LIKELY QUESTIONS
- Why are you interested in interning with ILRI specifically, rather than a general agriculture or development organization?
- How does your current degree program and coursework relate to livestock agriculture, research, or capacity development?
- What do you hope to learn during a short internship of 3 to 6 months in Nairobi?
- Tell us about a university project, field assignment, or research task where you collected, analyzed, or presented information.
- ILRI works in multicultural, international, and research-driven environments across Africa and Asia. How would you adapt to working with diverse teams and stakeholders?
- This internship requires strong English and Microsoft Office skills. Can you describe how you have used Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or similar tools in your academic work?
- Since this internship is intended for students who must return to their studies, how does this opportunity fit into your academic timeline and long-term career goals?
- Capacity Development involves learning, knowledge sharing, and connecting theory to practice. How would you contribute if assigned to training support, documentation, data entry, literature review, or coordination tasks?

BEHAVIOURAL QUESTIONS
- Tell me about a time you had to learn something new quickly to complete an academic or practical assignment.
Model approach: Situation - Briefly describe the course, project, or assignment and the new skill required. Task - Explain what you needed to deliver and by when. Action - Show how you broke the learning into steps, used available resources, asked for guidance, and applied the skill. Result - Quantify or describe the outcome, what you achieved, and what you learned about adaptability.

- Describe a time you worked in a team with people from different backgrounds or with different working styles.
Model approach: Situation - Set up the team context and why collaboration mattered. Task - Explain your role and the challenge caused by different communication or work preferences. Action - Describe how you listened, clarified roles, kept communication respectful, and focused the team on shared goals. Result - Share the project outcome and how the experience strengthened your teamwork in diverse environments.

- Give an example of a time you had to manage multiple deadlines or competing priorities.
Model approach: Situation - Describe the period with overlapping coursework, exams, or responsibilities. Task - State what had to be completed and the risk if you fell behind. Action - Explain how you prioritized tasks, used a schedule or tracker, communicated early about constraints, and stayed organized. Result - Show that you met deadlines, maintained quality, and built stronger time-management habits.

- Tell me about a time you handled data, documents, or information carefully and accurately.
Model approach: Situation - Describe the assignment involving records, research notes, spreadsheets, or reports. Task - Explain the importance of accuracy and confidentiality. Action - Highlight how you checked entries, used clear file naming, verified sources, and corrected errors early. Result - Share the positive outcome, such as fewer mistakes, a reliable report, or praise for attention to detail.

SMART QUESTIONS TO ASK
- How are interns typically matched to teams or projects within livestock research or capacity development?
- What would success look like for an intern in the first month of the program?
- What kind of mentorship, supervision, and feedback structure do interns usually receive at ILRI?
- Are interns usually exposed only to desk-based support, or do some roles include participation in research coordination, training activities, or field-related work?
- How does ILRI ensure interns gain meaningful learning outcomes within a relatively short internship period?

RED FLAGS TO WATCH FOR
- Vague answers about the actual work, supervision, or learning objectives, which may suggest the internship is not well structured.
- Heavy emphasis on routine admin work only, with little mention of mentorship, training, or exposure to research and capacity development.
- Unclear communication about stipend, insurance, duration, extension conditions, or reporting lines.