Do you give feedback to the Hiring Manager that one of his interviewers wasnt being fair leading to you not getting the job

Question

I have been interviewing for a senior job that was going well. Met the CEO, the Hiring Manager and the Head of Services. I was the peer of the Head of Services. The interviews all went well and the recruiter called for my compensation and one last interview with the HR Business Partner.

That interview i felt went terrible to the point i felt he wasnt interested and had an agenda. I also felt that if i didnt get the job, it would be primarily because of him. I wouldnt have come this far if the previous three interviewers didnt like me.

If the worst case happens. I am seriously thinking of writing feedback to the three interviewers about the bad experience i had with the HR Partner and highlight his lack of understanding for the role. Being Senior i hate it when HR business partners are not competent and find you lack the 'cultural fit' when i know it wasnt. Should i write, not wanting a change of their possible rejection but rather to highlight on the poor experience with the HR?

Answer 1

The answer to these questions typically is "how would this action improve your career" and that "there is little to nothing to be gained from such an action". In this case I cannot see how you would ever benefit. In best case the company changes its interview policies or personnel, but again how does this help you if you are "not wanting a change of their possible rejection"?

In the worst case the company could blacklist you and the HR partner that you are complaining about remembers your name. You never know when you might run into them again, possibly hurting your chances at other companies.

So unfortunately you likely should just move on and seek out better opportunities.

Answer 2

I'm honestly torn on this issue. I've seen both sides of this scenario.

As an interviewee, I had a meeting with a recruiter for a company and the recruiter was not well-versed in the specifics of the role or what engineers in our area are paid. I gave excellent answers to all the questions they asked (they said as much, though most of the questions were not really related to the position I was applying for), but when I told them my expected salary, they literally responded with "Oh, don't you think that's a bit more than you're worth?" I was completely dumbfounded. In my 10 years in software, I'd never had anyone say something so disrespectful. I had followup interviews with engineers and managers that I really enjoyed, so I ended up taking the job despite the recruiter's demeanor.

A few months later when we were about to hire another developer, I found out the aforementioned recruiter would be handling the initial interviews and I told one of my managers about my experience. They were completely appalled by what had happened and were very grateful that I had informed them so they could correct the problem before any good developers were scared away by a bad initial interview. The key is that I only felt comfortable telling them this because of the rapport we had built over those several months. If the information had been coming from a declined candidate, I don't believe anyone would have given it much thought.

I believe in your case, you probably don't want to waste your time by emailing the interviewers, as it would be very easy for them to see it as "sour grapes". However, if you know and trust anyone that works for the company, that might be a good person to tell about your experience, and they can deliver the information if they feel it's appropriate. Hope this helps!