Giving bad news or criticism to someone, even if it’s constructive feedback, isn’t something everyone finds easy. This doesn’t mean it should be avoided, however. Let’s look at how you can provide constructive feedback to unsuccessful candidates.
Why should you provide feedback to candidates?
When we hear from jobseekers, a common theme impacting their aspirations and resilience is a lack of communication from employers during the recruitment process. Whether they were unsuccessful after an application or an interview, a simple response lets them know that you’ve taken the time to review their application.
Feedback provides a starting point for improvement, but it needs to be constructive so that it can be turned into an action. Without knowing why they didn’t get the job, it’s hard to understand how they can improve their chances of success the next time around.
When should you give feedback to candidates?
While it’s important that unsuccessful candidates receive feedback, it’s also crucial to use your time and resources wisely. You’re potentially looking at a large number of applicants and providing feedback to every single one of them is not going to be the best use of your time.
Use your recruitment stages to determine how far you go with personalised feedback. If we look at a simple example, you’ll have an application stage and an interview stage.
At the application stage, any unsuccessful candidates you have will be based on their CVs. This means they’ve likely been rejected because they don’t have the right skills or experience. At this stage, it’s enough to send back a simple email thanking them for their application and informing them that they have been unsuccessful for this reason.
At the interview stage, you’ve learned more about these candidates and have both given more time and effort. Consider making a phone call to discuss your decision and provide justified and constructive feedback. This is not news to deliver in a voicemail – if they don’t answer the call, send an email.
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How do you give constructive feedback to candidates?
1. Thank them for their time
It’s important to remember that when you’re communicating with unsuccessful candidates, you’re speaking on behalf of your organisation. A “thank you” begins constructive feedback on a positive note.
2. State what went well
What strengths did they show you during their interview? What impressed you? This not only balances out the constructive criticism you’ll share but also maintains confidence in a candidate’s ability after a rejection.
3. State why you aren’t making a job offer
Make sure you focus on their skills and the things they can change or work on. Did they make a bad impression by being late? Did someone else have more experience that gave them an advantage? This gives candidates an idea of how they can improve for the next interview offer they receive.
4. Keep the conversation open
Do you think they could be a good fit with more experience, with more expertise, or in a different role? Add them to your talent pipeline and encourage them to look for future job alerts or to apply for a different position that they could be successful in. This is useful if you recruit consistently.
5. Be ready for pushback and stay professional
Not all candidates will be satisfied with your feedback. A few may feel they still fulfil your requirements and want to know why they weren’t accepted, even asking for a meeting to discuss it. While providing feedback is important, you’re not obligated to discuss your reasoning even further with someone you don’t intend to hire. As long as you’ve provided justified reasoning, that’s enough for a candidate to action.
6. Be timely
Your entire recruitment process could take weeks or months to complete. Don’t leave candidates for long periods of time without an answer. If you know you aren’t going to take someone forward for an interview, notify them sooner so that they can move forward with their job search.
7. Focus on the priorities and be specific
Nobody wants to receive feedback about everything that made them unsuccessful. Use the one or two top reasons to shape your feedback so that the candidate has some clear actions to move forward with and provide examples. Did they not have the right skills? State what skills you were looking for. Did someone else have more experience? State what work experience could have changed your decision e.g. you would have liked more experience of managing a team.
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Providing feedback to unsuccessful candidates is useful for everyone, but even more so for young people who have less experience of work and discussing their strengths during the different recruitment stages.
