Interview Feedback Decoded

I was reading a post on LinkedIn sometime back by one of the HR Managers of some company about: 1. How HR should give feedback to the candidates on time. If a candidate is not meeting the criteria, they should be told about it so they can work and improve their skills. 2. How some HRs would not call back, although they mention during the call that they would.

Point one: the feedback from HR standpoint, I believe most organizations shares them during the same call. The candidate is either meeting the criteria or they don’t. But if the same is pending with the other decision-making parties and if they are taking time, then the feedback also would be delayed.

And I totally agree with the point that we need to share constructive feedback to the candidates, so they can work on their shortcomings. This is something that we do when a candidate particularly seeks specific feedback. Meaning, these candidates intend to improve themselves. It makes absolutely no sense in sharing feedback to the candidates who are overconfident with their skills, they take it in negative light. Their response will be like: “Oh, please! I know what I am worth and capable of. Please keep your feedback to yourself!”

And then we have candidates who are overconfident and also seek feedback. They would be sure of clearing all the interview levels but for whatever reason they don’t get shortlisted. When the reasons of rejection are shared with them, technical reasons, they get defensive and try to prove that they are technically sound. But the actual reasons of rejection could be due to their personal attributes. Which will not be shared to the candidates. If we do, they get back saying that those reasons are not appropriate to reject a candidate.

Personal attributes are not important during an interview? They absolutely are!

It is not just the skills you posses makes you eligible for a job. Your personal attributes like attitude, presentability, ethics and how well you work with others matters too. You might want to come across as confident to your interviewer, but on the way don’t make yourself look foolhardy.

Point two: Again, I agree with the point that a candidate should not be left hanging. However, they would know if they have cleared the interview or not, based on their performance. Those who are confident enough that they have cleared, calls back or writes back constantly. They also happen to be (most of the time) the person to get selected. And those who are confident that they will not clear the interview will also call, not because they expect the results to be positive. Just to get a closure. As much as the candidate’s anxiety is understandable, they deserve to know their feedback. In most cases it is given on time and in some cases delayed to the reasons I have mentioned earlier.

To the person who has written this post on LinkedIn, which has inspired me to write about this topic. I am sure she wants to help the job seekers. I want to help them too. We also need to ensure we are encouraging the people who needs it the most. Not everybody appreciates the efforts we put into shaping people’s future.

Since we are anyway on the topic of feedback, I would also like to mention about the candidates who call at odd time to check their interview status. Which is very annoying! I am sure many others in this profession too, will agree that it is not appropriate to do so. It is always good to follow right channels of communication and give them a couple of days to get back with an update.