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Negative/Pointless Interview Feedback
Leicester_Hunk
Posts: 18,316 Forum Member
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What do you think to this interview feedback? My girlfriend went for an interview last week which she didn't succeed at, for a head of dept. She had to do a presentation, a formal interview and then a series of tasks. She was telephoned by the chair of the panel (who left a voicemail on our answering machine) to say she was unsuccessful, so she emailed and asked for feedback. This is the email:
The panel would like to offer the following feedback on your interview.
Your presentation seemed slightly rushed and it would have been helpful for you to give more eye contact throughout.
At times, your responses to questions also seemed rushed and unedited. When answering the questions it would have been better to stop and consider your answer to give weight to the information, rather than volume.
For certain questions you seemed to focus on things that had gone wrong, rather than give examples of putting good systems in place. We also felt you focussed more on systems and not people management which is a
large part of this particular role.
I hope this is helpful and I wish you luck in the future.
With kind regards.
Lisa
Well fair enough, but no feedback on the content of the presentation, any good answers she gave in the interview, anything she did well or said that was correct, and no feedback whatsoever on the in-tray/scenario. What are "unedited" answers, when you are in a pressured setting?
I think this is more likely to make anyone despondent rather than constructive feedback.
The panel would like to offer the following feedback on your interview.
Your presentation seemed slightly rushed and it would have been helpful for you to give more eye contact throughout.
At times, your responses to questions also seemed rushed and unedited. When answering the questions it would have been better to stop and consider your answer to give weight to the information, rather than volume.
For certain questions you seemed to focus on things that had gone wrong, rather than give examples of putting good systems in place. We also felt you focussed more on systems and not people management which is a
large part of this particular role.
I hope this is helpful and I wish you luck in the future.
With kind regards.
Lisa
Well fair enough, but no feedback on the content of the presentation, any good answers she gave in the interview, anything she did well or said that was correct, and no feedback whatsoever on the in-tray/scenario. What are "unedited" answers, when you are in a pressured setting?
I think this is more likely to make anyone despondent rather than constructive feedback.
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She is gutted because she recently had an interview for a similar (slightly higher salary) post and came 2nd. She was one of 5 shortlisted for that one (out of over 100 candidates), got down to the final 2 and eventually they gave it to the internal candidate. She was told she impressed the panel and could not have improved on her assessment centre day. This feedback has really upset her after doing so well before.
I see that, but no focus on the positive, so she doesn't know what she did well. She is wondering if the sections they haven't commented on were middling, good, or rubbish.
How did she phrase the email to them? If she asked for general feedback I'd probably expect them to highlight where she did well, if she asked for just for areas of improvement then I'd expect to see only the negatives.
"Would it be possible for you to provide me with some feedback, please?" is what she wrote
They'd be there all day if they commented on every single aspect - they're giving her the headlines of what underpinned their decision not to employ her. I'd assume the rest went fairly well and use this information for future interviews.
I lost out on the job, and afterwards there was this truly grisly inquest where I was told all things were equal between me and the person who had got the job, my answers to questions were fine but "she interviewed just slightly better." wtf? They knew me. They knew I was good at the job - competent, liked by colleagues, kids and parents. It was a job I'd been begged to take.
Of course when I got over the shock of it, I realised the girl they had offered it to was almost straight out of college and £11,000 a year cheaper than me. The whole "de-briefing" was a load of cobblers.
I got my revenge though. The following year I was on daily supply and got called there for a day. In the afternoon, this shiny young un who was untried and tested but "interviewed better" was so crap at the job, one of the 7 year olds ran out of the classroom and the whole way home, during one of her lessons. This was a busy street, in a very rough area. I knew the Head knew this would never have happened, if that was my class. The kids and other staff told me it was fairly typical, and she was a really inept teacher with no control whatsoever - but hey, she was cheap and looked pretty at interview. You gets what you pays for.
I had a couple of other interviews after that with de-briefings and it was soul destroying as I came second again - and my problem was, I was top of pay scale - so constantly losing out to people who were considerably cheaper. I wondered why they wasted my time even interviewing me, if they had no intention of paying me.
The last piece of application feedback I got slyly accused me of lying about my experience, which I hadn't.
:eek: Are they allowed to accuse you of that?
Well fair enough, but no feedback on the content of the presentation, any good answers she gave in the interview, anything she did well or said that was correct, and no feedback whatsoever on the in-tray/scenario.........I think this is more likely to make anyone despondent rather than constructive feedback.[/QUOTE]
Firstly, the feedback is excellent and better than many would get. Your partner has had her mild interview shortcomings highlighted.
Your criticism is completely ridiculous. Do you even realise what an interview process is for? It is not an exam where marks are being given objectively and a list of what she did well in can be listed exactly.
Even if many objective questions are used, It is to ultimately form a subjective opinion that one candidate is the best of the group.
Your other half just didn't impress them as much as the person who got it.
And your comments are rude! No need for that.
I think I do know, yes
My point is that when I have given feedback on the many interviews I have carried out (so that means yes I do know what an interview process is for
I think my feedback to these people would be "could do better" - I think they could have been more helpful.
Sorry no intentional rudeness, but your comments made me quite annoyed as interview fails who 'dont get it' are a pet irritant of mine
I also interview regularly in a panel of at least three, and we give brief feedback to those who ask it but don't list lengthy positives and negatives like you suggest or do.
Maybe it depends what field you are in.
I am a senior role in the private healthcare sector.
Totally disagree.
I think the above sounds like really constructive and helpful feedback. Reading it, I can see instantly why she failed. It was a very polite way of saying she came across as crap and unconvincing.
The fact there was no feedback on the actual content probably meant there was nothing to say.
BIB says it how it is, there was someone who was a better fit, end of.
The feedback focussed on her shortcomings but what the interviewee and OP have failed to recognise is this feedback also gave her a very good steer on how she could improve in each area for the future. Time to reflect on her performance and fine tune it for the future.
I was once told that I didnt get a job because despite being qualified and experienced, and having given good answers to all the questions and scenarios posed - I hadnt answered the questions in the way that they wanted them answering - this is despite them not specifying any particular format before the interview. Guess they wanted a GCSE in mind reading.
I later found out that the real reason I wasnt offered the role (it was an internal position) is that they simply didnt want to pay as much as I was already on.
One issue that often causes a problem at interview is simply 'attitude'. It can't be marked and its unlikely to be referred to in feedback. But they wont want a person who's attitude or manner they don't like in an interview.
Neither will they say anything in 'feedback' that makes one cross if they think you have the sort of attitude to kick up ...... so they say something that is sort of a back handed compliment.
It might be that for both the OP's GF and you.
She needs to take on board what they say and not be gutted. It's as simple as that.
Not for me - As I said, I found out the actual reason I wasnt offered it later on (from somebody on the inside). It was about money - plain and simple.
Of course - they wouldnt tell me that - so they made up some BS.
Now adays hardly any companies bother giving you any!