Feedback culture after the recruitment process

11 October 2022

 

Why should we give the candidate detailed feedback after the end of the recruitment process?

 

Most people working in the IT sector will agree that feedback is very important, necessary, it is even a key part of professionalism in recruitment and creates good PR in the company. However, many candidates report a lack of constructive feedback or its absence after the end of the recruitment process. How is it possible?

Below, I will focus on 3 areas associated with feedback:

• Why is it important?
• What are the possible reasons for the lack of feedback?
• What does good feedback mean, i.e. what to remember when providing candidates with feedback?

Various skills are sought during the recruitment processes. Someone (usually HR) has to recognize them, assess them against specific needs, introduce the selected person to decision-makers, and finally inform the candidate about the decision. Certain procedures applied in the course of processing candidates make it easier for the organization to assess whether the applicant meets the expectations and whether the company has sufficient challenges and a satisfactory offer. Everyone who has had the opportunity to participate in the recruitment process will admit that the minimum information expected from the company is whether the candidate did well during the interview or was rejected. In the first case, usually, the candidate is invited to the next stage, so the positive feedback will be the invitation to the stage of submitting a cooperation offer. At this stage, it is up to the candidate to decide whether the company, role and terms of cooperation are attractive enough. In most cases, however, the recruitment process does not end with employment. When we engage in the process by devoting from a few to several hours, the lack of response from the company arouses unpleasant emotions in us: from the feeling of being ignored to being offended by the company for its lack of professionalism. So why shouldn’t the company skip this step?

Four reasons why feedback is important:

1. Good company PR – constructive feedback speaks well about the company. It means that the company treats both its employees as well as people potentially interested in working there seriously. The ability to provide specific and detailed feedback is rare, so if the organization can do it, it means that it employs and trains specialists who know their profession well.
2. Potential employees in 3-6-12-24 months – Many specialists declare that they will willingly take part in the recruitment process in a particular company or recommend this job to a friend, if the recruitment process is summed up with qualitative feedback (even if they don’t receive a cooperation offer).
3. Development opportunity for the candidate – One of the most motivating areas is the development opportunity. It is very valuable for the candidate to point out a few issues on which they can work in order to achieve better results both at work and in future recruitment processes. Especially for less experienced people, when the candidate is aware of the enormous amount of work ahead of him. Pointing out the steps to get started and advice from an experienced professional can greatly accelerate the professional or personal development of a rejected candidate.
4. Valuable information for recruitment agencies – if a company cooperates with a recruitment agency, feedback is a key element to find a tailor-made employee, especially when in the case of demanding positions. In many cases, the information why a candidate “does not fit” is much more valuable than the list of requirements in a job advertisement and significantly helps to calibrate the way of searching for new candidates, with a measurable benefit for the organization seeking employees in this way.

And yet… feedback is often missing or very general. Here are some reasons for this:

• Good feedback is time-consuming, especially if there is no procedure for it or there are no specialists experienced in this matter – the ability to provide difficult information is an extremely important asset in the work environment (and not only).
• Not all information can be provided to the candidate. Due to the company’s policy in some organizations, the amount of information that can be shared with the applicant is limited due to confidentiality and internal rules.
• The recruitment process for a given position takes several months and involves a very large number of candidates – the lack of time and focusing only on prospective candidates, often at the expense of the company’s PR, results in the lack of feedback culture.
• Lack of feedback from recruitment agencies is in most cases associated with the lack of detailed information from the customer, even though headhunters usually do everything possible to obtain it.
• Simple human mistake, forgetfulness, or technical problems.

What is worth remembering when providing feedback:

When informing the candidate about the end of the recruitment process at a given stage (for various reasons), it is worth starting by thanking them for the time devoted. If the role has been closed for internal reasons (the demand has changed, the budget has been withdrawn, etc. ), it is worth writing about it directly and offering contact in the future. When the situation changes, it will be a good starting point to continue recruiting if the candidate remains interested. If you employ another person for a given position, you can inform about it in the first part of the message. Then provide the candidate with constructive feedback on why they were not selected, providing specific information on the technical and soft skills shown during the recruitment process regarding the specific role for which the candidate was considered. Use examples to inform the candidate what went well, which tasks were not solved at the expected level, which soft skills were great for a specific role and which were worse, and summarize the decision made. Many managers rightly choose the so-called “sandwiches”: positive information -> negative information -> positive information -> summary. You can also refer to the preferences and expectations of the candidate presented during the recruitment process, because the rejection of an application does not always mean something wrong, on the contrary – if there is no scope for development in the direction that the future employee dreams about or the actual duties differ from the expectations and preferences of the candidate, even if the person fits the role, they will decline the offer or resign from the job in a short time. Well-presented feedback increases the chance that a person will perceive the company positively, and while talking to fellow industry specialists, they will share their opinion about it, which will encourage other specialists to recruit for a given role.