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If you are a Hiring Lead or a part of an internal Human Resources Department, you would be familiar with the difficult task of advising interview candidates that they were not successful with a role.

However, do you provide candidates feedback? And if so, why? In this blog we discuss the benefits of feedback for a client and how it can impact your business and future employee’s.

Candidate Development

Articulate feedback provides candidates with an opportunity to identify areas for develop and the ability for them to hone their craft. This makes them a better prospect for future opportunities, and despite a negative outcome, provides positive guidance for their future.

Corporate Brand

Companies spend millions developing corporate brands and HR strategies, because, let’s face it, all organisations want to be seen as a great company to work for. Not providing feedback to a candidate is likely to result in an unfavourable experience and reflect poorly on the brand.

Remember, contractors speak to other contractors. The potential consequences of this can be significant and could result in a reduction in applications, the top candidates may not want to work for you and an increase in cost to attract talent.

Respect and Professionalism

Put yourself in the candidate’s shoes. They have been through a process with your organisation with the hopes of working with you. It is likely that hours of preparation went in to their interview and application, so it is only fair to spend a couple of minutes explaining where they can improve next time.

Top hints and tips for feedback

Shortlisting

Provided there is a strong job description, an email advising a candidate that they do not match selection criteria, can be considered feedback. This will also stop the candidate from wondering if they were successful in the role. It is obviously better to provide personalised feedback, but candidate will appreciate that at this stage in the process with the volume of applications, this may not be possible.

Set Clear Expectations

At the start of each interview advise the candidate of the process you plan to follow and when and how feedback will be available if unsuccessful. If the plan is not to provide feedback for whatever reason, make this known.

Debrief

After each interview, spend 3-4 minutes discussing the profile with other interviewers, and note down your thoughts on the candidates, their strengths and weaknesses, potential development area and initial thoughts.

Follow Through

At the end of a successful recruitment it can be a relief to have filled the vacancy, however the unsuccessful candidates are not feeling the same relief. They are disappointed. It is equally important to let these people know, and provide them with a reason. These conversations are not easy to have but I can tell you from personal experience they are always appreciated.

How do you give feedback or, as a candidate, do you feel personalised feedback is helpful? Feel free to comment on our LinkedIn page.

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