Providing useful and encouraging feedback is an aspect of candidate care. It also builds confidence in the assessment decisions and in your agency.
After completing this section, you will have:
- the ability to provide meaningful feedback to candidates.
Actions
- Provide feedback to the candidate on the assessment of their application against the assessment criteria.
- Explain to the candidate how the information they provided was assessed for merit, and identify any strengths and improvement opportunities.
- maintain confidentiality about the candidates. Remember the recommendation is not affirmed until the end of the breach period
- respond promptly to requests for feedback. For candidates who progressed to final stages of assessment or internal candidates, you may want to provide feedback before the outcome is sent to them in writing
- give an overview of how many people applied and how many progressed at each stage of assessment so they get a high level view of how competitive they were in the field
- read the text from the selection report for each stage of assessment they participated in, adding context where needed for the more challenging feedback. Candidates may want to understand how they were assessed, and be given the opportunity to learn from the process to improve their prospects in future
- use positive language, make practical suggestions about how improvements could be made in future applications. “Next time, you might like to…” Always aim to find something to help
- listen to and acknowledge any concerns raised
- ask if they have any questions about how their application was assessed
- thank the candidate and wish them success in future applications.
- What to avoid:
- don’t discuss other candidates, who was recommended or what others said in their interviews
- don’t provide coaching on how to improve their resume or written submission unless it was relevant to the assessment of their application. In this case it would have been included in the selection report and can be provided.
