Mentoring ‘no-hire’ design candidates
Are you doing what you can to help the next generation of designers find their way?
Getting a “no-hire” decision from a potential employer is rough on any job candidate. But given their tendency to be emotionally invested in their work and their chosen profession, it can be particularly disheartening for designers.
To make matters worse, many companies have nondisclosure policies regarding candidate feedback — we’ve all heard the classic “thanks for your interest, but we’re going in a different direction with this position” generic response at some point in our own careers, right?
Obviously, the person who got hired had most, if not all, of what you were looking for, while others did not. But the question is: Why not? And why wouldn’t you share that feedback with the other candidates? Providing no feedback to a design job candidate does nothing to help them improve their interview performance or their chances of landing the next design job in the future.
So here’s a radical thought:
What if your “no-hire” decision wasn’t the last time you interacted with this person?
