I often see people here wondering why they rarely receive usable feedback after a rejection. Some people take it personally, especially if they put hours of prep work into a resume or interview. Maybe I’ll get blasted for this, but I wanted to share the interviewer’s perspective because so many here are hurt by it.
The main reason is for protection against discrimination lawsuits. Our employment lawyer has advised us to say ‘another candidate has more experience in the area we need’ regardless of reason. We can’t know who is litigious or how additional details will be interpreted. For example, if we say ‘you’d have been selected if you had more experience in X’, and you see the new hire has only 2 years on LinkedIn when you have 5, conclusions are jumped to and we’re in hot water. In truth, that person was a better overall fit, and 5 years’ of X experience was the point at which we would have hired you in spite of that.
Second to lawsuits is a bad review on Glassdoor or Indeed. People can be incredibly protective of their accomplishments and not open to receive feedback in some areas. Even if 1% of candidates lash out, it can be damaging to have a bad review on one of these websites. This is especially true for small companies with few employees, where a candidate’s phone screen is weighted the same as a longtime employee’s review.
It would be impossible to give resume feedback – dozens of people apply to each job who have zero relevant qualifications. A dozen more may be in the field but don’t meet the minimum qualifications on the job post. No employer will use a platform that forces us to provide free resume review services for 100 people every time we post a job. However, I’d love to see hiring websites include optional multiple choice feedback for both candidates and employers.
How to get useful feedback:
I will always give feedback when a candidate asks specifically whether a skill or certification held them back. These should be goals that you can work towards actively, not just more years of general experience in your field. To figure out what to ask, go back to the job post and see if you fell short on qualifications. You can also check out LinkedIn to see if others with your title have something you don’t. When you respond to the rejection, first thank the interviewer for their consideration. Then say, ‘I noticed that a Z Certification was one of the preferred qualifications. In your experience, would having that certification make a difference in my job search?’ Hopefully this approach will make the interviewer feel more comfortable pointing out what you can work on, whether or not it’s what you asked about, because they know you’re not sensitive to feedback on skills. If you firmly met all required and preferred qualifications (no need to mention this), try asking for feedback on your interview skills, salary expectations, resume, or whatever else you have a haunch about. Choose one thing.
I sincerely wish I could be more helpful to people who ask. It’s one of those situations where a few bad actors spoil it for everyone. Please don’t take it personally because chances are, there were many factors weighing in the balance that are specific to that one job at that exact time.