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Would you pay for feedback on your interview?

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(@rlemertmindspring-com)
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You've finally snagged that elusive interview, and you're just waiting for the company to send you their offer. Unfortunately, what shows up instead says "we have decided not to pursue your candidacy at this time."

What did you do wrong? How could you do better next time.

Earlier today someone on LinkedIn suggested that HR departments could take advantage of this by offering - for a small fee - to give you feedback on your interview. For $10, you could spend 15 minutes with an HR specialist who would "explain to you why your application wasn't successful."

This proposal generated a lot of intense discussion on LinkedIn - I'm curious what the participants of this forum think. To make the discussion more meaningful, maybe you can offer your own ideas on how to obtain this type of feedback.


   
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Dave Jensen
(@davejensencareertrax-com)
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This coming issue (Thursday night) of our Career Magazine section will have my Tooling Up article about "How to Get and Use Feedback to Enhance Your Career." Good timing, Rich!

Dave Jensen, Founder and Moderator
Bio Careers Forum


   
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 PG
(@per-grufmancepheid-se)
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I also dont see that it would be worth the trouble of getting paid for this. If the company get paid by an applicant someone in finance have to take those 10 USD (probably in cash), get it into the accounting, get the money to the bank or whatever system the company uses and deposit it.

Only the time used by finance is going to cost a lot more than 10 USD and then you should add the cost for 15 minutes of an HR persons time + time for prep work, setting up the meeting etc. In total this is going to cost a lot more than 10 USD.

If someone asks me for feedback on why they didnt get a position they applied for I will do my best to give an honest answer.


   
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Dave Jensen
(@davejensencareertrax-com)
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This months Tooling Up addresses this topic,

Dave

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2014_05_15/caredit.a1400120

Dave Jensen, Founder and Moderator
Bio Careers Forum


   
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Dave Jensen
(@davejensencareertrax-com)
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Looking back at this old post, I would say that I agree with Rich Lemert that there OUGHT to be a way to get feedback from a company after an interview. 

I don't think I'll ever be seeing a system where companies collect money to provide such feedback, but WOW would it be great if you were working with interviewers who would take the time to tell you honestly how they felt and what you could have done better or differently. 

Clearly, it doesn't mean that you'll hear about the nasty personal things that are a turn off ("I just can't get past that scruffy beard look you've got going on", or "Your makeup was hideous and I had a hard time looking at you.") 

There's no way this will happen, Rich. It's such a great idea, though, to find a way to get SOME feedback. Has anyone here had success in approaching a hiring manager after being turned down, and just asking nicely if he or she had any feedback to help you do better the next time? I actually think that MOST PEOPLE would share at least some information that could help you,

Dave

Dave Jensen, Founder and Moderator
Bio Careers Forum


   
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DX
 DX
(@dx)
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Posted by: Anonymous

Hi Rich,

What an interesting topic - (legal issues aside for a moment), I'd probably focus on the type of feedback that would be the most useful for the interviewee. Assuming interviewing is a skill that can be developed, feedback would be valuable for an interviewee if it provided information about how to improve for the next interview; so "I'm sorry you're not a good fit" wouldn't be practical.

However, feedback on the content (interviewing competency) might be helpful. A proposed format could address common interviewing mistakes and generate a simple list of [least debatable] categories that may include:

- knowledge of the organization's mission
- negativity about previous employer/organization
- unprepared to discuss career plans/goals
- responses did not include relevant examples
- responses did not include specific examples
- did not provide professional references

I propose this fully aware that it assumes we function "in a perfect world"...

In general these are some of the key feedback points one could receive that would help (noted above).

However, I have found in most of my career, if I didn't get a job, the feedback was around depth of experience or "team-fit" ,  both of these I can't really do anything about.  For the prior, in generall, that depth of experience is what i'm trying to go for anyways, so at somepoint I would bank on a door opening elsewhere - and just cop it to that. nothing more.     Unfortunately meaningful feedback is hard to get because I actually do think most of is not useful!   I've interviewed many candidates in my time..and a key rejection reason for qualified candidates...lack of team fit. Translation: we don't want to work with you. No matter how you cut and dice it.  Rare it was a presentation, or lack of using examples..i do think people are pretty tooled up today.  

So its not personal, but people do take it as such.  So what do you do with that feedback..nothing. 

I do think alot of feedback can be obtained by self-introspection and reflection. Lets be honest, you do know when feel you've missed something, or you just didn't connect, etc. You know the big ticket items, if you're self-aware that is.   So that goes a long way too.

my two cents,

DX   


   
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Dave Jensen
(@davejensencareertrax-com)
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DX, that's just plain good two cents. Thanks you for the post.

I had a presentation I gave today to a new client prospect. The fellow is a CEO, a nice guy, fairly easy going (even though he's in a tough job as a startup company Chief Exec, pushing for funding and so on) and nice to talk to. He asked to talk to my colleague and I about the potential of a new search, and this kind of "interview" is so similar to the job seeker being phone interviewed. It's not much different. They'll spend a lot of money to hire a recruiter, and they spend a lot of money on people decisions too, so I think the situations are similar.

Anyway, I think I blew it. I had a large super caffeinated coffee right before my call and I was all amped up. I didn't give him the time in the beginning to warm up with friendly small talk. Instead, I jammed right into it -- making a big "pitch" and even running a bit rough over my colleague trying to get a word in. It was just not my style. Giving myself some feedback later, I realized the problems were of my own making (wanting the business a bit too much, drinking the triple espresso, etc). I didn't need my potential employer to give me feedback, I felt it and lived it. I knew what I did wrong the minute I hung up from the call. 

What can you do to make sure you are giving yourself accurate feedback? I don't know. I think that if you just try your best to "be yourself" in an interview, you'll be able to detect (especially with experience) when you veer off track and you don't sound like yourself any longer. That's the best approach.

Would I pay someone to give me additional feedback? Yes, of course I would. Is it worth it to pay for feedback? To answer Rich's initial question, YES. But there is no mechanism to do this, so the best you can do on most occasions is to do the self analysis as DX says.

Dave Jensen, Moderator

Dave Jensen, Founder and Moderator
Bio Careers Forum


   
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