Here are some interview feedback examples to show what really happens in candidate interviews with hiring managers. Without consistent visibility into interviews, recruiting organizations often worry whether candidates are being properly vetted and treated with respect in interviews. With good reason.
Are recruiters prepared? Do they show up on time? Are they selling the company properly? All these questions can keep talent acquisition professionals up at night. According to the Talent Board’s annual candidate experience research and award program (The CandEs), hiring managers disrespecting a candidate’s time is the number one complaint of candidates.
At Survale, we process millions of real-time candidate surveys annually. Survale actually ties feedback to specific stages in the process and engages candidates right after they experience interviews and we can corroborate the Talent Board’s findings.
So I thought I would share some interview feedback examples to show how the term disrespect is defined by candidates as well as provide some other aspects of candidate feedback for organizations who may wish to believe this kind of thing isn’t happening with their hiring managers and frontline recruiters.
Interview Feedback Examples
I break these examples down into a few common categories: Disrespect, poor communication and process issues. While there are many other categories, these are the most common.
Poor Communication
“I was supposed to have a face to face interview then I got a call saying that they would rather have a phone interview but no one ever called or sent a message.”
“Recruiter left a voicemail. I called back and left a voicemail. Never received an interview.”
“I was told there would be a follow up interview but there wasn’t. I emailed the interviewer regarding the follow up interview but she has not responded.”
“I’ve applied multiple times [to company] but not a single time received an update or call from HR team. Instead I got an email mentioning that My interview is already done with [hiring manager] but I didn’t even receive a call how would my interview be done? I’ve contacted HR director through LinkedIn as well but didn’t receive any update.”
Poor communication is a huge problem with even the most candidate-focused organizations. It’s a day in, day out struggle to make sure auto emails are going out, candidates are statused properly in the ATS in order for them to go out, and hiring managers and recruiters are making prudent communication commitments and following through with them. Finding out about these issues in real time and using them as training aids with staff is invaluable.
Process Problems
“I am unsure as to why I am receiving this survey due to the fact that I have not been interviewed or even contacted other than this.”
“I applied 5 months back. The manager keep postponing the interview. And then he updated in [the company’s] system that he/she did take the interview and was not selected. But in reality he/she never talked to me, and never took my interview.”
“It was a pretty terrible experience. I was disqualified after 2 30 minute screening interviews where all of the questions were fluffy. I may not have been the best candidate for the job, but [the company] wouldn’t know if I was or wasn’t based on the interviews I participated in. I was very disappointed with the experience, and I lost a lot of respect for the company in the process. Given that I interviewed with a Senior Director … I expected a better process.”
It’s not hard to see in a couple of these examples that candidates are getting statused as Interview Complete in the ATS, when no interview happened. Additionally, there are issues with how interviews are structured and conducted. This is the kind of information that can be used to focus on process breakdowns (busy hiring managers incorrectly statusing candidates as interviewed), train interviewers on proper interviewing techniques and evaluate interview structure for its impact on candidate satisfaction.
Disrespect
“First unprepared, as it was an open room for others to interrupt and ask question from interviewer while I was there. Taking live phone calls while I was in the room from many others…”
“The interviewer didn’t show any interest in my skillsets and qualifications and lasted only 20 minutes instead of an hour high-level interview. The interviewer’s MS. Teams room background wasn’t appropriate and not professional.”’
“Interviewer did not discuss or explain the role. He looked at my resume throughout the interview as if it was the first time reading it and when I asked follow up questions about the position the interviewer had to look at his computer several times during the interview to see which position I was interviewing for.”
Disrespect is a candidate experience and employer brand killer. These interview feedback examples give a small taste of what disrespect looks like. Catching these issues in real time allows for mitigation with candidates and redirection with interviewers.
And these examples are from organizations that take candidate experience seriously. And their NPS scores are high. Even with high aggregate satisfaction, problems are common. Excellent candidate experience is a day in day out pursuit. It’s not a project you check off a list.
If you’re not seeing candidate feedback in real time, you’re likely falling short in this pursuit.
