How do you perceive/remember ex-interns from the past that you didn't give return offers

Is there ever hope that—if you ever cross paths with them again—you could potentially give them a benefit of doubt as having improved professionally? How strong is the stigma exactly years down the line? Is it ever awkward to cross paths with them outside work environment? Is it possible often enough to be good friends while separating professional bad reviews from perception of persona?

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This answer is gonna vary. Some kids were great to work with, but didn’t mesh well with the rest of the team or a few specific people that had more say. Now it doesn’t mean that they’re incompetent but they didn’t fit into the organization. There are others that were not good enough for the job, but we’re great to work with. Sometimes they’ll get good references to help them out because they may have not been a good fit for IB, but there were sharp in other things. Then there are other people who are good at their jobs, but absolute assholes to be around. Usually these people don’t get helped very much.

So to answer your question, it really depends. We’re adults, we understand that people get fired or non conversions for various reasons, it’s about how you respond today. I’ve seen many people who are fired flourish another organizations, and the interviewers never questioned them on their past because they presented well today.

 

I personally don't feel there's any stigma at all (except in some extreme cases I can imagine but haven't encountered). I like to think I can judge someone on the merits of their skills and personality today, and not how they were 5 or 10 years ago (of course the longer the time period, the more objective I think I would be). I'm human and probably I'll retain some unconscious bias, but at least consciously I'm keen to be open-minded.

Also a good reason to always leave things on good terms regardless of who people are.

 

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