Negative Feedback -The anxiety inducing ego-shattering emotion

We've all received feedback that has stung or embarrassed us, making us feel defensive. And it's normal to feel defensive. Essentially, we get defensive because we feel self-conscious, angry and threatened. Yet, the last thing we want to do is to respond defensively when we're receiving negative feedback, either at work or after job interviews.

Understand this-You’re not perfect. No one is. And even if you were perfect, not everyone is going to see you that way. You’re going to get negative feedback from co-workers, bosses, clients, interviewers, etc.

For most people, that negative feedback can create a lot of stress, and many employers have had difficult experience with employees and Vice versa, that simply did not want to ever hear anything negative about their productivity or work ethic. That’s why it’s not uncommon to hear a question about how you go about managing stress when you receive any type of negative feedback.

Honesty is the best policy. There's no point giving interview feedback to unsuccessful candidates if you aren't going to be honest with the reasons.

HR interview feedback mostly are in 2 ways-Evaluation and Coaching.

Evaluation-

This option entails a standard response such as “Thank you for applying, but we have decided to pursue other applicants,” or some variation thereof. This is a popular option for several reasons: It is easy to be consistent, it can be automated , does not open itself up to arguments from the applicant, and it stops HR from being a career counsellor to a host of applicants.

Coaching-

This response could entail feedback like “Your responses to several interview questions did not showcase the leadership capabilities we are looking for or you did not fulfil all the criteria that we were looking for in this role or something similar to it” Although this approach can be helpful, it can also backfire on the Recruiter when the applicant chooses to debate your reasoning and tries to get you to change your mind.

Real life case- this conversation between the Recruiter and the Candidate after sharing feedback. Note: The candidate was not shortlisted based on his CV.

Recruiter- Your CV has not been shortlisted. We won’t be able to take your candidature further.

Candidate- I know everything that is mentioned in the Job description How can you not shortlist my CV? Send it to some technical person. They would understand.

Recruiter- We are looking for an Auditor who is currently playing a Lead role in a similar set up and with an ISO 22301 certification. You are not ISO22301 certified.

Candidate- So, what? I am ISO 27001 certified. If I can do that, I can do this as well.

Recruiter- Of course, You can do…But you see, the ISO 22301 is a pre-requisite for this role.

Candidate-(continuing with his argument) Not much difference in The ISO’s.

Recruiter- There is a huge difference.

ISO27001 is all about information security management. Using this family of standards will help your organization manage the security of assets such as financial information, intellectual property, employee details or information entrusted to you by third parties.

AND,

ISO22301 covers business continuity. It is a management system standard for BCM. This technical committee develops standards for the protection of society from, and in response to, incidents, emergencies and disasters caused by intentional and unintentional human acts, natural hazards and technical failures."

Candidate- This is unfair, you are not doing proper interview. I am not happy.

What do you do about candidates who cannot handle negative feedback? You want to coach them,guide them but they are closed- averse to anything that is remotely negative.

The anxiety-inducing ego-shattering feeling on receiving negative feedback is one that very few of us have figured out how to tame — it’s one that we avoid at all costs.

So, we are stuck — Do we succumb to our feelings at the hand of negative feedback or do we ignore it entirely, be in a denial and move on with our life at the risk of Zero improvement?

The answer to this question — The best way to receive negative feedback is to listen and actually hear what's being said. Look at feedback as a form of coaching, not criticism, it can help you make the changes needed to increase your odds of getting the next job. I believe that there is advice embedded in the evaluation .Take the negative feedback head on and grow because of it.

This article is a part of our Recruitment Series. To know more about it and other blogs in the series, visit us at https://thehrbps.in/