Google in the 2000’s was a great teacher to me in many ways. Having said that, Google made plenty of mistakes, and there was plenty to “unlearn” after I left for startups.
One of the most important lessons I unlearned came from hiring: “Don’t give rejected candidates specific interview feedback.”
The problem (or so we were told)
Everyone at Google interviewed, and so everyone at Google went through interview training. It was here that “the rule” was taught. It went something like this:
A rejected candidate might follow up with you and ask why they were rejected. Do NOT give them feedback! You could open the whole company, and you personally, to a world of liability in an employment discrimination lawsuit.
And so it was.
Reality is that most rejected candidates never followed up (or knew how to find me). But on a handful of times, the sinister reach-out would arrive.
_“Hi Mikey. I really enjoyed our talk, but I was disappointed to hear I was rejected. Could you help me understand where things went wrong?”
Quietly, I pressed archive.