Tell us about a situation where you took initiative or took on a leadership role.

Use the STAR method when answering this question--talk about a Situation or Task (S-T), the Action you took (A), and the Results achieved (R); and talk about what motivated you to take initiative and stand out as a leader. The best answer would also involve others, but it can also be simply taking personal initiative on your own--where you took action independently without prompting from others.

"During my internship project, I took the lead in researching several different engineering best practices at our competitors. I decided to capture this information by compiling the external information, along with our internal data, to write up a best practice white paper which is still in use by the firm today. In fact, that white paper earned me the CEO Award at the end of my internship. I was the only intern to ever receive that award."