The Gift Of Interview Feedback -Launching The 3+3 Initiative

As the LinkedIn Changemaker for Careers and Unemployment, I simply had to address the issues we face with candidates getting fair interview feedback.

For context the career coaching client who really brought home this problem for me was Doug.?Doug was highly experienced but had been out of work for 6 months during the pandemic and was starting to feel the pinch financially.?Full of optimism he went through 5 interview stages with an FTSE company including two long and expensive trips upcountry only to miss out to an internal candidate. Ouch – he was such a good fit too.

Next, despite all the emotional, financial, and time investment, Doug was given zero feedback. Zilch, Nada, nothing we could work on together at all. I was incandescent with rage at the treatment he received and couldn't fathom how companies thought this was okay.

For years I have consoled frustrated jobseekers up and down the country when they have missed out on their ideal job – it’s a tough blow to take particularly when you are out of work and need an income.

Of course, you can’t win them all but you know what makes it worse? Not really knowing why you were unsuccessful.

“Ghosting” used to be a practice confined to the dating world but in recent years it has permeated the hiring market too.?The idea that candidates can invest their time researching, preparing, and attending interviews (often at great expense) and never hear back from the interviewing company seems unthinkable – yet it is more common than you might realise and is very damaging. ?The uncertainty ghosting causes jobseekers can have them second-guessing themselves, hold on to false hope, or suffer a confidence crisis at a time when they can ill afford one.

What is perhaps, even more, common than ghosting is candidates getting feedback after an interview which they simply can’t do anything with.?Some of the classics include “You were pipped at the post” or “Other candidates were a better fit to the requirements”.?Whilst being one step better than ghosting, this doesn’t offer anything other than the confirmation of the outcome. Finally, it is also not unusual for interview feedback to come back which relates to something that the interviewer knew ahead of time such as “We wanted someone with Industry experience”. ?Again, this is a source of huge frustration as it feels like the interview was a waste of time for both parties.

So, in summary, a lack of interview feedback or poor interview feedback is a huge problem.

Back to our friend Doug – he booked some time to talk through interview techniques and within 10 minutes I could see the problem: Doug was a waffler.?Like many other intelligent people, Doug was airing his knowledge and trying to give as much detail as possible which was causing him to lose engagement and gravitas in his communications. ?

The issue was that in over 25 interviews nobody had ever told him! So, we did and he worked on it and he got hired and is thriving.?But so much heartache, cost, and stress could have been avoided if someone had just felt able to give Doug the gift of honest interview feedback. He actually didn’t need any coaching from us at all once he knew and understood what was wrong.?It was yet more proof that actually the best candidates for the role are not always the best interviewers.

So why is this happening?

Well, some line managers are probably scared of giving feedback to avoid a difficult candidate reaction, others are lazy and many probably don’t have the training or a reliable framework to lean on. As leaders, we need to get better at this.

I have always felt that great feedback is as simple as ABC, so the right type of interview feedback is Actionable, Balanced, and Compassionate. And so today to help you deliver this type of feedback to jobseekers who interview with you we are launching the 3+3 initiative.

What is The 3+3 Initiative?

It is a simple commitment that as a company you will revert back to every candidate who interviews with you and share 3 things they did well and 3 things they can work on for their next interview.

That's it! This mix of reinforcing strengths whilst also giving the gift of clear feedback the interviewee can reflect on will have a huge impact on the talent community and also positively reinforce your company values and employer brand.

It's a win/win so if you or your business are happy to partake then please get in contact and we will send you the below 3+3 banner and a logo to use on your career site and job adverts.

I have little doubt that in time the presence of this logo on your job adverts will only further increase both the quality and quantity of the applicants too!

Thanks for reading this and please help us spread the word as together I believe we can make a meaningful change.

Give the gift of interview feedback and help people in transition as when we do we are not so much feeding back as feeding forward.

Let's get to work!

This article was written as part of the LinkedIn #Changemakers campaign – a campaign shining a spotlight on individuals using LinkedIn to drive genuine change in the world of work. To find out more about the partnership, read more?here . And if you want to join the conversation, share the one thing you’d like to change about the world of work in a post on LinkedIn with the hashtag?#ConversationsForChange .