Job/internship interview etiquette question

Just curious. If a college kid goes in for an interview and interviews with three different people (or even one, but in this case it was three) for a position, should he expect to hear back either way about whether he got the position? Seems strange to me that he didn't even receive an email thanking him for coming in (but no thanks), but maybe it's just been a long time since I've interviewed for a job.

Yes he should have received an email but people are rude/lazy. Did the kid follow up?

I think it's pretty standard practice that potential employers generally only stay in touch with people who are active candidates. Sometimes, but not always, an employer will email people after the process is over informing them they've hired someone else, and thanking them for their time. We can say that's unfair or unkind, but it's reality.

It's also possible they haven't made a decision, these things almost always take more time than expected, not less.

It is common not to hear back about the job status, unfortunately. However, I would not expect to receive a note thanking him for coming in, and he should be sure to follow closely (same day) with email thank yous to all 3 people he met with. It is helpful in the thank you to ask when you might expect to hear back, and then follow up at that time (or in 2 weeks). The follow-up may or may not receive a response, but at least you tried.

I've interviewed for literally dozens of jobs over the past 15 years or so. And all of them were at much higher than entry level. And unless I've gone through a couple rounds of interviews, and been told I'm one of 2-3 finalists, I don't really expect to hear back that I'm not under consideration for the job.

Internships in my field (publishing) are hypercompetitive -- rather than worrying about a "thank you" from people with whom a kid interviewed, the kid should focus instead on his/her own constructive follow-up (a polite thank-you email that mentions some specific piece of advice or topic of discussion from the interview is a good choice; an email is more likely to get a response than a handwritten note). A college kid who's offended that he or she wasn't "thanked" for coming in to interview is the poster child for Special Snowflakes.

But I have advocated for internship applicants who followed up with smart, specific, thoughtful questions about our list/our market.

All that said, I don't mind if an internship candidate (or applicant for a full-time job) contacted me to check on when/if the position would be filled, or the status of his/her application. In the case of a college intern, I would assume that he/she was being responsible and smart about pursuing other opportunities.

It's pretty normal for HR and hiring managers to say as little as possible to someone they're not selecting. I think the logic is that there's always a chance that you might need to go back to a 2nd or 3rd choice, so you don't want to tell them you've gone with someone else.

I wouldn't take this as too good of a sign though, as more often than not the processes ends up so long that if something goes wrong with the first choice they may not want to go back to a 2nd or 3rd choice as too much time has passed. Most organizations are fairly dysfunctional, but few want to appear that way!

Thanks for the input. I phrased that wrong. Not expecting a thank you, just an acknowledgement that the job was given to someone else. I'm pretty sure he followed up with an email, but he needs to learn how to be more assertive about asking when he should hear, etc. He thought he had a summer plan that didn't pan out, so he's scrambling to find something now. Ugh!

Did he follow up with a thank you note?

I believe he did. Can't confirm at the moment, but I'm pretty sure he's well trained that way, having not too long ago gone through the whole college-application process.