Our children have summer jobs and we were recently talking about how to answer this question. The ideal answer includes, (1) the goals of the interviewer, the goals of the organization, (2) the goals of the person interviewing, (3) and an example of how getting a job offer benefits everyone.

This becomes an exercise of knowing everyone’s goals:

The Interviewer / The Hiring Organization

An Interviewer wants to fairly bring the hiring process to a close quickly in a way such that they are not embarassed. They may have other desires in regards to their alma mater – recruiting may get them travel and cache internally that they enjoy. By being known as a ‘good’ recruiter internally they may have faster access to new talent to help on their favored projects. It is rewarding to see people’s careers develop. Being known as the origin story in people’s careers creates influence and a following within corporate structures. Being good at hiring creates power; being bad at hiring creates liabilities.

How then to know the needs of The Hiring Organization?

• Look at what they say about themselves online. Read, and believe, their mission statement. Read recent blog posts. Look at what charities they support.
• Don’t stop with the corporate goals – if you know a specific site or office at which you will work, look at those. Interested in International Paper? Their local plants likely support local charities. Interested in McKinsey or Goldman? Different specialties in different regions will have different motivations – the more specific you can be in understanding their needs, the better you can map your capabilities to their needs.
• A great way to know the needs of the organization is to talk with a recent intern, or a recent hire, who has ties to your alumni organization. “What did you like about working there?” Write down what they say.

Knowing Your Personal Goals

It can be hard going into a first ‘real’ job to state your personal goals. Years spent working summer jobs don’t translate easily to why somebody wants to work a summer programming, trading, or supporting a manufacturing site. Personal stories are a fine place to start, “when I was little, I always did [X], and as I started exploring career options in [highschool / youth volunteer activity], a career with EMPLOYER seemed like a great opportunity. Then when I [spoke with intern / looked at mission statement], it seemed like a really good fit.”

Your goals at an early stage in your career don’t have to be big. In fact, if they are too big, you will look like a crazy person to the interviewer and then they will not hire you because it could be potentially embarassing.

• “My goal is to start my career in process engineering, and a summer job at your location works really well for me.”
• “All of the faculty members said this is a great place to work, and I’ve been researching your company – I’ve got a lot to learn, but I know I can contribute.”
• “My parents got a great first summer internship, and they wound up working with that firm for 10 years – I see many of your team members do the same.”
• “There are a lot of alumni from SCHOOL at EMPLOYER, and I really want to be a part of that culture – I’m young and I know I want to prove I can contribute in that environment.”
• “It’s important to me that my academic knowledge be something that I can put to work in a commercial setting, EMPLOYER is known for providing good work opportunities at SITE.”
• “EMPLOYER is known to be at the forefront of SKILLSET, which is my real focus here in school – I want to get my foot in the door and show that I can be a part of this in the work world.”

Map Personal Goals to Corporate Goals

In sales training it is common to talk about “win-win” results – or even “win-win-win”. Showing that your personal goals are in line with the corporate goals shows that the interviewee is low risk. Companies realize that they can’t expect life long fealty or obedience. The interviewer wants there to be a shot that you, even at the young age of 18 – 20, could potentially be a life long employee. The reason companies run summer internship programs is because it leads to full time employees (“FTEs”). Internships don’t recover the cost of their training.

Tying the goals of the person to the company doesn’t have to be rhetorically pretty or involve precisely accurate logic. “I really am interested in FIELD OF STUDY, your program has a great reputation for that, I want to support it – and I really like where the job is located.”

That’s it, that’s enough. There doesn’t have to be a great tie in between the logical claims – the interviewer wants to hear you’ve thought about it. That’s enough.

“I used to live in X and always liked it there, and my demonstrated interest through pursuing this FIELD OF STUDY, is in line with your stated corporate goals / mission statement.”

What if Your Goals Are Wrong?

Sometimes companies aren’t really accurate about their mission statement. Sometimes there are production sites that have radically different cultures. Be honest about what you want – and it is okay if they don’t pick you. As an extreme example, imagine an employer who has the mission statement of, “we never harm animals.”

A young intern interviewer shows up and says, “I’m studying to be a vet, you have a great reputation, and your mission statement of never harming animals matches my values.”

Now, if the person running the interview knows that they will only have jobs that require someone to harm animals – you’re not going to get the job, and that’s okay! Who wants a job outside of your own goals? However, you may not learn that for a while. It could be two years later and a friend confides, “hey that job you wanted that I got? I had to harm animals all summer.”

Your personal goals don’t have to be fancy or elaborate, “I want a good summer internship to fulfill the co-op requirements of my degree program – and I love the products made at this site.” Run those goals by a faculty member or adviser.