Interview Feedback: An Expert’s Guide With Examples

Feedback is essential for all of our growth, but it can be difficult to receive and sometimes even more challenging to give.

Providing proper feedback to candidates requires extra work and, in the flurry of hiring, this step is often skipped over.

However, taking the time to give feedback helps set you apart as a hirer and will benefit you in the long run.

Here I’ll share best practices for candidate feedback and making it part of a positive candidate experience (even if the answer is no).

What Is Interview Feedback?

Interview feedback is an evaluation and summary of a candidate's performance during an interview process.

It is typically provided by the interviewer or interview panel and includes observations, assessments, and recommendations regarding the candidate's skills, experience, qualifications, and overall suitability for the position.

The purpose of interview feedback is to offer candidates meaningful insights into their strengths and opportunities for improvement. 

Look at a few examples of positive feedback and you quickly see that it emphasizes the candidate's strong points, such as technical expertise, communication skills, or relevant experience, while acknowledging their accomplishments and contributions during the interview process.

Constructive feedback, on the other hand, highlights areas where the candidate could improve, such as strengthening hard or soft skills or gaining more experience in a particular area.

Providing candidates with insightful feedback creates a better candidate experience and strengthens your employer brand. 

Knowing that candidates can’t just be rejected off hand adds an extra layer of accountability to interviewers that will help improve the quality of the feedback they take and lead to better hiring decisions (capturing and giving quality feedback is a recruiter skill I look out for and train).

Feedback should be a two-way street as well; organizations can and should elicit feedback from the candidates to help improve the hiring process.

Interview Feedback Best Practices

Like when providing any feedback, it’s important to ensure any feedback given to candidates is constructive, clear, and beneficial. Here are some key best practices:

1. Be timely: Provide feedback as soon as possible after the interview while the details are still fresh in the interviewer's and candidate's minds. If the hiring panel has done their work and submitted their feedback within 24 hours, ideally I strive for 72hrs after that to deliver the feedback to the candidate. 
2. Focus on job-related criteria: Base your feedback on the criteria relevant to the job and the skills required. Seek to identify any personal biases or comments unrelated to the candidate’s professional abilities (collaborative hiring can help here).
3. Be constructive: Give advice on how the candidate can improve rather than just pointing out what was wrong.
4. Be professional and respectful: Maintain a professional tone and be respectful. Feedback should be delivered in a way that is encouraging and supportive (more in Alana Fallis’s excellent article on how to give feedback).
5. Be honest: Provide honest and candid feedback that’s neither sugar-coated or overly harsh.
6. Use tools: Tools such as applicant tracking systems or similar recruiting software can help to collate feedback for candidates and elicit feedback from them.
7. Document feedback: Keep a record of the feedback provided. This helps maintain consistency and provides a reference for future interactions with the candidate.
8. Encourage questions: Allow the candidate to ask questions and seek clarification to ensure they fully understand the feedback and can act on it effectively.

Memory Tip

Best practice means you should have your feedback in the system and a decision made within 24 hours of interviewing. This is to make sure you remember everything that happened.

 

Sometimes people may need a bit of time to reflect and that’s fine, but it’s happened so many times where a hiring manager hasn’t submitted feedback in a week, says to me “I needed to think about it”, and then writes feedback on the wrong candidate!

Interview Feedback Examples

Positive feedback examples

Technical skills

• "You demonstrated strong proficiency in Python and provided a clear and efficient solution to the coding problem. Your understanding of algorithms and data structures was impressive."
• "Your experience with project management tools like Jira and Asana is evident, and you gave a great example of how you effectively managed multiple projects simultaneously."

Behavioral competencies

• "You communicated your ideas clearly and confidently. Your ability to articulate complex concepts in a simple manner was very effective."
• "You displayed excellent problem-solving skills, particularly when discussing how you handled the unexpected challenge during your previous project."

Cultural fit

• "Your enthusiasm for our company values and mission was very evident. We believe you would fit well within our team dynamic and contribute positively to our culture."
• "Your collaborative approach and examples of team projects showed that you value teamwork and are comfortable working in a group setting."

Strengths

• "Your extensive background in digital marketing and your successful campaigns align perfectly with the needs of our marketing team."
• "Your proactive approach and willingness to take on new challenges stood out. We appreciate your readiness to learn and grow."

Preparedness 

• "The candidate demonstrated exceptional preparation, arriving with a clear understanding of the role and the company’s mission. Their thoughtful questions about our projects and processes highlighted their thorough research and genuine interest in contributing to our team."
• "It was clear that the candidate had thoroughly reviewed the job description and prepared relevant examples to showcase their skills, making their responses concise and tailored to the position."

Positivity 

• "The candidate maintained a positive and enthusiastic attitude throughout the interview, which made the conversation engaging and enjoyable. Their optimism about tackling challenges was particularly encouraging."
• "The candidate handled tough questions with confidence and a positive outlook, showcasing their resilience and ability to focus on solutions rather than problems."

Teamwork

• "They demonstrated a strong understanding of team dynamics, highlighting how they prioritize open communication and mutual respect to achieve collective goals."
• "The candidate spoke enthusiastically about their role in previous team successes and showed a genuine appreciation for the contributions of their colleagues."

Negative feedback examples

Technical skills

• "While you have a good foundational knowledge of Java, we noticed some gaps in your understanding of advanced concepts like concurrency and multithreading."
• "Your familiarity with SQL databases is apparent, but your experience with NoSQL databases seems limited, which is a key requirement for this role."

Behavioral competencies:

• "At times, your answers were too brief, which made it challenging to fully assess your thought process and experience. Providing more detailed responses would help."
• "You seemed hesitant when asked about handling conflicts in the workplace. Confidence in addressing and resolving conflicts is important for this role."

