According to LinkedIn, 94% of candidates want to receive feedback after an interview. But giving feedback isn’t always easy, especially when you weren’t even in the room for the interview!
As a recruiter, providing constructive feedback is one of the most effective recruitment strategies to earn the respect and loyalty of active candidates while building a competitive edge in the market. Whether you work in a small recruitment agency or for larger staffing agencies, the way you handle the recruitment process, especially the feedback loop, can make or break candidate relationships.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to collect client feedback more effectively, plus share 6 proven tips for delivering feedback to your candidates. Whether you’re using recruitment software such as Eclipse Software, these tips can be built into your recruitment process to improve both efficiency and candidate experience.
How To Obtain Interview Feedback From Your Clients
Before you can give constructive feedback to candidates, you first need to collect customer feedback, and as most recruitment agencies know, this isn’t always easy. If you’re working with HR teams, having a clear customer feedback strategy can make the process smoother.
Here are some proven tactics for collecting customer feedback after interviews:
1. Organise an Interview Debrief Call
By arranging a set time for an interview debrief, you establish an expectation that feedback will be part of the recruitment process. This proactive approach not only improves the customer experience for your clients but also helps you gather more qualitative feedback you can share with your candidates.
If you use recruiting software that integrates with interview scheduling tools, you can even automate reminders, saving time and reducing repetitive tasks in your day-to-day recruitment operations.
2. Prepare Well for Candidate Experience
Maximise your client’s time by having specific questions ready. Think about the kind of client feedback you’d want as a candidate and turn that into targeted questions.
You can ask about:
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Overview – Overall impression, presentation, and interview performance.
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Culture Fit – Whether they fit the company culture and worked well with the team dynamic.
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Skills – Which skills they demonstrated well and which were lacking.
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Strengths/Weaknesses – Clear examples of what went well and what could be improved.
By asking open-ended questions, you’ll not only get detailed candidate summaries but also gain actionable insights into what recruiting managers are looking for. This improves your candidate screening and candidate sourcing for future job postings.
6 Tips For Delivering Constructive Feedback
Once you’ve gathered valuable insights from clients, here’s how to provide feedback that supports both your most suitable candidate’s career and your business needs.
1. Always Deliver Feedback Over the Phone
This helps build trust from recruitment teams and supports better candidate communication. Unlike email or messaging, phone calls allow you to read tone, clarify points instantly, and ensure nothing gets lost in translation.
2. Start with the Positives in a Feedback Loop
Using the “praise sandwich” approach – positive, constructive, positive – makes it easier for candidates to accept improvement points. This is particularly important for job seekers who may already feel deflated after rejection.
3. Be Specific About Strengths and Weaknesses
Vague statements help no one. Instead of saying, “You just weren’t the right fit,” explain, “You demonstrated strong technical knowledge, but the client was looking for more evidence of leadership experience.”
If your recruitment tools or recruitment analytics tools track performance trends, use this data to provide data-driven decisions and specific development recommendations.
4. Be Transparent
Honesty goes a long way in recruitment marketing and building relationships. Even difficult feedback, when given professionally, can strengthen your reputation and improve candidate engagement.
5. Make Recommendations
Draw on your industry experience and share tips on improving interview technique. Your exposure to multiple platforms, job boards, recruitment CRM and recruitment marketing channels means you can advise on how to stand out in future job postings and job descriptions.
6. Use Your Experience
Draw on your industry experience and share tips on improving interview technique. Your exposure to multiple platforms, job boards, recruitment crm and recruitment marketing channels means you can advise on how to stand out in future job postings and job descriptions.
Why This Matters for Recruiters Using Eclipse Software
Modern recruiting platforms like Eclipse Recruitment Software or best recruiting software solutions can streamline your process by automating interview scheduling, resume screening, and candidate engagement.
By combining recruitment automation software with a solid feedback loop, you can:
- Automate repetitive tasks while maintaining a personal touch.
- Use in-app surveys for collecting feedback from managers in less than a minute.
- Improve recruitment efficiency and reduce time to hire.
- Gain actionable insights for future candidate sourcing.
The end result? Better customer success, stronger candidate relationships, and a reputation as a recruitment agency that delivers.
Collecting Customer Feedback
Delivering feedback is a strategic advantage. With the right tools, processes, and mindset, you can provide candidates with valuable guidance while building lasting relationships that benefit your entire recruiting process.
