Why You Need to Give Candidate Interview Feedback

At some point, every employee goes through the hiring process. From entry-level workers to executives, most candidates submit applications and, if they make it to this step, should receive candidate interview feedback.

Providing candidate interview feedback can seem painful, regardless of whether or not you are hiring the person. As the interviewer, you’re criticizing someone’s performance. What if the candidate becomes defensive? It’s tempting to only offer candidate interview feedback if you’re asked for it. Don’t take the easy route here. Candidate interview feedback can benefit you as well as the prospective new hire.

How Candidate Interview Feedback Helps You

Practice Makes Perfect

The ability to deliver constructive criticism is an essential leadership skill. Even if you’ve read the best HR books out there, there’s no substitute for practice. Delivering feedback to an interview candidate is the perfect way to hone your technique, particularly if you aren’t going to hire the person anyway.

Determine What You Want

Giving feedback to your interview candidates allows you to critically analyze exactly what you’re looking for in this new hire. This is especially important for higher-level candidates, who will have a significant impact on your company. As you assess what you did or did not like about a candidate, you can change your hiring strategy accordingly. Learn more about what you don’t want, and you’ll be better able to articulate what you are looking for.

Establish a Relationship

Offering candidate interview feedback sets the stage for a future relationship with an applicant. You want this person to feel eager to re-apply in the future, or for a different position. Maybe this person has someone in his or her network who is thinking about applying. Candidates should leave feeling good about your company – even if they aren’t offered a job. The best way to do that is by taking a vested interest in their careers.

When 51% of job applicants share their interview experiences on social media, you want to make sure that experience is a positive one. More than half (61%) of applicants search for company reviews, and what they see affects whether or not they apply.

How can you make sure you’re providing a good experience as fodder for those positive reviews? Offer candidate interview feedback. One study found that 66% of applicants who didn’t hear back from a company felt negatively towards that company. Over half were unlikely to apply for another job there as a result. Giving candidate interview feedback can seriously impact your company brand – and the people who choose to apply to future job listings.

It’s never easy to tell candidates that they didn’t get the job. But offering candidate interview feedback makes it less painful, since they aren’t left wondering what they did wrong. It’s a win-win for you and your applicants.