Should you ask for feedback after a rejection?
Yes, if you met the people who made the decision. The request costs you one short email, and the worst outcome is silence, which is what you have now. It is most worth sending after a final or onsite round, because by then several people have written notes about you and formed a view they could share.
Keep the email short and your hopes modest. When a reply comes, it is usually a sentence or two. That is enough to work with, as long as you asked a question that a sentence or two can answer.
How you ask matters for later, too. A polite, brief request leaves the door open for the next opening at that company. A long email that argues with the decision closes it.
Why do employers often refuse to give interview feedback?
Mostly legal caution, and the jurisdiction matters. In the US, the EEOC says it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against a job applicant because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. Any reason a recruiter writes down can later be read against that list.
The US rules also keep those words around. Employers covered by federal anti-discrimination law must keep application forms and "other records having to do with hiring" for 1 year, under 29 CFR 1602.14. And a candidate generally has 180 calendar days to file a discrimination charge, or 300 where a state or local agency enforces a similar law, according to the EEOC's time limits page.
In the UK, section 39 of the Equality Act 2010 says an employer must not discriminate in deciding who to offer a job to, or "by not offering" someone a job. With rules like these on both sides of the Atlantic, the cheapest policy for a company is to give no reasons at all. So a refusal tells you about their legal team, and very little about you.
Time is the other reason. A recruiter with, for example, forty open roles can send a template in seconds, while a real answer needs the hiring manager's notes and a check with HR. Your job is to make your question small enough that it skips that queue.
When should you send the feedback email?
Send it within 2 business days of the rejection, while your interviewers still remember the conversation. That is my rule, not a law. Reply in the same thread as the rejection, so the recruiter sees the context without searching for it. If you met the hiring manager and have their email, you can write to them instead.
Don't send it the same hour the rejection lands. Read the email, close the laptop and write your own notes first, using the interview debrief template. You'll ask a better question once you know which part of the interview you are unsure about.
If the rejection was a stock phrase, decode it before you reply. The page on what "we decided to move in another direction" means covers the six most common ones.
What are the three scripts for asking for interview feedback?
Script 1 goes to the recruiter after a final round, and script 2 to a hiring manager you had a good conversation with. Script 3 is the one-line version for a phone screen or a busy recruiter. Each asks for one thing, promises not to argue, and fits on a phone screen. Copy them and change the brackets.
Script 1: the recruiter, after a final round
Subject: Re: [Role] at [Company]
Hi [Name],
Thank you for letting me know, and for setting up the interviews. I enjoyed meeting the team and I'd still like to work at [Company] one day.
If you're able to share it, I'd value one piece of feedback: what is the one area where I could have made a stronger case? A line or two is plenty. I understand if policy rules this out, and I won't debate anything you tell me.
Thanks again, [Your name]
Script 2: the hiring manager you met
Subject: Thank you, and one question
Hi [Name],
[Recruiter's name] told me you've gone with another candidate. Thank you for the time you gave me in the [round name] round. I learned a lot about how your team works.
I'm working on how I interview, and your view would help. If you had to name the one answer that cost me the most, which would it be? I'm asking so I can fix it, and I won't reply to argue.
Best, [Your name]
Script 3: the one-line version
Subject: Re: [Role] at [Company]
Hi [Name], thanks for the update. If there's one thing I could do better next time, I'd be grateful to hear it, even in a sentence. Either way, thanks for your help through the process.
[Your name]
Each script keeps the question about you and your answers. None of them asks about the other candidate, which is a question a recruiter cannot safely answer. Ask one question a recruiter can answer in two sentences, and make it easy for them to say no.
Which feedback script should you send?
Pick by who you met and how far you got. The recruiter script fits most final rounds, because the recruiter owns the relationship and usually has the panel's notes. Use the hiring manager script only if you had a real rapport and their address. Use the one-line script after a screen, or when the recruiter clearly handles a high volume.
| Script | Send to | Best after | The question it asks | Length (words) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Recruiter | The recruiter who sent the rejection | A final or onsite round | One area where you could have made a stronger case | About 85 |
| 2. Hiring manager | A manager you interviewed with | A round where you had a good conversation | The one answer that cost you the most | About 85 |
| 3. One line | The recruiter | A phone screen, or any round when time is short | One thing to do better next time | About 40 |
Send only one of these per company. Two people at the same company comparing notes on your two emails is not a conversation you want to start.
What should you leave out of a feedback email?
Leave out anything that asks them to defend the decision. That means no request to reconsider, no questions about who got the job, no salary talk and no list of reasons you were the better fit. Each of those turns a small favor into a legal or awkward reply, and the easiest response to an awkward email is none.
Leave out apologies for the interview too. If you think an answer went badly, you can say so in your own notes. In the email it reads as an invitation to agree with you, and it puts words in their mouth.
What do you do with the feedback you get?
Write it down next to your own notes from that round, word for word, the day it arrives. Then look for the moment in the interview it points to. Feedback such as "we wanted more depth on the data side" usually maps to one answer, and that answer is the one to rebuild before your next interview.
A free way to do that is the 10-minute debrief template: put the feedback next to the answer it points to, and make that answer your one fix. The method behind it is on the page about what an interview debrief is. Rewrite the weak answer as a STAR story with a number in the result, using the STAR method guide.
If you recorded the interview with everyone's consent, Prept's debrief quotes the moment an answer lost the room and gives you the words to say instead, and the first debrief is free. Either way, the aim is facts you can defend in the next room.
Can you get your interview notes under UK GDPR?
In the UK, usually yes. You can ask any organization for the personal information it holds about you, and notes an interviewer wrote about you are information about you. The ICO says organizations must respond within 1 month, that in most cases they cannot charge a fee, and that you can ask verbally or in writing.
There are limits. The ICO says an organization does not have to hand over information that would reveal another person, unless that person consents or it is reasonable to disclose it without consent. So expect redactions, and don't expect to see other candidates' scores. The ICO's guide for the public explains how to make the request.
This is a UK right under the UK GDPR, and the ICO guidance covers the UK only. US rules differ by state, so check your state's law before you ask a US employer for your file. A subject access request is also a formal step, so send the friendly script first and keep the request for when you need the record.
What if they never reply?
Send one follow-up after 7 days, in the same thread, with one line: "Just checking this reached you. No problem if you can't share anything." If that gets no answer, stop. A second chase won't change their policy, and it can cost you the next role at that company.
Silence after a feedback request is normal and says nothing about you. The page on no response after an interview covers follow-up timing in more detail. If this was a final round and you still want the likely reasons, read why you get rejected after the final round, then do your own debrief tonight.