Should you be asking for interview feedback when declined for a job?

Did you hear the interview feedback HR is providing

Secrets about interview feedback

After I deliver the “We are going with another candidate message, I often receive a request for interview feedback. My boyish good looks may lead candidates to think I am a softy and will help them. Not so much. I thought it was only fair to blow the whistle on the myth that HR professionals provide honest interview feedback.  The request for interview feedback consistently comes up in two situations.

1. The candidate has NOT accepted that they were declined for the position and are trying to re-engage with the recruiter or hiring manager.
2. The candidate has accepted that they were declined for the position and is simply and sincerely looking for feedback to improve their performance in future interviews.

Not often scenario number 2

Hint: In the case of scenario number 1, the request doesn’t appear sincere when a candidate asks for an additional in-person meeting with the hiring manager.   For the record, I understand both mentalities entirely. In scenario number two, I wish I could help out.  I have said it before: schools are not teaching interviewing skills.  Without instruction, how can we get better at something if we were never taught the skill?  How do we improve if we don’t know what to do or if we don’t know what we did wrong?

After multiple interviews for the same position, candidates acquire a sense of accomplishment and confidence.  Although there was little to no interest in the position when the resume and cover letter were submitted, feelings changed. It is easy to become emotionally invested and excited about a new opportunity. After meeting with the recruiter and the hiring manager, researching the company and the position, and then determining what to wear for multiple interviews, I understand. We may have even spent money on new clothes or resume services.

HR isn’t providing productive feedback

I thought I would take a moment to shatter the myth that HR provides feedback. The goal is to explain WHY interview feedback from the hiring manager or HR is of little or no value. I recommend that if we are declined for a position, we move on. Simply put, the ship has sailed. The hiring manager has moved on, and as much as the recruiter may be rooting for you, they know it will be difficult to change the hiring manager’s mind. Even if the recruiter feels you are right for the job, they have too much at stake to convince the hiring manager to go against their better judgment. 

The hiring manager is my customer, and they ultimately make the decisions. The hiring manager is the feedback loop to my boss.

The best thing we can do for interview feedback is a self-review of the interview. Most of us have a pretty good idea of where interviews went badly. Sometimes, we don’t click with the interviewers, and other times, we don’t have the best answer to an interview question. Sometimes, we feel like we nailed the interview and were expecting an offer.

Interview feedback checklist

• If we submit our resumes but don’t receive interviews, the resume probably needs a review.
• If we conduct a single interview but do not proceed, it is likely due to your interview answers and presentation style.
• If we land multiple interviews for the same position but do not receive an offer, it may be because our interview skills were not strong enough late in the interview process. I have blog posts that address all of these, and hopefully, they can help us self-analyze our performance. There is an index of posts on interviewing here. 

Interview feedback from the company perspective

If you receive feedback from a recruiter on why you were declined, don’t put too much stock into what you are told.  The input will likely be sugar-coated, Pollyanna-esque, and overly general. Providing a candidate with a specific reason for not being hired can expose the company to a potential lawsuit.  “But I would never sue the company,” you say? You wouldn’t sue the company now, but if you hear something unreasonable or misinterpreted, you would be surprised how often attitudes change. The feedback you receive will most likely be white lies. Yes, there, I said it.

Just enough to get me out

I even have sugar-coated feedback that is politically correct and diplomatic. Generally speaking, I give enough feedback to get me out of the conversation, but not enough to be helpful. Shitty, I know, but I have my reasons for providing vague interview feedback:

• I may not have the balls to tell a candidate they have bad breath.
• I don’t want to have to explain to a candidate that they came across as aggressive or defensive during the interview with the hiring manager. (I wasn’t in the interview room, so I don’t know how the questions were asked)
• If a candidate is even a few minutes late, I don’t want to get into that discussion.
• What is the point of explaining that you were not articulate enough or that your handwriting was sloppy on the whiteboard (even if you aced the problem you were trying to solve)?

Think about what is in it for the recruiter

Feedback addressing the above topics would help you when interviewing with the next company. All of these issues are “fixable” and “coachable,” but that isn’t something most recruiters want to get into for someone who isn’t being hired. A few personal reasons (which are true) are provided below:

• I don’t want to train you up after the hiring manager said “No.”  You will most likely interview with the competition and enter their lobby full of confidence and with all the answers.
• I don’t want to sound like I reprimanded a child because you were 3 minutes late or forgot to turn off your cell phone.
• Trust me, you don’t want to be hired by a manager who isn’t 110% excited about you and willing to give you a shot.  Anything less is career suicide.  If they say, “I will give you a shot,” they will be eyeballin’ you and waiting for you to mess up like a military drill sergeant.  (We want to be hired by the manager who says, “I believe in you.”)

Lawsuits are bad HR JuJu

The business reasons why any competent HR person would not provide helpful interview feedback to a candidate are business-related.

• HR’s job is to protect the business and avoid being sued for discrimination or unfair hiring practices.
• A company can decline a candidate for the most honorable and legal business reasons. Still, a candidate can threaten to bring legal action for any hint of misinterpretation, which will be interpreted as discrimination. Companies are not worried about losing a lawsuit; they are concerned about being involved in a lawsuit. Even if we win, we lose.

When you go on a first and last date, do you tell your Craigslist stalker they had bad breath? Did you say anything when they were late because their 1980 vintage hoopty was a piece of crap and wouldn’t start?  Do you tell Mr. Wrong that his hairstyle is 20 years old and he listens to the wrong music?   No, we say to Johnny Reject, “It’s not you, it’s me,” or we go into ghost mode.  Sound familiar?

Next time you seek interview feedback, a little self-introspection goes a long way. I don’t think you will get any meaningful feedback from a company whose goals are not aligned with the candidates.  The company aims to find a candidate who won’t cause trouble and avoid potential lawsuits.

See you at the after party,
HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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