by Clare Reynolds, Marketing Executive, Sigmar Recruitment
We understand that your working week is busy and you can be overrun with many different tasks, but when it comes to hiring we cannot stress enough the value of adding extra time to your hiring process to give feedback to candidates and here is why…
Positive Impact on Employer Brand
No matter what the feedback, good or bad just giving feedback will most likely hold you in high regard to that candidate. Giving a direct response and/or constructive criticism will show the candidate that their time and interest in applying for the role was valued and that you, as an employer, appreciate that effort and would like to return the courtesy. This will reflect very positive on your company as a whole. The last thing you want is a disillusioned candidate who when asked about how the interview went they say, ‘I’ve no idea, I haven’t heard from them’.
Recommendations
The positive experience the candidate had with you even after being rejected will give them the option to recommend you to their friends/peers. Maybe they weren’t right for the position, but they felt they got on well with you and your feedback has helped them to realise why they are not suitable for the job, but they know someone who is. Giving someone feedback will increase your company’s advocates which can lead to invaluable word of mouth recommendations and potentially new customers and/or relationships.
Future Employee
A lot of the time when candidates are rejected after interviewing it is because they are lacking a certain skill or qualification. They normally tick most of the employer’s boxes which is why they were invited to interview in the first place. You may have really liked this person, but they weren’t right for the available position, so you chose to hire someone else. Giving them that feedback will leave the door open for them to come back in the future. They may not have what you’re looking for now, but down the line they could be perfect and it will eliminate a lot of the stress of hiring in the future.
Helping a Job Seeker
In this case the candidate wasn’t up to scratch. The CV and cover letter were excellent, but after meeting face to face you realised a number of things that could be improved i.e. they were very shy and couldn’t articulate confidently or couldn’t recall information due to nerves. All of these things are understandable reasons not to hire someone, but without that feedback, how will the candidate know what they are doing wrong for their next interview? Your feedback could be the ticket to them landing the job after their next interview.
When you consider the added value candidate feedback gives, over the amount of time it takes (usually less than 5 minutes) it really is a no brainer that you should be doing it after every interview.
