Most candidate feedback is never given, and the reason is usually not indifference. It is that nobody wrote down what was being judged, so a week later there is nothing specific to say and anything general sounds either evasive or risky. Feedback is downstream of assessment: a desk that scored candidates against agreed criteria has feedback as a by product, and a desk that formed impressions has to invent it. This page sets out what the record has to hold for feedback to be possible at all, what to keep against the applicant afterwards, and where the free scoring sheet on this site produces it.
Feedback is a by product of a scored process
If three interviewers scored a candidate against four written criteria, the feedback writes itself: they were strong on two, mid on one, and the gap was the fourth, which the role needs. If nobody scored anything, the honest summary is an impression, and impressions are exactly what a candidate will argue with and what a small employer is least comfortable putting in writing. The order matters and it is not a matter of policy: agree the criteria and their weights before the interviews, and the feedback problem largely disappears.
What to keep against the applicant, and for how long
The scores, the criteria they were scored against, the date, and the outcome, held against the applicant in the same record as their source and their stage history. That is what makes a question three months later a lookup rather than an archaeology exercise, and it is what makes a re approach worth doing: a strong candidate who lost on one criterion is the first person to contact when a different role opens. Retention periods are a matter for your own counsel; this site publishes no rule about them.
Giving it without turning it into a negotiation
Be specific about the criterion rather than the person, name what was needed rather than what was missing where you can, and do not offer to reconsider unless you would. A scored process makes all three easy, because the criterion is written down and the gap is a number rather than a verdict. Keeping it short is not evasion: two sentences per criterion is more useful to a candidate than a paragraph of general encouragement, and it is also the version you will actually send.
What feedback is worth to the desk, not just the candidate
A pattern in your own rejections is the cheapest signal you will get about the job description. If most candidates fail the same criterion, either the advert is bringing the wrong people or the criterion is stricter than the job. Both are worth knowing and neither is visible unless the scores were kept. The pipeline conversion sheet on this site works the same question from the other end, by counting where in the funnel the losses happen: on the worked example, 50 applicants per hire.
Questions people ask about candidate feedback
Do I have to give candidate feedback?
That is a question for your own counsel and it varies by jurisdiction; this site publishes no rule. The practical point is separate: if you decide to give it, a scored process makes it possible in minutes, and an unscored one makes it a paragraph you will keep putting off.
What should candidate feedback actually say?
Which criteria were assessed, where the candidate was strong, and which criterion the role needed more of. Two sentences per criterion is enough. Specific and short is both more useful to the candidate and easier for you to stand behind than a general note of encouragement.
Where should feedback be kept?
Against the applicant, in the same record as their source, their stage history and their scores, so a question later is a lookup. It also makes re approaching a near miss worth doing, which is the highest return activity on most small desks and the one that dies with a spreadsheet.
What if interviewers disagree?
That is information, not a problem to be smoothed over. A criterion where two interviewers are several points apart is either badly defined or evidence they saw different things, and either is worth a short conversation before the feedback goes out, because it is exactly the part a candidate will ask about.