Having put in hours of preparation, taken a day off, maybe arranged childcare, how would you feel if you were given no feedback. If all the company could say was ‘you were pipped to the post’, how would you feel? I am sure we have all received or heard a friend have one of the following reasons to reject an application, and nothing more for all the preparation put in:
- The other person had more experience
- Another Candidate was a better culture fit
- We felt you are overqualified for the role
- We decided to appoint an internal Candidate
- We have offered a candidate who was just stronger on the day
Have you ever recruited for your business and not been able to give feedback because the line manager didn’t provide any? Or they told you they made a decision on ‘gut instinct’.
Does all this matter, is the above acceptable, after all we have busy roles and we know best, what does it matter the reason, you were still not right for the role?
Well yes, we believe it does matter.
The feedback you give is a direct reflection of whether your business has a fair, objective and inclusive recruitment practice and therefore, if you are capable of recruiting a diverse workforce or one that just mirrors what you already have and subject to the individual unconscious bias of the interviewer. Did you make a list of the key criteria, then assess candidates’ fit against this measure. Or did you just have a general chat, leave it to chance if they spoke about the key criteria and then decide who you ‘liked’ the best.
Conversely, if a business is clear on what they need for that role, the competencies required if you like, and then objectively test this in the interview process, the feedback naturally flows and the outcome fairer. Did you test for the actual ‘thing’ they will be doing in the job and if so, you have your feedback.
And maybe you did all the above, but did not have time to write it down or communicate it in full. Maybe you feared how they would react, but no matter how bad the news there is always a constructive way to feedback.
But if you don’t take the time what happens next? Will they recommend the business to others, will they apply again, even in years to come? They may have had a great experience but all they remember is that last disappointment and the business that lost its voice when they were at their most vulnerable.
You can have an amazingly sophisticated recruitment policy buried somewhere in your policies and procedures, talk of diversity of your workforce, how inclusive an employer you are and how you treat everyone fairly. But a very simple litmus test of if you truly are all of that is ‘do we have objective and constructive feedback for every candidate at the end of the process’.
Let’s hope moving forward the answer to that is ‘yes’ for your business.
You can hear our Director, Tim Betts, discuss this subject in much more detail on a recent podcast as part of his ‘Talking About Diversity’ series. Go to: https://soundcloud.com/user-175052662-515237455/talking-about-diversity-episode-3-the-one-about-feedback