The government should encourage all employers to share quality feedback with candidates after a face-to-face interview, according to a white paper published by the ‘Fight for Feedback’ campaign launched by student and graduate careers app Debut.
This would better motivate jobseekers and speed up the recruitment process, according to the campaign.
Research from Debut found that four in five (83%) candidates who attended a face-to-face interview have not received feedback from the employer. It also discovered a typical interview cost the candidate an average of £41 to attend and prepare for. Debut argued that without good-quality feedback preparation for the next interview is difficult.
Charlie Taylor, CEO and founder of Debut, said that offering good-quality feedback will help the UK’s workforce. “Feedback is powerful, and anyone who takes the time to attend an interview is entitled to it,” he said.
“We know from working with more than 50 of the world’s largest employers that the holistic value in giving feedback far outweighs the time it takes to share it with candidates. We know this campaign will have a positive impact on the quality of candidates in the future and it will cut down the time it takes to find the right person – eventually the UK workforce will benefit as more people will be in employment.
“This campaign is a crucial step-change that will make life easier for employers in the future – especially as recruitment will be affected by the ageing population and the uncertainty caused by Brexit.”
The paper suggests that feedback should be delivered in a positive way by identifying what a candidate did well, and ways they could be more successful next time. Employers should also dedicate a minimum of 15 minutes when preparing and sharing feedback with a candidate, with the aim to feed back within three working days of the hiring decision being made.
Paul Devoy, CEO of Investors in People and a supporter of the campaign, explained that better feedback will help candidates to develop stronger skills for the future. “I believe feedback is crucial for an individual’s development [and] employers should feel they have a duty to the workforce to provide them with the feedback needed to progress in their career,” he said. “Improved feedback will enable candidates to develop their interview skills, and in turn this will result in a higher standard of candidates for employers. In supporting the Fight For Feedback campaign Investors in People hopes to help challenge and influence employers’ behaviour on this key issue.”
