Re:I didn't get a return offer and that's okay
by quaquaqua1 on Wednesday September 04, 2019 @09:06PM
(#20882979)
I understand where you are coming from, and I have been on the receiving end of very vague rejections as well (or being straight up ghosted of course).
However, I don't think it's helpful to say "your work wasn't good". My natural inclination after hearing that is to say "ok, can you provide an example?"
If they even have an example, you then jump into an analysis. They say you did x wrong, and you attempt to explain how x was influenced by y, or that actually you did x correctly just slowly and using a different methodology but ultimately the same result is achieved.
I don't think I've ever met a corporate middle manager who has said "you know what, you're totally right. I'm going to cancel the firing process right now!"
Re:I didn't get a return offer and that's okay
by draw_down on Wednesday September 04, 2019 @11:55PM
(#20883712)
Right, it isn't a debate. The decision has been made.
Not giving a reason also allows the person to form their own story about what happened, which I think can help some people protect their egos a bit.
This would be incredibly infuriating and is absolutely the most frustrating part of the interview and internship experience today.
I know you think you are lessening the blow but this kind of response is vague and doesn’t help anyone. What matters most after a rejection is understanding where you fell short. You will never improve if you do not know where you went wrong; as such, a response like that doesn’t help the career of the intern and doesn’t do justice to the effort the intern put in over the past N months, or the effort the interviewer put in to prepare for the interview.
Even the letter she got was vague. An acceptable response would list specific points of potential improvement and offer to hold a meeting to elaborate on them.