Delivering the Bad News

It is not always a time to share all of what we know.

Good Recruiters give feedback both the good and the bad. Have you ever had a candidate tell you that they sent information or went on an interview and never got any feedback? If you are in a tight niche market you will certainly damage your reputation if you aren’t forthcoming…

But frankly in can be a minefield

What makes it a minefield?

1. Possible discrimination.
2. Negative information came out thru a reference. Are we to protect the person that shared the information?
3. Will sharing the information limit or eliminate communication, industry help, or future business with the recipient of the information?
4. Be careful of sending bad news via email. It is traceable and can easily be misunderstood, in the worse case scenario it could be used as evidence in a lawsuit.
5. Are we sure that the reason they gave us for their decision is the issue or just a safe way to explain their actions? Don’t always relay information as a fact.
6. Others…..

Basic Responses:

“ I wish I could give you more information but the company is reluctant to state a reason for not hiring.”

“The answer they gave me,” we will not be pursuing your candidate. Could be a transfer or a host of a 100 other reasons none of which they share as their normal way of doing business.”

"I feel you have a very strong background. I look forward to pursuing other options on your behalf..... "

Have any of you had experiences where sharing feedback did not goes as well as planned?

Comment by Trevor Smith on September 21, 2009 at 5:32pm: I agree. This is definitely a minefield. Unfortunately, sometimes clients really don't give feedback. I guess the trick in our field is to take the "bad" feedback we do get and make it constructive. I've received bad feedback from the mysterious "person who used to work with them" and used it to make sure the candidate has updated their reference list and made each reference they are aware of the job-search...so as not to be caught off guard. I've also used it as an in-road to ask more in depth questions about previous work experiences and company separations.
The easiest is when the feedback is specifically about skills - easy to be constructive there. Even if the candidate disagrees with the interviewer's assessment of their skills, it is a good way to help the candidate see how they are "coming across" to others and their need to improve either communication skills, or interviewing skills.
As for discrimination. Hopefully we all use that to red-flag "bad" companies and managers and avoid working with them in the present and future.
Thanks for the post...excellent food for thought.