Cultural fit:

• "We sensed some hesitation when discussing our company’s flexible work environment. It’s crucial for us that team members are comfortable with and adapt well to remote work."
• "Your preference for working independently might be a challenge in our highly collaborative team environment."

Areas for improvement:

• "We noticed that you struggled with the situational judgment questions. Practicing more behavioral interview questions could help you better articulate your problem-solving strategies."
• "Your technical presentation lacked some depth, particularly in explaining the rationale behind your design choices. Providing more context and justification would strengthen your arguments."

Poor communication

• "The candidate struggled to articulate their thoughts clearly, making it difficult to fully understand their experiences and qualifications. Their responses were often vague or lacked the detail needed to assess their skills."
• "When asked to elaborate on specific examples, the candidate provided answers that were incomplete or off-topic, suggesting difficulty in effectively conveying relevant information."

Lack of preparedness

• "The candidate appeared unfamiliar with the role's requirements and could not provide tailored examples of how their experience aligned with the job. This gave the impression that they had not reviewed the job description in detail."
• "When asked about our company and its mission, the candidate offered very generic responses, indicating they had not researched our organization or its values ahead of the interview."

Sequencing Tip

I like to start off with the positive and then go into what could be improved. If I have the detail I go for recommendations, which in the past have included things like other roles they may be better suited for, skills and knowledge they may need to develop, and structuring their answers in a clearer way.

What To Include In Interview Feedback

When I’m giving feedback to candidates, I always try to include the following:

Positive feedback

Highlight any strengths or positive aspects observed during the process for example that they communicated well or impressed with their technical knowledge.

“You demonstrated a thorough understanding of the role and came well-prepared with examples that clearly showcased your technical expertise and problem-solving skills.

Your responses were articulate, concise, and directly addressed the questions, highlighting your excellent communication abilities.

We also appreciated your positive attitude and enthusiasm for the position—it was clear that you are genuinely excited about the opportunity to contribute to our team.

Additionally, the specific examples you shared about your experience working collaboratively with others showed your adaptability and strong teamwork skills. Overall, you left a very positive impression, and we think you could be a great fit for this role."

Constructive feedback

This is where you need to be specific and provide examples and actionable advice on areas such as specific skills, problem-solving abilities, or preparedness. Example:

"Thank you for taking the time to interview with us. While you showed enthusiasm for the role, I noticed that some of your responses could have been more focused and detailed.

Providing specific examples related to the job requirements would help illustrate your skills and experiences more effectively. 

Additionally, it would be beneficial to spend more time researching the company and the role beforehand to better align your answers with our needs and expectations.

These are areas you can easily improve on for future interviews, and I appreciate your effort during our conversation."

Performance vs job requirements

Always make the connection between the candidate’s performance vs what’s required to exceed in the role e.g.

“Thank you for your time and effort during the interview process. While you showcased strong [specific skill or strength, e.g., 'technical knowledge in data analysis'], the role requires a more advanced ability to [specific requirement, e.g., 'present insights effectively to non-technical stakeholders']. 

Strengthening your communication skills to convey complex information in a clear and impactful way would help you excel in this type of position. Your enthusiasm and willingness to learn are evident, and with further development in this area, you have the potential to exceed expectations in similar roles."

Future opportunities

Offer suggestions for future interviews or roles the candidate may be better suited for based on their strengths and areas for improvement and provide guidance on how they can enhance their skills or seek additional experience in certain areas.

"Thank you for the time and effort you invested in the interview process. You demonstrated strong potential, particularly in [specific area, e.g., 'problem-solving or technical expertise'], which is a great foundation for success.

While there are areas where further development would enhance your ability to thrive in this role—such as [specific area for improvement, e.g., 'leadership skills or cross-functional collaboration']—I see significant opportunities for growth.

I encourage you to continue building your experience in [specific area] and exploring roles that allow you to refine these skills. With your dedication and proactive attitude, I’m confident you’ll find opportunities where you can excel and make a meaningful impact."

What Not To Include In Interview Feedback

Generalizations

Provide specific examples and details to support your feedback. Vague statements such as “wasn’t quite a fit” without any proper context can be confusing and frustrating for candidates. Any feedback you give should be able to be backed up by specific examples.

Overly critical feedback

While it's important to address areas for improvement, avoid harsh or overly critical language that may discourage the candidate or damage their confidence. 

This means avoiding words or phrases such as “rubbish”, “disappointing”, “incompetent”, “you don’t have what it takes".

If you strongly believe a position may not be for them, remember to be constructive in how you convey that and offer advice and guidance.

Anything discriminatory

Be aware that in many jurisdictions, such as the UK and the European Union, there is legislation strictly governing data access and protection. 

Candidate feedback is considered data relating to a specific candidate and, under that legislation (General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR), they have the right to request any data any company has on them. 

Many other countries have taken GDPR as a template for data legislation and have either passed or are working on similar laws (Brazil, India, Turkey, and California, USA so far), so this is something everyone should be mindful of.

What this means is that you need to make sure that your recorded feedback is objective, clear, and relevant to the job skills, experience required, and the candidate’s performance at the interview in relation to those. 

This is why there can be no comments about what they were wearing, any accents they may have, and certainly nothing that may be considered discriminatory.

I give these warnings because I’ve seen them. While I’m glad I managed to catch out such blatant bias and address it with the people at the time, make sure that any recorded feedback doesn’t land you in hot water.

And no you can’t go around the legislation by trying to limit the feedback or anything like that. If you are found to have hidden information about the candidate the fines are really hefty. 

My standard is this—if the Amazon team hasn’t figured out a way to limit feedback then no one can!

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Interview Feedback FAQs

What are the benefits of interview feedback?

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How much detail should you provide in feedback?