Three Tips to Succeed in Your adidas Internship Interview
Interested in applying for an adidas internship? Want to get yourself in shape for your interview? Hear from one of our recent interns who shares three things he believes will help you nail it on the big day.
I fell in love with the adidas brand when I was a kid. I grew up with the iconic 3-Stripes with my Predator football boots and Adizero running shoes, so naturally, it was my dream that some day I would work for the company after finishing my studies. An adidas internship turned out to be the perfect entry.
Years before I even entertained the idea of an adidas internship, I’d applied for an entry level position at the company’s HQ in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Unfortunately my application didn’t progress, but I didn’t give up. Five years later, I was offered an interview to become an MBA intern in our Amsterdam offices.
I was filled with excitement and nervousness, but as any athlete would tell you, these feelings are normal. Being overcome with excitement and nervousness on competition day, however, could result in a sub-optimal performance.
To avoid this, I invested time into training and preparation so that I’d be ready and confident come gameday. Since this worked for me, I’d love to share three tips that may well help you prep for your adidas internship interview.
1. Know the position
The key to succeeding in any team begins with developing a good understanding of your position and role within that team. Prior to your interview, review the job description and identify any gaps in your understanding. This will help you to prepare questions for the interviewer.
This is a valuable opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the role while at the same time showing the recruiter that you are proactive in your preparation. Recruiters generally emphasise that interviews aren’t just for them to ask their questions, they’re also for you to ask yours, so it’s good to get these ready in advance.
In addition to formulating questions ahead of time, make links from the job description to your previous experiences so that you can show how your past work and/or studies have prepared you for the position that you’re applying for.
Lastly, try to put into words what excites and motivates you about the job. Being able to articulate these during the interview will display a stronger connection with the role, potential growth that could be gained from the experience, and how it personally fits into your career development.
2. Know the company and highlight your synergies
After understanding your role within the team, it is also important to take a step back from your individual function to see the bigger picture. Get a better understanding of the company from every possible angle. What are the company’s strategic focus areas? How does the team operate? What is the company’s culture like?
Get to know more about the company’s purpose and values by networking with connections from within the company on LinkedIn. They’ll also be able to share what it’s like to work for adidas. Another great platform to learn about the company is right here on the company’s blog, GamePlan A. You’ll find several articles that share experiences from within the company, including one with some useful tips from an adidas recruiter. You’ll also find posts from senior leaders that cover a range of topics, with everything from culture, workplace, and leadership at adidas.
Consider how the company aligns with your own values or how you concretely exhibited them in your achievements. How have you shown ownership? Have you proactively taken responsibility to initiate a new project? Did you set yourself clear goals? Did you follow through on the commitments you made? How do you work to cultivate productive relationships and a shared mindset around teamplay to win together? Do you have examples of when you exhibited the courage to speak up to drive improvements, sought new ways of doing things or asked for help to address gaps in your knowledge?
If you have answers for all these questions, prepare to give concrete examples as these will give the interviewers a good idea of how well you’ll fit into the company.
3. Practice
Think of the first two steps as building techniques for the big game. The third step is about repetition to make sure you can pull off that grand move on the big day.
Everyone practices for interviews differently. You could record yourself to practice making the abstract ideas in your head into concrete stories. You could do mock interviews with others to practice your delivery and see if the strong message in your story is being communicated effectively. Do whatever works for you.
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