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Interview follow-up protocol

Janet

Hi Community,

I would like your opinion on the follow.

We interviewed a candidate last Thursday (the day of the heatwave), it was for a senior position.  The interview went well but neither myself nor my colleague were ‘blown away’, however the candidate has since followed up with an email explaining that he doesn’t feel that he did himself any justice during the interview and had been affected by the heat.

On paper he is an ideal candidate and has come highly recommended.  However, on the day he was a little lack lustre.  The manager that I interviewed with thinks that the heat is a poor excuse and the follow up email has confirmed in their opinion that this person isn’t right for our organisation.

My question is, in general what is your opinion of follow up emails such as these from a candidate?

Thanks.

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  • I think a follow-up email like this not only shows a positive ability for self-reflection (very valuable in any member of staff, let alone a senior one) but also an enthusiasm for the role (also, pretty valuable).

    That said, it doesn't oblige you to offer a second bite or to take another look at the candidate. Not right is not right. But it is always useful to quantify "not right" as it's easy to let "not a good team fit" be a fig leaf for "not like me/us", which can also be a fig leaf for uglier motives. If you can articulate specific competencies the candidate didn't show, or where they showed the wrong emphasis or instinct in a situation relevant to your industry, then you've got something constructive to work on. Otherwise, you're ultimately just work on gut, which is wrong 40% of the time anyway.
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  • I think a follow-up email like this not only shows a positive ability for self-reflection (very valuable in any member of staff, let alone a senior one) but also an enthusiasm for the role (also, pretty valuable).

    That said, it doesn't oblige you to offer a second bite or to take another look at the candidate. Not right is not right. But it is always useful to quantify "not right" as it's easy to let "not a good team fit" be a fig leaf for "not like me/us", which can also be a fig leaf for uglier motives. If you can articulate specific competencies the candidate didn't show, or where they showed the wrong emphasis or instinct in a situation relevant to your industry, then you've got something constructive to work on. Otherwise, you're ultimately just work on gut, which is wrong 40% of the time anyway.
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