Rejection after an interview can be tough, especially if you invested a lot of time and effort in preparing. However, every rejection is an opportunity in disguise – a chance to gain valuable feedback that can develop your skills and interview technique, enhance your confidence, and guide your personal and professional growth. This article will cover why gaining feedback is important, how to ask for feedback, and how to use it to improve your future job search.
- Why gaining feedback may be important
- How to ask for feedback after you’ve been rejected for a job
- Sample email to ask for feedback
- How to use feedback to improve your future job search
Why gaining feedback may be important
Gaining constructive feedback after an unsuccessful job interview helps identify your strengths and areas of improvement with regards to your interview performance. For example, you might discover that whilst your body language conveyed confidence, your answers lacked specific detail, or that your understanding of the company and the industry they operate in wasn’t quite strong enough. These kinds of insights allow you to work on specific aspects of your performance, and will help you to improve at future interviews, and feel more confident and prepared.
Receiving and acting on feedback after a rejection can also help you to build a more positive mindset. Although not getting the job can feel disappointing, instead of seeing the rejection as a failure, gaining feedback will help you in the process of reframing it as an opportunity to grow and develop. This kind of mindset will help you to stay motivated and confident throughout the job searching process and also build resilience, which is a vital quality for any career.
Lastly, asking for feedback also demonstrates a commitment to professionalism and self-improvement, which could leave a positive impression on the employer – and therefore mean that they might keep you in mind for any future opportunities, or recommend you to colleagues!
How to ask for feedback after you’ve been rejected for a job
Ideally, try to ask for feedback within a week of the interview taking place – this will help ensure that you are fresh in the minds of the recruiter so that you can get the most valuable results. Email is usually the best way to request feedback, but some companies might have a different preferred method, so make sure that you check before contacting them. When requesting feedback, be sure to use a polite and professional tone, and to thank them again for the opportunity and their time.
Not all employers will be able to provide very detailed feedback, so prepare for the possibility that you might get a fairly brief response.
Below you will find a sample email that you can use and adapt to ask employers for feedback.
Sample email
Dear [hiring managers name],
Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to interview for the role of [role title] at [company name].
Whilst I am naturally disappointed that I was not selected for the role, I greatly appreciated the chance to learn more about the organisation and meet the team.
I am always looking to improve and would be extremely grateful if you could please provide me with any feedback on my interview performance. Specifically, were there any questions where you felt I could have provided more detail? Or do you have any insight on where I could improve to be a stronger candidate for similar roles in the future?
I understand that you are very busy, so even a brief response would be helpful and I would really appreciate it.
Thank you again for the opportunity, and I wish you all the best.
Best wishes,
[your name]
How to use feedback to improve in your future job search
Constructive feedback can be incredibly useful for your future job search. It can help you to identify patterns and take relevant actions – if you have had multiple interviews, compare the feedback you have received and you might spot some recurring themes. For example, employers might have commented on a lack of technical skills related to the profession – could you address this by seeking out an online course or certification to help you increase your technical skills? Or perhaps if they said they were looking for someone with slightly more experience, could volunteering or a short-term work experience opportunity help you to build on this? By taking positive actions like these you will have more experience and skills to talk about and evidence in your applications and interviews.
If the employer said that your understanding of the company needs improvement, this highlights the need for you to research the organisation in more depth. This deeper understanding will help you to tailor your answers to questions about the company more effectively in the interview and ensure that you demonstrate genuine interest and enthusiasm for working with them.
Feedback is not just about where you could have done better – it also emphasises where you performed effectively! If the recruiter lets you know which of your strengths came across well in the interview, it makes sense to highlight these and make them more prominent in your future applications and interviews to create a strong impression.
The next time an interview doesn’t go as planned, focus on asking for feedback rather than feeling disheartened. Constructive feedback will not only help you to improve for your next interview, but it will also help you to develop yourself both personally and professionally.
Written by Amy Evan-Cook.
Last updated on 17 February 2025
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