It’s not you. It’s me.

There are good reasons to use this hollow rejection when you’re breaking off a relationship.

You don’t want to be hurtful. You don’t want to get into an argument. And you certainly don’t want that person reacting poorly to the real reason and then driving to your house in the middle of the night and shoving a banana in your tailpipe.

Hiring managers employ the same no-feedback strategy for many of the same reasons.

From my side of the table, this is one of the hardest parts of the job. I usually don’t receive any specific feedback to pass along, even when a candidate has invested real time and hope into the process. Delivering a generic “no” with little explanation never feels good, even though I understand why organizations keep things close to the vest.

My hope is that helping candidates understand why feedback is rarely shared will ease some of the disappointment and bring a little clarity to an otherwise confusing process.

  1. Time constraints
    I recently wrapped up a search with 135 candidates. My client was a trooper to carefully evaluate the candidates in a timely fashion and eventually winnow the crowd down to one, but he did not provide detailed feedback on the other 134 candidates.

    For him, it was a matter of time constraints. He apologized for not having more bandwidth to do so, and I certainly didn’t blame him.

    Hiring managers in the nonprofit sector are stretched thin. They juggle full-time jobs while reviewing dozens—sometimes hundreds—of applications. Crafting individualized critiques for every candidate simply isn’t feasible.

  2. Legal and HR concerns
    Employers live in a world shaped by risk management. Even well-intended comments can be perceived as discriminatory, inconsistent with internal policies, or as the opening argument in a nasty employment lawsuit.

    To avoid any possibility of liability, many organizations adopt a blanket rule of not providing feedback.

  3. Multiple decision-makers = Multiple reasons
    It will surprise no one to learn that many hiring decisions are not clear-cut. They often involve multiple decision-makers, disagreement, and dissent.

    In one situation, a search committee member threatened to quit because he believed other members had abandoned the priorities and principles originally set forth. In another, a boardroom erupted in a shouting match because there was such intense disagreement about the finalists.

    The eventual decision is often a blend of perspectives that would be hard to summarize without misrepresenting someone’s view.

  4. Feedback can be counterproductive
    A candidate once begged me for feedback and assured me he would take whatever I told him as constructive criticism. I asked the client if she had any feedback for him, and she offered some up. I called the candidate to gently share the information.

    Mercy. By the end of the call, I was holding the phone away from my ear like it was a rabid squirrel.

    Because of this unfortunate situation, I would be hard-pressed to encourage a client to share feedback unless he/she is certain it will be received in a professional and productive manner.

So, that’s the bad news about why you likely won’t be getting feedback any time soon.

But I have good news, too.

Most hiring decisions come down to a few predictable factors.

Next month, we’ll cover the most common, concrete reasons candidates get declined and what you can do about the ones within your control.

Stay tuned.