How do you collect and organize feedback data?

1 Define your feedback goals

Before you start collecting feedback data, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with it. What are the main objectives and criteria for your hiring process? What are the key skills and competencies you're looking for in your candidates? How will you measure and evaluate the feedback data? Defining your feedback goals will help you design your feedback questions, select your feedback sources, and prioritize your feedback data.

2 Choose your feedback sources

Depending on your feedback goals, you may want to collect feedback data from different sources, such as candidates, interviewers, hiring managers, peers, customers, or external partners. Each source can provide valuable insights and perspectives on your candidates, but they may also have different biases, expectations, and preferences. Therefore, you need to choose your feedback sources carefully and balance the quantity and quality of the feedback data. You may also want to consider the timing, frequency, and format of the feedback collection.

3 Design your feedback questions

The quality of your feedback data largely depends on the quality of your feedback questions. You want to ask questions that are relevant, specific, measurable, and actionable. You also want to avoid questions that are vague, leading, or irrelevant. Depending on your feedback source and format, you may use different types of questions, such as open-ended, closed-ended, rating, ranking, or behavioral. You may also want to use a feedback framework, such as STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result), to structure your feedback questions and responses.

4 Collect your feedback data

Once you have your feedback goals, sources, and questions ready, you can start collecting your feedback data. There are various methods and tools you can use to collect feedback data, such as surveys, forms, interviews, focus groups, or observation. You may also use software or platforms that automate or facilitate the feedback collection process, such as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), Feedback Management Systems (FMS), or Video Interviewing Tools (VIT). Whatever method or tool you use, make sure you follow the best practices for feedback collection, such as being respectful, transparent, consistent, and timely.

5 Organize your feedback data

After you collect your feedback data, you need to organize it in a way that makes it easy to analyze and use. You may want to use a spreadsheet, a database, a dashboard, or a report to organize your feedback data. You may also want to use software or platforms that help you organize and visualize your feedback data, such as Data Analysis Tools (DAT), Business Intelligence Tools (BIT), or Feedback Analytics Tools (FAT). Whatever tool you use, make sure you follow the best practices for data organization, such as cleaning, sorting, filtering, grouping, and labeling your feedback data.

6 Analyze and use your feedback data

The final step is to analyze and use your feedback data to improve your interviewing skills, understand your candidates, and make better hiring decisions. You may want to use various techniques and methods to analyze your feedback data, such as descriptive, inferential, or predictive statistics, qualitative or quantitative analysis, or thematic or sentiment analysis. You may also want to use software or platforms that help you analyze and use your feedback data, such as Data Mining Tools (DMT), Machine Learning Tools (MLT), or Artificial Intelligence Tools (AIT). Whatever technique or tool you use, make sure you follow the best practices for data analysis and use, such as being objective, critical, and actionable.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?