Feeding Back...

After my many years in this game, I am still surprised when I get limited or very conservative feedback on candidate performance following an interview.  Why are hiring managers so reluctant to give it to us, warts and all?  Surely that’s the beauty of using a recruitment agency, to take this pain away from you! 

It is our role as a recruiter to feed this back to the candidate – of course in a diplomatic and constructive manner, that will ultimately help that candidate in the future.

It is rare that an interview will go so disastrously wrong, especially if your recruiter has got a full handle on your business and requirements in the first place, but you know…shockers have been known to happen! 

By providing detailed feedback to your recruitment consultant, be it biting or brilliant, this can be used by the candidate to develop their interview technique going forward. If a candidate has taken the time to research your business, prepare for the interview and taken time out of work to attend an interview I think this is the least we can do for them!  Of course, there will be those that wing it on the day…and for those we must also give them the harsh reality of truth (you can also leave that to me)! 
One liners we receive include “team fit”, “stronger candidate just edged it”, “the role has changed”, “we had an internal candidate at the last minute…” While all are probably true, it’s really hard to leave a candidate feeling good about the experience if this is all we have to offer.

For candidates on the receiving end of this – please don’t take this personally, sometimes these can be difficult conversations to have. However, we as recruiters have honed our diplomacy skills and can tactfully advise you on how to adjust your approach. Nobody likes to hear criticism, but it is necessary if we are to grow and develop!  Hopefully, your future self will be thankful you were given the opportunity to make these changes…and what this has enabled you to achieve.