If you speak to job seekers in today’s market, one of the biggest complaints about companies is a lack of feedback, or even closure, when they’ve been unsuccessful in competing for a role. Understandably, much of this frustration stems from the feelings of rejection people feel when they’ve been passed over for an opportunity. But it’s not just emotional frustration; it’s very legitimate, to an extent. Receiving feedback allows a job seeker to understand what they might do better next time in interviews – articulating skills and strengths that didn’t come across well, for example – and can be helpful to them in targeting more appropriate roles in the future. Even if detailed feedback isn’t available, knowing that they’re not moving forward in a hiring process gives the candidate closure, allowing them to fully move on to the next opportunity. In addition to the candidate’s reasons, however, there are several reasons why paying attention to this step in the hiring process is important to the employer, too.
Why to Give Feedback
Let’s start with a reason that’s mostly altruistic. The interview process is a significant commitment of time. And yes, both employer and job seeker.make that commitment, but one could argue that it’s more significant for the candidate. Good candidates invest time and effort in researching prospective employers, and preparing for their interview. Employed candidates face the additional logistical complications of managing time away from their current job. That investment is incurred each time an interview takes place. All this considered, giving a bit of feedback – or at least closure – is simply the right thing to do. It’s a professional courtesy.
If that reason isn’t enough, though, there are more.
For companies who don’t ‘close the loop’ with candidates, there are potential considerations for their employer brand. There are a plethora of places online for employees and job seekers to share their opinions about employers. There are rating and review sites, of course, but social media generally can be a place to vent about negative experiences (or experiences that are only perceived as negative). If comments gather, the reputation of a company can suffer, which can affect that company’s ability to attract talent. The most reviled companies, in this case, are companies who simply ‘ghost’ a candidate – ceasing communication entirely after one or more interviews, never actually letting the candidate know they’re no longer under consideration.
There’s a more positive opportunity on the flip side of that coin, however. When they’re handled well, the rejection of a candidate can often lead to different outcomes in the future. Sometimes, a candidate isn’t the right fit at a certain time, but becomes the right fit at a different time, or for a different position. Even if that’s not the case, rejected candidates can be a surprisingly good source of referrals and recommendations to other candidates they know. All of this, however, depends on a rejection being handled well by the company. Letting them down gently, in other words, and in doing so leaving a good impression.
There’s another surprising benefit that clear communication with rejected candidates can produce. The reasons for passing on a candidate are (almost) always valid, but we don’t always think them through deeply. If we know that we’ll be letting a candidate know that they’re no longer under consideration, it becomes important to think critically about the decision to close the door on them as a potential hire. If we prepare to give at least some feedback to that candidate, it can be a prompt to think critically about the reasons for the decision to reject that candidate. While this may sound obvious, this clarity of thinking isn’t always present when it comes to these decisions, and that clarity can help refine what you’re looking for in successful candidates.
Hopefully, you’re convinced that putting some attention into this stage in the hiring process is a good idea for your organisation. If so, let’s turn our attention to how to do that properly.
How to Give Feedback
At the risk of being repetitive, close the loop. Do not ‘ghost’ a candidate. If someone is truly out of the running, say so. If you want to leave a great impression, do this in a personalised way, with a phone call or an email. If you use an ATS, there’s almost certainly a way to automate this. This one small step can help protect your employer brand, and create goodwill even among candidates who weren’t successful with your company. Give those candidates closure to move on.
You don’t always need to provide specific feedback to rejected candidates. In fact, the vast majority of companies don’t. According to a 2018 Talent Board survey of North American companies, almost 70% of respondents reported receiving no feedback at all, after being rejected during the screening and interviewing stages of their candidacy. While supply is evidently limited, the demand is strong. According to a LinkedIn study, 94% of candidates want feedback after interviews.
If you choose to offer feedback to rejected candidates, there are some considerations to help protect the company – both reputationally as well as legally.
● Make It Specific and Actionable
This is where the clarity of thought is helpful. Feedback that a candidate ‘wasn’t a good fit’ is neither specific nor actionable. More importantly, non-specific feedback like this can raise the risk of legal liability from the perception – deserved or not – of discriminatory hiring practices.
When preparing to give feedback, stick as closely to the original job description as possible, looking for the specific ways in which a candidates’ experience didn’t align. Then, in each case, suggest a possible path for improvement. If there was a technical skill in which the candidate fell short, for example, you would name that as the concern, and suggest that they look for ways to exercise that skill in a more advanced capacity in their current job. If the candidate’s management skills were the question, you might suggest that a year or two managing a larger cross functional team would help round out their skills.
Finally, don’t compare. If you’re moving ahead with other candidates, the people being rejected understand that you preferred other candidates over them. Hearing that the others were stronger in this skill or that experience is neither specific nor actionable.
● Make It Kind
When you’re giving someone more information about why they weren’t successful or chosen, be aware that they’re experiencing feelings of rejection and disappointment. While feedback should be factual (and specific and actionable), it can also be compassionate. Where it’s possible, consider a ‘feedback sandwich’, sharing a few things that made them a strong candidate on either side of the thing where they fell short. This isn’t ‘coddling’; it’s just as helpful for candidates to know the strengths and positive attributes a potential employer saw in them, as it is to know where they can improve.
● Make It Personal
Nobody (well, almost nobody) enjoys being the bearer of bad news. It’s difficult to have a conversation in which you know the other person may feel hurt or disappointed by what they hear. That’s why email is often the most appealing way to deliver this kind of feedback. Appealing as it may be, it’s not the best method.
A phone call is best, for several reasons. A voice conversation, person to person, is simply more human. Text in an email can’t convey compassion and encouragement in the same way your voice can. Pragmatically speaking, a phone call also leaves less chance that something in writing could be used against you, if the rejected candidate feels they’ve been discriminated against.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t point out: this is one of the ways in which a recruiter can really help support your employer brand. For better or worse, we have a lot of experience communicating this kind of feedback to candidates. We can help craft the message in such a way as to help the candidate see that the fit wasn’t a good one, protecting the positive impression you want to leave behind. (Naturally, it’s also important to get feedback about candidates to us in a timely manner, so we can support you in this way.)
In Closing …
It’s possible to deliver feedback to candidates in a way that is helpful to them, and protects your reputation and brand as an employer of choice. Whether through a recruiter or directly, though, always close the loop with candidates who have taken the time to interview with you. Offer feedback when you can. Just don’t be a ghost.