Receiving Critical Feedback

For many people receiving feedback can be an uncomfortable experience, especially when it comes in the more critical variety. This can be multiplied when receiving feedback following an interview.

There are those who react very negatively to this feedback as they may believe they have all it takes to secure a particular position and may feel unfairly judged by someone who has only had a short conversation with them. Many recruiters and members of HR are unwilling to give feedback for this very reason.

An area that needs to be discussed when it comes to this topic is ego and pride. Though it changes from person to person everyone has these. Certain industries are more prone to encouraging and inflating these and it can make feedback of any variety much harder to communicate. This is a cultural issue in many industries that are slow to change their mentality and the way they go about things. While pride should be taken in your skill and experience it should not mean unwillingness to hear criticism.

Offering negative feedback within construction in particular can be difficult as the industry, despite the effort to change the culture, still has an unfortunate stigma surrounding negative feedback and a certain ego that has to be contended with. This can get even harder when dealing with niche sectors of construction, such as facades, as the people within those sectors have a plethora of expert knowledge and being told it may not be what a company is looking for or enough can be hard to swallow.

This applies to other industries as well as the more specialist or niche your skillset may become the harder it becomes to hear that it may not be what an employer dealing with that area is looking for or is not quite right.

While it may be unpleasant to be told you are not right for a position for any reason listening to the feedback and taking it on board is extremely valuable to any individual, both personally and professionally. This is because much of the feedback may be regarding weaknesses in your skill and experience you may not be aware of. It can help highlight areas for improvement in your experience, how you present it in a CV, and how you convey it during an interview. It should be seen as a learning experience for how to proceed in the future, either by improving delivery or taking some time to work on your skills and knowledge surrounding them.

It should be noted that a company may not have any negative feedback to offer while still not being able to accommodate you. There have always been examples of someone having all the right skills and qualifications but the employer not being able to accommodate the level you are at or the direction you are hoping to go. This can be a failure by many and an easy way to feel rejected but it is a great endorsement of current skills when applying to other companies. It also opens a window for future interaction when circumstances change.

There are methods to turn receiving and offering feedback into a more common process at the end of any interview.

The first of these is being open to it, as simple as it may sounds. Even if your skill is top tier there are always areas for improvement, however small, and recognising this can make the process less daunting.

Another would be to provide this feedback regularly. There are far too many companies that unless prompted by a recruiter, member of the team, or candidate would not provide any form of feedback regarding the application. While this could be an issue with resources and time it would mean that someone who is 95% there would know where to push and improve.

Sandwiching the negative feedback with some positive feedback could also go a long way in opening individuals up to be more receptive and open to why they may not be exactly what someone is looking for.

Lastly, is perception. Negative feedback is usually perceived as a loss or defeat, by the one receiving it as well as those around them, which in an industry like construction, which is still male-dominated, can lead to a lot of pressure.

Ultimately, it is very difficult to change how you may react to getting a piece of negative feedback, especially in the moment of receiving it. That being said even if it takes a wounded pride and a moment of introspection and review it is a hugely valuable tool for growth. As the culture within construction changes, through more discussions surrounding mental health and by increasing the diversity on site, the perception and reception of this may change.

Using a tool like Jobsocks can help with this too. As companies are the ones who apply to you on our platform it means that they have already reviewed and shown interest in your skills, meaning that a significant step in conveying experience is streamlined as they have already seen your experience in an easy-to-digest manner. The process is also managed by one of our talent partners to ensure all bases are covered. This combines to a more natural and efficient process both for recruitment and feedback.