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Ask HN: How do I get honest feedback from interviewers?
Usually, when I get declined for a job, I ask the company for feedback (unless I already know why they declined me). The answer is almost always along the lines of "We thought you were the greatest person we've ever met. We just don't think it's a good fit." While I can understand why they give this kind of response, and I appreciate them not wanting to hurt my feelings, this response just isn't very helpful to me. To be honest, I'd rather employers just tell me that I'm the worst human being they've ever met as long as they tell me how they made that decision.
With work at a startup coming up, I felt this would be a good question to bring up. Does anyone have any advice for me on this subject?
- briandoll 16y agoUnfortunately you'll almost never get really honest feedback from a job interview that didn't work out. While IINAL, truly honest feedback can expose the company to certain liabilities, so they play it safe. In fact, this is also true for reference checks. If a company says bad stuff about you when called for a reference check, that also apparently opens them up to some sort of liability. In all cases, for every company I've done interviews for, I've always kept feedback for those we didn't hire to an absolute minimum. Best bet for you: Do pseudo interviews with friends, and have them review your resume. It'll be much easier to get honest feedback from them.