Getting interview feedback (good and bad) is one of the best ways to improve yourself to ensure you get the job the next time.
Having said that, these days companies are so scared of being sued, they are often afraid to give honest feedback that can help you so you’re often left with the “we found someone else who better matched the job” feedback or something like that.
In other cases, the hiring manager is simply too lazy to help you out (or the recruiter if you’re dealing with one) to give you some constructive advice.
When I was first looking for a recruitment job, I experienced both sides of the coin: getting feedback (negative, mind you) and no feedback.
Negative feedback: During an interview with one of the first recruitment firms I met with, I first met with the husband of the founder of the company. He bragged about his mansion and racehorses so he kind of put me off a bit. Apparently he thought I was interesting enough though and asked me to then meet with one of his colleagues. After meeting with her, the braggart came back in and told me that while his female colleague thought I had skills, I talked too much and came across as being a bit chatty. In hindsight it was true and I knew it. I had found the company online and on a whim went to interview with them even after I had verbally agreed to take a job with another company (and I did still join them) but went to this interview anyways just to see how it would go. In hindsight, I was so relaxed – knowing that I already had a job offer elsewhere – that I was a bit too casual and informal I think. Keep that in mind when interviewing…being relaxed is good, but not so much that it hurts you as it did in this case.
No feedback: Another recruitment firm I interviewed with invited me in twice to meet with them. The first time was with the co-owner and the second time was again with the co-owner and two of his staff. Following the second interview I received a voice mail to let me know they’d hired someone else but gave no reason where I’d failed or at least why I wasn’t as desirable as the person they hired. So I called the co-owner up and left him a message, asking him for some honest feedback as to how I could improve my candidacy and what I could have done better.
I never got any feedback.
In this case, I don’t know what I did “wrong” if anything that resulted in me not getting the job. I don’t know who they hired either so I couldn’t compare myself to that person. In this instance, I didn’t learn anything about how I could have done better because no such feedback was offered.
