coursework relevant to this job.

67. Which subject in school do you like most?

68. Why is your GPA this number?

69. a) Design a catapult and talk me through it while you design it. b) Now, redesign it to shoot further and talk me through your thought process on your redesign.

70. You have a 100-pound stone and you need to measure its weight accurately but your scale can only measure up to 50 pounds. How can you weight it?

71. Why do you want to work in this industry?

72. What personal traits do you posses that would make you a good fit for our company?

73. What are some of our major competitors?

74. What is the biggest problem our firm is facing?

75. Tell me about a time when you had a difficult roommate.

76. Why did you choose the university you enrolled in?

77. What kinds of things are you involved in at school?

78. What is your philosophy on education?

79. What's your biggest concern about this job?

80. Tell me about yourself.

81. What do you do for fun?

82. Tell me about your hobbies.

83. When were you most creative?

84. Describe a time you took initiative.

85. Give an example of a time you showed marketing skills such as selling a service or a product.

86. Describe an example of when you showed excellent customer service.

87. Tell us about a time you had to think on your feet.

88. Please describe your perfect work environment.

89. What environment do you think you would thrive in best?

90. Describe a past experience where you met a whole new group of people and how you bonded with them.

91. Thinking of your three closest friends, what do they have in common with each other?

92. If I met one of your closest friends, what might they tell me about you?

93. Who is the main person in your life that has made a difference?

94. Other than a tragic life event such as a death, what would you say is the most difficult thing that has happened to you professionally?

95. If you could choose two celebrities to be your parents, who would you choose and why?

96. You have a major presentation in ten minutes. You found out that the data in your presentation is incorrect. What do you do?

97. Give me three things about yourself that make you a good fit for this job.

98. Do you know a lot about a little or a little about a lot?

99. Tell me a joke.

100. If you could choose just one, what would your superpower be?

☛ Tell us about a time when you experienced a problem or obstacle that had no clear solution. What did you do, and what were the results?
☛ How do you determine or evaluate success? Give me an example of one of your successful accomplishments.
☛ What will it take to attain your goals, and what steps have you taken toward attaining them?
☛ What steps do you follow to study a problem before making a decision.

☛ During your work experiences while attending college, tell me about a time when you demonstrated that you have the ability and desire to work effectively with your coworkers.
☛ What have you learned for your experiences outside the classroom or workplace?
☛ At what point did you choose this career path?
☛ What excites you about this internship?

☛ During your experiences while attending college, tell me about a time when you demonstrated that you have leadership ability and skill.
☛ What are the three most important values you demonstrate as a leader? Tell me a story that demonstrates each of these leadership values in practice within your workplace.
☛ What type of people do you work best with?
☛ Give an example of a situation when you had to compromise your own goals/objectives for the sake of the team.

☛ What were your reasons for selecting your college or university?
☛ Which college classes or subjects do you like best? Why?
☛ How will the academic program and coursework you’ve taken benefit your career?
☛ Give an example of how you applied knowledge from previous coursework to a project in another class.
☛ Tell us about your extracurricular involvement. How has that prepared you for this internship?
☛ What has been your most rewarding accomplishment?

☛ How will this internship prepare you for your future career goals?
☛ What are your plans following graduation?
☛ Where do you see yourself in five years?
☛ What are your long term and short term goals?