Interview Feedback! The Good and the Bad are equally important!

In the years that I have been recruiting, I have seen an ebb and flow of job opportunities or candidates.

What is constant are challenges with interview feedback. It doesn’t seem to be impacted by a shortage or an abundance of candidates. 

As the early stages of recruiting can be a "non-personal", transactional process, we have to recognize that once we begin the interview process, we have made a "personal" connection. This is when communication and feedback set the tone and let candidates see things that may benefit or harm the hiring process.

Hiring managers step out of interviews to tend to their daily tasks while often leaving candidates not knowing how they stacked up. 

I get it – we get busy and distracted. The amount of resumes, candidates, interviews, meetings, daily tasks – it’s challenging to devote adequate time to treat them all as a priority. 

But the fact is that a lot of time and resources have been invested up to this point.

Feedback is super important:

• It keeps candidates engaged and interested while giving them something to work towards.

• It keeps hiring managers accountable for the reasons they are rejecting candidates. This means no more “they are not a cultural fit” without explaining why. 

• The “why” will also allow recruiters to filter future candidates for criteria they may not have known about prior saving everyone time in the long run

• Detailed feedback gives the candidate the opportunity to learn and grow, whether it is a rejection or an invitation for next steps.

The truth is, I have yet to find a candidate who would prefer being ghosted over learning the reasons why they didn’t move forward in the process. 

Have a plan: 

• When will you plan to provide feedback?

• When will you plan to have next interviews, if applicable?

• When will you plan to make a hiring decision?

How good is the interview feedback?

Regularly review interviewing scorecards to check if they are up to par! 

• Are they aligned with the job opening and job descriptions? 

• Is there a clear record of the questions asked and the answers are given? 

• Are all hiring parties on the same page? 

• Does the final conclusion match the overall feedback?

All of these will give an idea of where to course-correct interviewers who are not questioning candidates equally or providing a bad experience.

No process is perfect—but you do not want to be known as the company that never gets back to people, only prioritizes candidates who go through the process, and leaves the others ghosted.

Candidates will appreciate any type of communication; be it by text, email or a personal phone call. 

My job is to introduce candidates and clients to each other. Transparent communication is key to doing my job efficiently and effectively. 

Everyone is busy but we have to remember that we are working with the true asset to each business: PEOPLE! 

Please don’t leave them brooding for days or weeks after an interview. The worst is another weekend with absolutely no hope of hearing anything until at least Monday! 

Here is a short to-do list:

• Assure that everyone who took time out of their day to interview with you gets feedback!

• If the feedback is positive: Make a plan for next steps as soon as possible unless you are willing to lose a good candidate to someone who did.

• If the feedback is negative: Explain why, so a candidate knows what to work on and a recruiter can align the search to find the best fit. 

Feedback does not mean a hiring decision is made. 

It is ok to say that there are other candidates in the pipeline and it will take a another week before we hear again – but don’t go silent for days, please! (refer to “have a plan”)

No matter what the overall outcome, feedback is essential!

It is a clear sign that a company knows who they are looking for, that the candidates stay engaged or know they are not moving forward and assists recruiters in zooming in on the right person for the team!