Improving The Interview Experience: The Value Of Actionable Feedback
Introduction
I’ve been recruiting for fast-growing technology companies most of my professional career. Too often, it’s felt like a rat race — let’s hire the best talent we can afford as quickly as possible — which can lead to treating candidates with indifference rather than respect.
I know I’ve been there: taking the time to update a resume, perfect a cover letter, and sustain multiple rounds of interviews… only to never hear back from the person I was supposed to follow up with. And sometimes when I did hear back, it was only to confirm I did not get the position, but with no insight as to why.
And I was applying for a technical recruiting position! I couldn’t help but think: if this is how they treat someone applying for their own team, how do much worse could it feel when they’re recruiting engineers? marketers? Operations folks?
I hated the feeling of having lingering questions; of not knowing what went wrong and how I could improve for my next interview.
This needs to change. We know that top talent wants to work for companies that have great culture, and that a candidate’s interview experience is their first (and often most lasting) impression. That’s why at DigitalOcean our team is striving to improve every day, in terms of the experience we’re providing to everyone that comes in to interview. That means valuing their time, being responsive, and making sure they take away something valuable from the process. Even if at the end of the day we can’t offer them a position.
If a candidate takes the time to apply to your company, sit down for interviews, and perhaps even do homework on their own time — the least that you can do is provide them with actionable feedback.
Building a Culture of Feedback
If I’m being honest, I haven’t always been great at this; it took my team coming together and re-evaluating our priorities. Internally, there’s always been a culture of feedback and growth — so why not offer this same experience to candidates?
While this certainly requires more time and effort, it‘s overwhelmingly a rewarding practice. Today, candidates often thank us for giving them something valuable to take away from the process, even if they didn’t end up with the gig. [This goes both ways: there are just as many times a candidate accepts an offer at a different company].
By prioritizing a positive interview experience, candidates are much more likely to refer their friends or re-engage in the future. I want other companies to learn from my mistakes, and join me in setting a new standard for how we treat everyone that comes in to interview.
You’d be surprised how many times a candidate that doesn’t work out for one position, ends up being the perfect fit for another opening later on.
9 Tips For Providing Feedback To Candidates
1) Don’t hesitate to compliment. Most of the time candidates are super qualified, ultra smart, and very passionate. Just because it didn’t 100% work out doesn’t mean there wasn’t 90% that clicked. Don’t hesitate to let a rejected candidate know all of the things they did right!
2) Be kind in your constructive feedback. If you’re coming from a good place and taking the time to leave genuine feedback, the candidate is much more likely to take away something valuable from the process. Sure, they may still be a little upset about not getting the job — we’ve all been there! But instead of feeling like they wasted their time, a great recruiting team makes the process worthwhile regardless.
3) Enter every interaction with positive intent. This seems like an obvious one. But how many stories have you heard of friends who had a miserable interview experience? Who felt like their time wasn’t being valued? Companies that aren’t making the effort to have positive interactions are burning bridges with people who feel strongly enough to apply in the first place! That just doesn’t make sense.
4) Be objective; don’t make it personal. Telling a candidate they “aren’t a good culture fit” isn’t valuable feedback. To most effectively help your candidate, correlate your feedback with the job description posted on your website. That gives what you’re saying way more credit.
5) Be Specific. If a candidate is lacking certain technical skills, then let them know which ones specifically you feel they need to brush up on for the job. Or if the person had a difficult time expressing how they’d deal with ambiguity, provide that feedback so they can practice responses for their next interview. While a lot of “interview advice” is available on the internet, your feedback is especially insightful because you’ve actually sat down and talked with the person. Anything that’s actionable is typically valuable.
6) Involve Team Managers. Managers in every department should be required to take time to interview candidates. At the end of the day, these candidates are applying to specific teams, and the heads of these teams should care about who may potentially be joining them! Often, this is where the most valuable and practical feedback comes from
7) Use The Phone (sometimes). This isn’t always the best option, but it should definitely be on the table. For one, it shows an extra level of effort, care, and personability. Also, you can avoid days of going back and forth with a candidate by answering all of their questions in one phone call, then offer to answer any potential follow-up questions via email.
8) Avoid Arguments. If you’ve handled the process in a transparent, responsive, and respectful way from the beginning — then this rarely happens. That said, because you are choosing to engage with candidates rather than ignore them, then there is the possibility. (Hey,there can be bad apples in the interviewing pool, too!). Stay cool and realize they were passionate about joining your company. Empathy goes a long way.
9) Leave the door open. If you give specific feedback, the candidate may just take you up on it! I’ve sat in on MANY debriefs, and more often than not I hear this statement: “they’re not a fit right now, but maybe we could hire them in 6 months if they got up to speed on XYZ.” Well, let the candidate know! Keeping open communication allows potential hires to feel confident enough to revisit opportunities at your company in the future.
How do you think companies can improve the interview process? I’d love to hear about your past experiences (good or bad) — let’s start a conversation! Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter.
