You've faced rejection from candidates. How can you use their feedback to improve future experiences?

Once we stop learning, we stop growing and evolving. That's true of human beings as well as companies. The best TA org's have a continuous improvement approach, always looking to learn and improve experiences provided. One of the ways TA can uncover blind spots in their efforts is by gaining candidate feedback. I've seen more of those effort once the indiv. is hired and they are asked about the process they just went through and to share comments on how it could improve. Valuable insights to be sure. But we should not miss the opportunity to also ask candidates that rejected an offer for their honest feedback on why that is and their thoughts on the process. Different and needed perspectives would be gained there as well!

Seeking feedback from candidates who decline job offers is a valuable practice that can provide insights for improving the hiring process. Reach out to the candidate soon after they decline the offer. Ensure your tone is appreciative and non-confrontational. Personalize the communication, acknowledging the candidate's time and effort spent during the recruitment process. Ask if the job description matched their expectations and if there were any concerns about the role itself. Inquire about the perception of the company culture and work environment based on interactions during the recruitment process. Seek feedback on the overall recruitment process, including application, interviews, and communication.

Treat every challenge as a stepping stone to refine and enhance your recruitment process. Use candidate feedback as a strategic tool to craft a more engaging and effective hiring experience, ultimately attracting and retaining top talent with greater precision.

Understand feedback, and be a good listener. Make sure to always be there for the candidate and build that relationship and most importantly learn from your challenges.

Once you've gathered feedback, it's important to analyze it without bias. This means reviewing the data objectively, setting aside personal emotions. Remember, it's normal to receive constructive criticism—it's not a personal attack. Sort through the feedback to identify actionable insights—these are the valuable nuggets that will help refine your recruitment strategies and enhance the candidate experience.

Make sure to give feedback to everyone involved in the process, so that they can be aware. Awareness in the first step to change.

Make sure to give feedback to everyone involved in the process, so that they can be aware. Awareness in the first step to change.

If you are going to commit to gaining feedback on your TA/hiring experience, do so for those that are hired and those that went through your process and rejected the offer. That will require a proactive approach and plan on how you will be reaching out to each type of indiv., the timing with which you'll do so, and the manner and messaging best used. Being proactive means that your TA team should be setting expectations early on in the vetting process that your firm cares enough about the candidate experience that they ask those that go through the process and get up to offer stage for valuable feedback that will be used to better your process. Knowing up front that this feedback is sought will help ensure you get the feedback in the end.

"This is all great, but how do you go about getting feedback from candidates who declines your offer?" When this happens you have a small window to get feedback. You have one shot. Hiring managers will want to try and convince candidates one last time to accept the offer, but it won't work. I recommend the person who has the strongest relationship with the candidate reach out. Congratulate them and ask for their help. Don't ask: "What could we have done differently to keep you?" Ask: Do you have any recommendations for us? Is there anything we might need to change or adjust? Do you see any barriers or hesitations other candidates may experience? Embrace the reality of the situation and use it to form a new ally.