Asking for interview feedback?

In our job-market discussion thread, a reader asks:

Do interviewees usually ask for feedback on their performance from search committee members after they've been ultimately rejected? And if so, what is the best way to do this?

These are good questions. Another reader, Andy, responded:

It can be helpful to ask for feedback. What you get can vary a lot. I have had one line of just "it was a strong field" all the way to the chair of the search committee organising a 30 minute zoom meeting with me to give feedback. I know others who have had similar experiences. I think it is usually worth asking (unless you just got a really bad vibe at the interview).

I'm curious to hear from other job-candidates. If you have asked for interview feedback, have you received helpful responses? Also, for search committee members: what do you think of candidates asking for feedback? Is there a best way to do so?

Comments

[anon]

Everytime I have ever asked for feedback after an interview, they say the following:

"You were a very strong applicant but we decided to move forward with a candidate that best meets our currents needs."

The equivalent of PFO
(Said in the voice Logan Roy)

[Mark Wilson]

For legal reasons I would be very reluctant to say (or even worse, put in writing in an email) that someone didn't get the job because of some very specific reason X. The unfortunate reality is that it is simply too dangerous to say anything other than 'it was a strong field'.

[Anon1]

I've just gone through my university's Equal Opportunities Office training for search committee members. It was mainly focused on what we cannot do, cannot say, cannot rely upon, etc., and much of that would preclude me from giving any substantive information to unsuccessful candidates. However, I also discovered that in recent years, my university (thought not my department) has been sued both by unsuccessful graduate school candidates and by unsuccessful academic job applicants. This has required turning over all written communications about these candidates for legal proceedings. So, in my state, at least, anything you write down can be used against you. This has also led to our search committees not discussing candidates over email, but rather waiting for in person meetings, which has had the side effect of slowing things down with the search.

[Gambling Addict]

On two occasions I've asked contacts who know people at a department where I had a final round interview but didn't get the job to inquire about my performance. Both times, I was relayed candid responses. Worth a shot if you're in a similar circumstance.

[The wire]

In my American experiences, only once I was given a detailed feedback, and it was over the phone.
In the European context, it happened twice: one over the phone, and one over zoom (one hour feedback!).

But I want to stress that in all these cases I knew very well people in the committee, and that's how I explain this 'special' treatment I received.

[rejected again, naturally]

OP here. Thanks for the input, everyone.

Anon1 - I'm wondering if you can expand a little bit on what the regulations coming from the EOO specify. What sorts of things are you not allowed to say and how might that affect what you can disclose to an unsuccessful candidate? Part of the reason I'm asking is that I got the sense that this department was very limited by their bureaucracy, so this might inform my choice to reach out or not. The other reason is that I'm genuinely interested to know what these limitations are since I think this could help me have some perspective moving forward in the job market.

[Some Experience]

Recently, I've started to ask. The results have been uninformative.

[Mike Titelbaum]

One other approach: If you're a grad student, sometimes your placement director can reach out in an informal way to get some feedback about how you did in the interview, then relay it to you.