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The Benefits of Feedback
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Posted in Candidates, Employers on Nov 23, 2011 by Richard Hayden
Guest Blogger Christine Tautari of The Needle Online explains why feedback is vital in the recruitment process and how it can benefit your company.
We at Key Appointments believe in providing a quality service to our clients and candidates. Based on our many years of experience within recruitment we concur with Christine and feel that the information provided in this article is invaluable as part of a long term recruitment strategy.
Feedback is a topic close to my heart and for good reason. It’s the part of the recruitment process that so many hiring managers and recruitment consultants find difficult to do consistently. All the emphasis is put on the winner, and the rest are left wallowing in their wake.
The reasons are not entirely clear to me as to what stops people from letting candidates know why they didn’t make the cut? Could it be that they are afraid that the candidate might ask why, and then have to spend even more time justifying their reasons? Yes, this is highly likely. Are they afraid to tell the truth? In some cases, dishing out bad news doesn’t come easy for some people and they shy away from it. Could it be that it’s easier to get rid of the candidate with some lame, broad sweeping statement such as, “you came across well in the interview, but there was a candidate with a stronger skill set”. Of course there was a stronger candidate – chances are they got the job because the candidate you are feeding back to, didn’t. Whatever the reason, standards are generally low.
As a recruiting manager or agent, it is your job to give real and qualified feedback. If a candidate has spent time preparing for the meeting, turned up on time, suited and booted, and they don’t succeed, your part of the deal is to tell them why. And just because you are telling them ‘no’, it doesn’t mean it has to be a negative experience for either of you.
I want to share three very good reasons why every company and recruitment agency should have strong feedback processes in place.
Reputation
Most companies spend considerable time and energy talking about, and protecting their reputation. They want to plant a perception in their respective markets, that they are a great place to work and that they value their staff and their customers. You will often hear them chanting such things in mission statements and corporate responsibility policies. Of course all this is in aid of making themselves attractive to their prospective investors, their customers and their future talent pool. Having a strong feedback process means those unsuccessful candidates will go away with the full picture. You are less likely to then have a disgruntled candidate spreading unsubstantiated rumours about your company and tarnishing your reputation. I’ve seen this happen and it is so easy to stop. With social media offering easy access to a large audience, ‘word of mouth’ brings a whole new perspective to the floor. Have a think about it. It’s a big price to pay for a small piece of your time. And if your future talent pool hears bad things about you, they are less likely to want to come and work for you, let alone apply for your jobs.
Protecting your candidate pool
Sometimes it is a close contest and you may have to choose between two very talented candidates. Feedback has a massive part to play here. Imagine if the one you offered the job to, had another offer somewhere else and didn’t tell you, but ended up taking that job over yours. Or, they were counter-offered, and stayed where they were for an offer they just ‘couldn’t refuse’. Had that happen before? I know I have, many times. You need to protect the interview short-list for future reference. So providing strong feedback for all parties involved does this nicely. Anyway, in a lot of cases, I found my number two worked out better in the long run. Such is life.
Candidate growth
This is the one big favour you can do all candidates that interview with you. Feedback helps a candidate to grow in their job hunting experience. Some may have been to dozens of interviews and been pipped at the post and received various hollow forms of feedback with no real substance, generally having no idea as to why they failed. You are helping the candidate when you give them honest feedback. They need to know why they were not successful, so they can correct their style and techniques for future interviews. This will indirectly help these people to get a job in the future.
In summary, if you have strong feedback processes in place, you can feel like you have done a complete job in a commercial and professional manner, safeguarding your business and protecting your future talent pool.
comment on this article on The Needle Online
Christine is a Recruitment Expert and business associate of Key Appointments and we are pleased to say that she will be launching her New and unique Career Management site in January 2012. For further information about The Needle Online please contact Christine via email, LinkedIn or by visiting her website.
<< Key Appointments blog listing
We at Key Appointments believe in providing a quality service to our clients and candidates. Based on our many years of experience within recruitment we concur with Christine and feel that the information provided in this article is invaluable as part of a long term recruitment strategy.Feedback is a topic close to my heart and for good reason. It’s the part of the recruitment process that so many hiring managers and recruitment consultants find difficult to do consistently. All the emphasis is put on the winner, and the rest are left wallowing in their wake.
The reasons are not entirely clear to me as to what stops people from letting candidates know why they didn’t make the cut? Could it be that they are afraid that the candidate might ask why, and then have to spend even more time justifying their reasons? Yes, this is highly likely. Are they afraid to tell the truth? In some cases, dishing out bad news doesn’t come easy for some people and they shy away from it. Could it be that it’s easier to get rid of the candidate with some lame, broad sweeping statement such as, “you came across well in the interview, but there was a candidate with a stronger skill set”. Of course there was a stronger candidate – chances are they got the job because the candidate you are feeding back to, didn’t. Whatever the reason, standards are generally low.
As a recruiting manager or agent, it is your job to give real and qualified feedback. If a candidate has spent time preparing for the meeting, turned up on time, suited and booted, and they don’t succeed, your part of the deal is to tell them why. And just because you are telling them ‘no’, it doesn’t mean it has to be a negative experience for either of you.
I want to share three very good reasons why every company and recruitment agency should have strong feedback processes in place.
Reputation
Most companies spend considerable time and energy talking about, and protecting their reputation. They want to plant a perception in their respective markets, that they are a great place to work and that they value their staff and their customers. You will often hear them chanting such things in mission statements and corporate responsibility policies. Of course all this is in aid of making themselves attractive to their prospective investors, their customers and their future talent pool. Having a strong feedback process means those unsuccessful candidates will go away with the full picture. You are less likely to then have a disgruntled candidate spreading unsubstantiated rumours about your company and tarnishing your reputation. I’ve seen this happen and it is so easy to stop. With social media offering easy access to a large audience, ‘word of mouth’ brings a whole new perspective to the floor. Have a think about it. It’s a big price to pay for a small piece of your time. And if your future talent pool hears bad things about you, they are less likely to want to come and work for you, let alone apply for your jobs.
Protecting your candidate pool
Sometimes it is a close contest and you may have to choose between two very talented candidates. Feedback has a massive part to play here. Imagine if the one you offered the job to, had another offer somewhere else and didn’t tell you, but ended up taking that job over yours. Or, they were counter-offered, and stayed where they were for an offer they just ‘couldn’t refuse’. Had that happen before? I know I have, many times. You need to protect the interview short-list for future reference. So providing strong feedback for all parties involved does this nicely. Anyway, in a lot of cases, I found my number two worked out better in the long run. Such is life.
Candidate growth
This is the one big favour you can do all candidates that interview with you. Feedback helps a candidate to grow in their job hunting experience. Some may have been to dozens of interviews and been pipped at the post and received various hollow forms of feedback with no real substance, generally having no idea as to why they failed. You are helping the candidate when you give them honest feedback. They need to know why they were not successful, so they can correct their style and techniques for future interviews. This will indirectly help these people to get a job in the future.
In summary, if you have strong feedback processes in place, you can feel like you have done a complete job in a commercial and professional manner, safeguarding your business and protecting your future talent pool.
comment on this article on The Needle Online
Christine is a Recruitment Expert and business associate of Key Appointments and we are pleased to say that she will be launching her New and unique Career Management site in January 2012. For further information about The Needle Online please contact Christine via email, LinkedIn or by visiting her website.
<< Key Appointments blog listing
