How to Give Interview Feedback to Candidates

Candidates who reach the interview stage have a deeper level of engagement in the role, your charity, and the cause you support. They’ve made their first impressions during interviews, got to know some of your team and may even have started to imagine themselves in the role. 

Equally, the panel conducting interviews have had the chance to get to know the candidates and may even really like them as people and potential teammates. This connection makes it difficult to choose just one person to hire. 

Delivering rejection emails and phone calls to candidates can be hard, and it’s understandable why some people choose to ‘ghost’ applicants, but this is unfair to candidates who have an emotional and professional investment in the role and in your organisation. Providing feedback to all interviewed candidates is a continuation of fair interview process practices.

This guide will cover seven steps for giving constructive feedback, along with an example email template you can adapt to your role.

Why it’s important to provide feedback to all candidates

At CharityJob, we think it’s important to respond to all applicants, even those who aren’t shortlisted for the interview stage. Not only does providing feedback show applicants that you respect their time and them as people, but it also positively impacts your employer branding.

Candidates who aren’t successful but receive a constructive and professional response informing them of the outcome are still likely to come away disappointed, of course, but with a favourable perception of you as an employer. They might not be the right candidate for this role at this time, but they might be more open to applying for other roles in the future or to recommending you to a friend or colleague. 

While it may not be possible to provide personalised feedback to every applicant due to time constraints or the volume of applications, a simple email acknowledgement can make a world of difference to their experience as a candidate. CharityJob’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS) includes a bulk email template feature, making it easier to respond to multiple candidates at once.

1. Thank the candidate for their time and effort

The first thing you do is thank the candidate for their interest in the role and your charity. And acknowledge the time and effort they’ve put into their application, interviews and any additional tasks they undertook – perhaps referring back to any particularly thoughtful questions they asked during their interview.

This genuine appreciation sets a respectful tone for the feedback and helps the candidate feel appreciated.

2. Use a sensitive and mindful tone

In addition to respect, the tone of the conversation should be empathetic, kind but also professional. There’s no need to become personally invested, but remember that candidates are likely to be disappointed by the outcome and are only human!

Avoid being overly blunt or rude about any areas where they underperformed; instead, gently explain what didn’t go well. The use of generic, impersonal language is not recommended, as it can make candidates feel like just another number rather than passionate people with a lot of value to offer a different organisation.

3. Recognise applicant strengths 

Take the time to highlight the candidate’s strengths in meaningful ways. This praise will help them understand where they’re performing well and keep their spirits up as they continue their job search.

Try to include a few standout examples of strong performance, being specific where you can. Perhaps they answered challenging questions especially well, demonstrated a high level of knowledge in a particular area or showcased great skills in a presentation task.

4. Provide constructive direction for improvements

Of course, the feedback can’t be entirely positive, or the candidate will wonder why they were unsuccessful. 

However, it’s important not to be critical of their shortcomings but to offer actionable suggestions instead. For example, if their skills fell short of expectations, acknowledge their potential and consider recommending a training course. If their interview performance let them down but you could tell they had more to offer, encourage them to practice interview questions with friends or colleagues or think about how they can present the very best version of themselves.

5. Be honest about why the candidate wasn’t successful

Explain the decision not to move forward with the candidate’s application as transparently as possible while maintaining professionalism. Tie the verdict back to the role requirements to help candidates understand where they didn’t meet the mark. 

When outlining why they haven’t been successful, don’t:

• Compare them to other candidates.
• Give generic or vague explanations, such as ‘we decided to go a different direction’.
• Be too personal or comment on anything they may not be able to change, such as nervous hair-tucking or a lack of eye contact.

6. Encourage applicants to apply for future vacancies

End the conversation on a high note, encouraging candidates to apply for future career opportunities with your charity. If you happen to know of any other current vacancies you think they might be good for – either within your organisation or at another – suggest they put themselves forward for those.

This positive spin will keep the door open for the candidate to reconnect for better-suited roles in the future.

7. Provide feedback promptly through an appropriate method

Candidates shouldn’t be left waiting countless days or weeks for updates on their application. Strong candidates could very well have several prospects on the go, but are holding out on other opportunities to hear your decision, only to be let down.

Share decisions as quickly as possible to respect candidates’ time, using an appropriate communication method. The way you contact candidates should be appropriate for the stage of the application and the seniority of the role:

• Phone calls or emails are generally suitable for most situations.
• Phone calls often feel a bit more informal, as you can have a back-and-forth conversation with the candidate. You can offer to follow up with more detailed feedback over email if they’d like to refer back to feedback for future improvements.
• Emails are preferable for people who are unsuccessful very early on in the process, as this is quicker and feedback is likely to be less personal.
• Inviting people to see you in person to reject them for a role isn’t usually necessary, but if it’s a particularly senior role and it feels appropriate to have a deeper discussion, then this might work.

Example feedback template for unsuccessful candidates

Our feedback template can be adapted for your roles and offers ways to demonstrate your appreciation, feedback and support for unsuccessful candidates during shortlisting. It’s entirely up to you whether you use this as a guide for phone calls, a template for email feedback or a combination of both.

Hi [Candidate name], 

Thank you for attending your recent interview for the [job role] position. We really appreciated the time and effort you put into [interview task/answering questions].

We wanted to provide an update on your application. Unfortunately, we will not be offering you the position on this occasion. While you clearly have great [skill/knowledge/expertise/experience], we didn’t feel you had enough [skill/knowledge/expertise/experience] to adequately fulfil [key essential role responsibility].

We also wanted to take the time to share some feedback with you, as you were a strong candidate and we enjoyed getting to know you.

(The following two paragraphs could include several examples, if appropriate:) 

We were particularly impressed by your [strength], which you demonstrated through [specific example from the interview, such as an answer, presentation, explanation or task]. We also thought you did a brilliant job of [showing second strength] and have every confidence you’ll find a suitable role soon.

There were a couple of areas where we felt you could improve to increase your chances of success in the future. For example, while we were interested in hearing more about your [skill/knowledge/expertise/experience], we didn’t [see this demonstrated/think the level was high enough/feel confident in it].  

While this role might not be the right fit for you or us right now, we would highly encourage you to apply for roles again in the future. We’d love to hear from you again and look forward to hearing how your career develops in the meantime. 

Thank you again for your interest in working with [organisation name].

Best of luck with your job search,

[Your name]

Manage applicant progress at every stage with CharityJob

Providing feedback to unsuccessful candidates isn’t an enjoyable part of the recruitment process, but it’s necessary. Discover more recruitment methods and strategies from CharityJob and start improving your processes today.

Post a job using ‘Apply via CV and cover letter’ and get free access to our end-to-end Applicant Tracking System (ATS) features, such as shortlisting and bulk email templating.

We offer four job ad packages to suit your needs and budget. Choosing the right package is important because it determines the pool size, type and quality of candidates your ad will reach.

If you’re not sure which is right for your non-profit organisation, contact us for personalised advice. Give us a call on 020 8939 8430, or email us at info@charityjob.co.uk.