Worked here before, not good, so never again really?

I know Hiring Managers (HM) have certain predisposition about certain type of candidates, In this case I am talking about people who worked at the company before and their performance was not great. As a result, if they are being looked at back at their old company, they are immediately turned down, no questions asked. The problem is there should be questions asked. Questions like: how long ago was it, what exactly was the reason for their performance, where have they been since, and more.

An example if you are looking at the resume of a former employee who worked at your company say 3+ years ago and let’s say their last review was not great. Does this mean they should not be looked at to come back? The answer is no, you find out what was behind the review. You look at other reviews. If for example the candidate had several great reviews prior to that last one that was not so good, there could be reasons that have understandable, like a job mismatch, constantly changing managers, etc. What if you look into it and it was determined they just did not have a strong enough skill set. Well okay, but that was 3+ years ago, maybe now they do.

The point is do not assume anything, do not dismiss someone without finding out the who, what, when, how and why of the bad review, or no hire or anything. Things are very rarely black and white, and as the market gets tighter for great people we cannot afford to simply over look people for reasons that are 3+ years old.