Good Afternoon
So it was the Director Finance level interview round at this FMCG major, a dream job for this Chartered Accountant ; an event that he had waited for since years.
Apparently, though everything went off very well. But that was the last instance he heard from the company\’s HR
A lot of companies they avoid giving any feedback at all, simply hoping that their candidates will get the hint after weeks of silence or be placated by a simple, ‘thanks, but no thanks’ email.
When it comes to interviews, there’s nothing worse than not knowing what went “wrong”
I know it may seem like a pointless exercise if you have chosen the perfect candidate for your role but it is hugely beneficial to provide interview feedback to unsuccessful candidates after the interview process.
It helps them improve themselves for future interviews. Trust me, job searchers are often hungry for feedback. The longer they’ve been searching for a job, the more desperate they are to find out why they are not getting the job. An employer who is willing to take the time and can offer constructive, actionable feedback is a gift to a job searcher.
It portrays the company in a favourable light as showcases a fair and transparent interview process.
Also by giving a detailed review of the interview, candidates will appreciate the extra mile you have gone to and are more likely to talk about the positive experience they had while dealing with your company. Word of mouth is a very powerful thing, especially in the social media era
The feedback must be honest, not a standardized template based response.
But yes, its not that easy. People don’t understand feedback immediately after a failure. Feedback to rejected candidates may turn out to be difficult conversations for the HR
Candidates once given a feedback may turn defensive, allege that the reasons are discriminatory. Thats the way, we humans often react to negative things about ourselves. Maybe they will sue you and why should you take the risk
Maybe, the rejection was a complicated decision and you choose Mr X over Mr Y, simply because Mr. X was from your Alma Mater, SRCC and you cant say that. Maybe the smell of the candidate’s perfume flooded the chamber with an unwanted odour. Maybe there no clearly articulated reason.
So, all said and done, its an individual company\’s call on how they want to broach this subject and whats the consolidated view on the pros and cons
What have been the practices in this area in your company?
Shall love to hear