GUEST COMMENT: Tried and tested techniques for eliciting feedback from elusive recruiters

There's only one thing better than practical, honest interview feedback, and that's a job offer.

As Fred Bayr noted once, feedback is hard to get and rarely credible. Recruiters and line managers are simply too lazy to provide it.

However, as a recruiter he lacks both the candidate and the hiring manager's perspective.

Based on my own experiences in both these positions, this is what really works.

I'm going to assume that your issue isn't actually securing the interview in the first place. Iif your problem is getting past the CV screening stage then this is a serious issue beyond the scope of my article.

So, be realistic. Recruiters work for their clients, the employers, and not you. If you have any illusions about this then I hear the West Bromwich branch of Clydesdale Bank is hiring.

Since they're making a commission of 15-30% of your base salary for placing you, you'd think it might be reasonable for them to provide you with this basic level of service. Think again.

If you're dealing direct with a line manager they'll do their best to obfuscate the truth to avoid litigation, or even just a tense phone call/email.

Here are some tips, based on my personal experience, on how to politely reach someone and tactfully enlist their help (and not get hung up on).

1) Don't be afraid to go direct

Mr Bayr claims that "If you pressurize your consultant, he/she will have to pressurize the client." I disagree: recruiters would rather disappoint even their best candidate than bother a key client and spend some of their own time on something not directly related to a commission.

What this means is that nine times out of ten you'll need to go direct. If you're worried that you'll annoy the recruiter by bypassing them, well, your relationship with them wasn't worth much anyway if they don't respect you enough to get you your feedback. And if you handle the approach well, you will make a positive impression on the hiring manager which can only help you.

2) Be persistent, and realistic.

If you're not getting through to the right person, try calling at different times of the day. If your interview went badly and you just didn't click with the team, then that's probably why you didn't go through, so don't expect a lot of guidance on how to improve your technical skills.

3) Keep your contact brief.

Don't expect a lot - a maximum 5 minutes of their time is a good rule of thumb. That should be enough to understand the main issues. They're not careers guidance counsellors, so keep your questions short and to the point.

4) Make their lives easy.

If you can put your CV in front of someone (by emailing it to them in advance or being ready to summarise it verbally) to save them having to look for it in their old emails, you will make their life easier and remind them what their issues were. For example: "I'm the DEF graduate who worked for XYZ bank with ABC qualification" will usually jog their memory.

5) If nothing else works, stalk.

"Zack", a friend of mine got dinged in the final rounds for a job at a prestigious European hedge fund. He got on well with the people he met and heard they paid packages slightly less than Lloyd Blankfein's. To say he was disappointed is an understatement: he wanted that job like fat kids want cake. The firm was so notoriously secretive that it didn't even publish a switchboard number on the FSA register. The last thing they wanted was for Guardian journalists or random brokers to call them up.

Desperate to find out where he went wrong, he used a combination of astute social networking and bribery to figure out how he was connected to the desk head, who, it turned out, knew a very well-connected mutual friend of theirs. The next time said friend threw a party Zack made sure he was there, and sure enough the manager was also there.

With a few drinks in him and in the knowledge that they had a good mutual friend in common, he was forthcoming with Zack - he wasn't a bad guy, just very busy. Since they'd got on well at interview he was glad to help, the opportunity just had to be handed to him on a plate.

6) Accept that there will be sham processes

Sometimes firms will know in advance who they want to hire and have to run a process for legal reasons. Feedback is meaningless here as you were never in the running in the first place.

Unfortunately, none of this is guaranteed to work. You might just have to find out who did eventually get the job and look at their Linkedin profile. Compare & contrast honestly with your own experience, and move on.

The author is an ex-banker now on the buyside whose biggest weakness is working too hard.