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A rejection email with the option of requesting a phone or video call seems like the best balance. I can imagine there's a few scenarios where the hiring team

A rejection email with the option of requesting a phone or video call seems like the best balance. I can imagine there's a few scenarios where the hiring team can offer constructive feedback, but ... again, it's probably few. Giving people the option, and seeing how many people actual request it, would be instructive to the HR folks about whether to continue that approach or not.

nytesky 3y ago
I thought feedback was never really concretely given, for risk or liability if misconstrued or demonstrated implicit bias?
- lupire 3y ago
  It's generic corporate sociopathic ass-covering. Facebook, when it was new and turning the tech industry upside down, made a name for itself by treating candidates with more respect than the companies they fled did,and generally improving upon the culture of their former employers. One of their innovations was to give a bit of concrete feedback on what the negative aspects of the evaluation were.
tgv 3y ago
> with the option of requesting a phone or video call If they want to tell something real instead of "you were a fan-tas-tic candidate, but we decided to go with another." There's no information, nothing helpful in there. If HR thinks that saying something about e.g. experience is supposed to be helpful, they should have informed everyone in advance where they stood wrt. experience. Because that message still makes the recipient feel "and now you tell me?" So don't mention it, or inform throughout the process. If HR doesn't like that, because it reduces their options, but then please cut the BS.
neilv 3y ago
Yeah, I suspect that ordinarily that's the way to do it, if you were already into the interview process with someone (or the company had actively recruited them, or there was some special referral). We can't necessarily offer useful feedback, but the optional call can at least provide the opportunity for a personal touch and fellow-human decency, with the person having a chance to compose themselves first and think about anything they want to ask or add. If the candidate is one you really don't want to talk with again (e.g., got unambiguously jerky in an interview, or seems a high risk of flipping out and trying to sue), the rejection email doesn't have to offer a call.

nytesky 3y ago

I thought feedback was never really concretely given, for risk or liability if misconstrued or demonstrated implicit bias?

lupire 3y ago
It's generic corporate sociopathic ass-covering. Facebook, when it was new and turning the tech industry upside down, made a name for itself by treating candidates with more respect than the companies they fled did,and generally improving upon the culture of their former employers. One of their innovations was to give a bit of concrete feedback on what the negative aspects of the evaluation were.

tgv 3y ago

> with the option of requesting a phone or video call If they want to tell something real instead of "you were a fan-tas-tic candidate, but we decided to go with another." There's no information, nothing helpful in there. If HR thinks that saying something about e.g. experience is supposed to be helpful, they should have informed everyone in advance where they stood wrt. experience. Because that message still makes the recipient feel "and now you tell me?" So don't mention it, or inform throughout the process. If HR doesn't like that, because it reduces their options, but then please cut the BS.

neilv 3y ago

Yeah, I suspect that ordinarily that's the way to do it, if you were already into the interview process with someone (or the company had actively recruited them, or there was some special referral). We can't necessarily offer useful feedback, but the optional call can at least provide the opportunity for a personal touch and fellow-human decency, with the person having a chance to compose themselves first and think about anything they want to ask or add. If the candidate is one you really don't want to talk with again (e.g., got unambiguously jerky in an interview, or seems a high risk of flipping out and trying to sue), the rejection email doesn't have to offer a call.