5 Reasons Why You Should Offer Feedback to Unsuccessful Candidates

The Prestige Blog RSS

The job market is very fluid at the moment with people and businesses shifting in different directions, and gaining very experienced top-tier employees can be a task in this climate. Recruitment can be a really busy place to be, but it is important for us to always look at and practice good recruitment ethics. Implementing these in our working practices no matter if they do take us a bit longer to achieve is a great investment for the long term. What you give out will always eventually reflect back on your company.

One good practice that we are writing about today is supplying interview feedback to unsuccessful candidates. This in the past has been problematic for businesses and employees, with many working professionals before the pandemic believing things should be improved. In fact, 3 years ago an article by Charlie Taylor undertaken for the Debut Guide to Interview Etiquette revealed that 77% of 18-23 year old’s think it should be a legal requirement for employees to provide feedback after a face-to-face interview. The student and graduate careers app Debut, have in the past targeted this problematic procedure and have campaigned for more feedback. Since this article, we have seen things improve, and we at Prestige have always advised our clients to implement feedback as a best practice in business recruitment procedures. Yes, as a company it does take a bit more time, but with a lot of people coming onto the job market at the moment, it can give interviewees the essential feedback they may need to move forward with their career. It also can give businesses a great reputation for employee-focused company culture. We as a recruiter understand the importance of feedback for both clients and candidates and with this in mind, we have compiled a list of five reasons why you should offer feedback to unsuccessful candidates.

1) Feedback Can Offer Great Recruitment PR 

The more positive an individual’s experience is with a company, the more positive their review is likely to be. Websites such as Glassdoor allow you to leave reviews of your interview process, which can show other potential employees how to prepare. If a candidate has had a negative experience with your company, they can leave a bad review, which can affect the company’s reputation. As well as this, word of mouth is a great marketing tool. Even if a candidate doesn’t take the time to write a review on a website, they may still be asked by friends about their interview experience at your company. If your company has taken the time to be transparent and honest during the interview process, they are likely to say positive things. This may attract other candidates to want to work for your company, meaning you are attractive to a wider audience of individuals.

2) Future Customers - Future Clients 

When an individual applies for a job, they are a potential candidate for a vacancy. Beyond that, they are also a potential consumer. When a candidate prepares for a job interview, they research your company, products and services. While doing this research, they may like what they see and want to use your company themselves. If after the interview, things are left on bad footing and you don’t supply feedback, they are less likely to want to use your company for their own personal needs and less likely to recommend you to friends. 

Candidates may also be potential clients. You never know whether one day your company may want to work with another business – which now happens to be run by a candidate you rejected many years ago. If this candidate has had a negative experience due to lack of feedback and communication, they are unlikely to want to work with your company.

3) A Great Way to Say Thank You

When an individual has an interview with a company, they are likely to spend time and effort preparing for their job interview. Whether that is researching the company or preparing answers for potential questions (or reading our other blogposts), it all takes time! A candidate may also have to take time off from their current job and spend money getting to the interview location. By giving feedback to a candidate after they have invested money, time and effort into your company, it shows that your company is prepared to mirror this and invest in every person, regardless if they get the job. It makes candidates feel like they haven’t wasted their time, which increases satisfaction. 

4) It’s Not as Time Consuming as You Think

By supplying feedback to candidates, you are investing time into them – but it’s not actually as time-consuming as you think. Often during an interview, the interviewer will be making notes on the candidate’s responses and the interview process. If you outline these notes back to a candidate constructively, it supplies the candidate with what they really want without having to waste a substantial amount of time or resource.

5) It’s the Nice Thing to Do

Many candidates will not hear back from an employer, which can often affect their confidence and chances with other jobs interviews. By supplying feedback and responses to unsuccessful candidates, you are giving them closure in a positive way. Although they may not be a great fit for this specific role, if you supply feedback, the candidate may be able to work on their weaknesses, so something good can still come from their rejection. Supplying feedback to a candidate is the best thing to do as it gives them something substantial to take away from the whole interview experience. 

Conclusion

Interview feedback really is a win-win for the long term goal of good company culture. As a business it’s important to us to deliver regular communication and feedback to both client and candidates, we have built our reputation on this. People really appreciate having fast concise feedback to work with. In these times of the pandemic, where a lot of people may be changing career paths and leaving long term posts for new horizons, this feedback could really help them know if they are on the right path or not. All in all, it is a great thing to do to help in this strange situation we all find ourselves in at the moment. 

5 Reasons Why You Should Invest in Employee Training

The Prestige Blog RSS

Investing in training is one of the most positive things you can do as a business. By investing in your employees, you are investing in your business and this will only see you move forward with your goals. Do you need strategies to future-proof your business? Well, this is where the correct structured training programs can make a real difference. 

Training is not just all about helping people with the skills they already have, it's also about broadening critical skills outside the obvious ones, this is where that magic sauce can happen! Firstly it has the advantage of creating flexibility across different roles within the business. With the ability to quickly cover business problems and disruptions. It gives the ability for employees to cross-pollinate within different roles, bringing strength in depth to the business. It also affords the opportunity for an employee to develop into new roles that arise within the business, keeping them moving forward which is a motivating factor for the person involved. To really accomplish these all-around benefits businesses need to invest in structured ongoing quality training that is aligned with their company's ethos and business goals.

