Giving Feedback to Job Applicants

Feedback

This is a aspect that can be overlooked or delayed. For internal candidates giving feedback is an essential part of their growth and development and to not do so means a real development opportunity is missed.

• Who will give it?
• Will it be automatic?
• What about external candidates

Recommended Practice

• If the individual's Line Manager is giving the feedback (as opposed to the recruiting manager), make sure they have the information. Generally it is better if the line manager does this since they can then put the feedback in context and work with the individual to incorporate the learning into their development plans.
• Use this as a coaching opportunity.
• Plan the feedback when you are in the decision making/wrap up meeting. The selection team will all be there and the information fresh
• Do not start to ad lib when giving feedback - this can lead to serious problems
• Best practice is to give detailed constructive feedback to the successful candidate as well as the unsuccessful - this is a good time to point out the areas for development identified during the process and sets up the development plan for the first 12 months in the job
• Generally it is a lot easier with external candidates who have been unsuccessful to not give feedback. It is a shame but frequently the risk to you and the company mean that it is not a sensible strategy. If you use psychometric tests you should definitely offer feedback on these and this can often be a good compromise - but the feedback should focus on their test performance and be predicated by a clear explanation that the selection decision was not based on these results per se but the full range of information collected. If the candidate came through a recruitment agency and you trust them, they can be given the feedback so that they can use it to help the candidate.