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The intern (last year student) may get a job offer depending on our company's administration/finance.

It's his last day tomorrow at his internship. He will most likely graduate next month and he does not pursue further education. Since I worked the most with him, do I communicate that he might get a job offer? Or do I shut up and wait for the decision from the boss?

I don't think it's a great idea to communicate, but also would make his day at the same time. Especially if I say the reasons why it is not certain.

I'm also just a junior at this (small) company with no function related to hiring.

Update: 20 minutes after posting this, my boss has invited him for a meeting tomorrow to discuss the job offer :)

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    If his graduating next month, he is probably in full swing job search mode right now. If your company want to be considered, they should indeed communicate with him. However, that's not your task but that of the potential hiring manager.
    – Hilmar
    May 19, 2022 at 12:55
  • It's super common here to graduate and then search for a job. I don't think a lot of people here are busy searching for a job during the last months of graduation. This might be the case in other fields, I honestly don't really know. Also, see update.
    – Wojtek322
    May 19, 2022 at 13:07
  • @Wojtek322 common, yes, but often not a good idea with such a high opportunity cost! (also congrats to them!)
    – ti7
    May 19, 2022 at 21:41

4 Answers 4

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Unless you are authorized to discuss this with him by your company, I can't see anything good coming from your sharing especially if the company decides NOT to extend him an offer.

Let your management do their job and communicate (or not communicate) what is going on.

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    If you're concerned that without early notice the intern will find another position, then bring your concerns to management, and let them decide
    – Arcanist Lupus
    May 20, 2022 at 4:14
  • This is ultimately the correct answer. I will add on to this statement: "Let your management do their job" - in which I would suggest that OP could talk to their intern about their experience with the company. What they learned, if they are interested in returning, and how OP did working with them. All of this information could be brought to management to make it clear that the intern would (or not) like to return. That may push them to make a faster decision.
    – Strikegently
    May 21, 2022 at 18:28
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You mind your own business; it's not your place to say what your company might or might not do. And honestly, "may get a job offer" is worth absolutely zero to the intern.

Just say that you've been impressed with the work they've done while working with you and that you'd be happy to work with them again in the future if the opportunity arises.

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  • I agree, but would like to point out that "if I can get budget for you, I'd like to hire you" sounds a lot more like a sincere appreciation than what you just said in your second sentence - because it just reads as boilerplate HR speech that they might say to anyone halfway decent
    – lucidbrot
    May 20, 2022 at 20:36
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    @lucidbrot The OP is a junior themselves; with all due respect, they probably don't know that much about hiring and budgets themselves yet.
    – Philip Kendall
    May 20, 2022 at 21:01
  • @PhilipKendall and even if they did, "Mind your own business" is pretty much the best advice here.
    – user32882
    May 21, 2022 at 13:19
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This is a great case of "go to your boss and mention it".

It's not your job to determine who gets a job offer out of an internship, but you can easily mention to your boss:

  • that the intern worked well and was a good fit in the company
  • and you would be excited to work with them again if they were to work again at the company

Leave it at that!

Your boss should pick up on the hint ;)

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    Absolutely my thought on the matter - if your concern is 'should I do this or would it upset the boss?' then the obvious answer is to just ask your boss.
    – Zibbobz
    May 20, 2022 at 12:36
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You can't speak officially for the company, and shouldn't say anything that might get the company into trouble, but for most employers it's perfectly okay to speak for yourself. I usually say something like:

I've enjoyed working with you. I hope you are considering working here full time after graduation if an offer is extended.

That way, even if the offer falls through due to budgetary reasons or whatever, they still know they had your recommendation and wish them well.

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