There are two quotes by Benjamin Franklin that are noteworthy, one is “an investment in knowledge pays the best interest”, the other is “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Two great quotes that not only show the importance of training but the need for quality training too, training that is motivating and involving! Information taken from a 'Train Like a Champion' infographic states that one out of every three employees said that uninspiring content is a barrier to their learning. This really does highlight the importance of Benjamin Franklin's 'involve me and I learn' quote. Look and invest in training that is engaging to all.

Are We Giving Training That is Needed?

We feel most people would agree that training equals better employees and therefore better companies, but our research seems to show the opposite trend within business. In 2019 the CIPD (a professional body for HR and people development) wrote a report addressing employer underinvestment in training. It noted that 'the world of work is rapidly changing, and the need to develop the skills and capabilities of the workforce to respond is more important than ever before. They also stated that 'investing in training and development is a key way to fill skill gaps and address skill shortages within organisations, yet despite its importance, evidence suggests that employers in the UK are training and investing less in their workforce.' It is a bizarre fact that in the late 1990s, an ATD study concluded that organisations investing in comprehensive training saw a 218% higher income per employee than companies that didn’t have formalised training. So this is even more bizarre when the CIPD said 'employer training has been declining since as far back as 1998, even despite the introduction of government initiatives.'

Employees Training Concerns

On this topic let's now look at the findings of a long-term research project commissioned by Middlesex University for Work Based Learning, it stated that 'from a 4,300 workers sample, 74% felt they weren't achieving their full potential at work due to lack of development opportunities. If we add all this up then it seems that we are generally not giving enough quality training and employees feel like they are being held back because of it.

Future Skills and Training

It looks like new skills and training are high on the agenda if we want to stay ahead of the curve. In the Department of Education Employer Skills Survey of 2019 (Summary Report here), they stated that 'for future skills requirements around two-thirds of employers anticipated the requirement to develop the skills of their workforce in the coming year (64%). The most common reasons for expecting to need to upskill their staff were in response to new legislative or regulatory requirements (42%), because of the introduction of new technologies or equipment (41%), due to the development of new products and services (35%) and the introduction of new working practices (35%)'.

Now we have an appreciation of what these findings are saying let's take a look at all the benefits a company can expect to achieve if they decide to invest in the quality training needed!

1 - Reduced Cost of Turnover

Staff turnover within a business is very normal but if your turnover is high, you are wasting a lot of money having to constantly hire new people. Therefore, investing in training is a far more effective way to spend your money. By supplying training to all members of staff, your existing employees will feel engaged with your organisation. When constantly learning new things, your employees feel more valued by your company and so are more likely to stay loyal. This means their confidence in their role will improve along with internal prospects, in turn, you stand a better chance of them not wanting to go elsewhere – which is a major win for reducing hiring costs.

2 - Helps Your Business Run More Efficiently

If you have a business built up of expert employees, there is no denying that your business will run more efficiently. Thorough training ensures that every employee knows exactly what they should be doing and when, while also understanding how they should do it. Therefore, every company should be working towards having a full team of people knowledgeable in the field they work within and in other roles that are connected within the business – it just makes good sense.

3 - Your Company’s Reputation

Having a company that is reputable as an organisation that cares enough to provide thorough training and education is great for hiring new employees. In today’s society, company review websites such as Glassdoor have serious effects on your company's reputation. If you are known to have a great training program in place, you will have a wider choice of candidates as more people will like your company culture and want to work for you. Also offering employees development as part of the benefits of working for you can help stave off competition that is trying to attract your top talent!

4 - Knowledge Efficiency

Efficient training programs mean that you are able to cross-train employees so that they are knowledgeable in different areas of the business. In the new frontier post-COVID, this is an essential attribute! By teaching a wider breadth of skills, you are not only developing the employee’s personal skills and increasing employee engagement; you are also being efficient as a company. Having employees that are trained in a wide variety of things means that you can fill in for absences if you need to. Cross-training also fosters team spirit, which adds to your company atmosphere. Training is also essential in knowledge transfer, as by spreading knowledge throughout all employees, you have support with training future hires as everyone can help train each other. It also means you aren’t left in the lurch if one employee who was very skilled at something in particular leaves.

5 - Promotions

Having well-trained staff means that it is easier for their roles to develop into management. If you need to find a manager for your company, you are safe in the knowledge that the employee you hire will have all the knowledge in the things you need them to – because you have trained them. By promoting from within, rather than outsourcing, you can prevent stagnation and lethargy with employee roles within your company. People that are in the same role for years can become jaded and not as productive as they could be when motivated by a new challenge. Another huge benefit is that by hiring internally, you substantially cut recruitment costs. 

Conclusion

All the evidence suggests that investing in training helps employers and employees, it makes logical sense. Starting it from day one and continuing throughout the employee’s career will give the company the best possible outcome to all the points above. Although it may take some time to see a return on investment, the long-term gain will make a huge difference to your company's performance and perception. We as a company have understood this for a long time now, and that is why we have always invested in training for all our employees. We always look for the most engaging training we can and try to keep our internal training fun and informative.