Interview Tips

The key ingredients to a successful Internship.

Initial Preparation
Interview techniques
Answering questions

Initial Preparation

Practice makes perfect. To improve your interview skills, nothing beats real experience. If you have not had many interviews, try attending an interview skills workshop on campus.

Know your area. Research the field you have applied for. You do not need to be an expert, but you should learn the key elements of the job. For instance, a good Accounts Assistant should know about basic accounting, financial statements, analysis and valuation.

Know the Industry people. Before interviews, be proactive and get to meet some of the people from the Industry that you have been short-listed for. If possible, try to find out about the Industry norms, culture and core operations.

Read all about it. You should be on the pulse and extremely savvy, keep abreast with the news, and see where the market trend or latest research is.

Interview techniques

Relax and be yourself. Composure is highly important. If you have prepared, there is no reason to be nervous. Think of the interview not as an interrogation, but as a conversation. There is no need to put on an act, or to try to impress by exaggerating.

Be open and honest. Display your true personality, ideas, interests, experiences and what you have learned from them. Let your employer find out who you are; what you are like as a person.

Answering questions

Listen and think . Listen carefully to the question, think about what the question is really asking and pause if you need to. In moments of silences upon hearing the question, do rephrase the question out aloud to give yourself time.

Don't pretend you know. If you are not sure of the answer, admit it. It is OK to say, "I don't know". Maybe you just need the training and experience. Be honest about it.

Open up. Sometimes we just need to know the way you think. If we ask, "What's your perspective on the market?" it is just a way to show how your mind works. This tells us a lot about your potential at the company. Don't limit your answers too much. Open questions give you the chance to speak and show us who you are. Explain and give us examples.

Be direct. On the other hand, try not to be too long in answering a specific question. Get to the point and be precise. Assume that the interviewer knows the answer and gets the simple point. It is not necessary to explain the logic of ‘1+1’. Remember, time is limited, so use it effectively and make the best of this opportunity.

Also read about how we assess you, to get yourself ready for an interview at InternSG or the internship company itself.