Another factor that leads to positive reactions is providing feedback to applicants about
how they have performed on an assessment. Candidates not only want feedback on
their performance, but it is not uncommon for some candidates to request feedback
on how they could have performed better. While many candidates desire as much
information as possible about their performance on job assessments, organizations
need to take a measured approach to the feedback they provide. It is certainly reasonable
to let applicants know how they scored on an assessment, and it can also be helpful
to provide normative data about how they scored compared with others who were
assessed or hired.
However, offering specific feedback on how the applicant might have done better is
not something organizations typically do. For one reason, discussing test performance
in detail can divulge information about the test or suggest correct responses that would
result in test security breaches. As a practical matter as well, it could quickly become
quite costly for organizations to provide in-depth feedback on assessment performance
to each and every job candidate considered.