Feeling guilty about job interviews

[ikno]

So today I was part of an interview panel at work. I’ve been on interview panels before and have had all the mandatory training. I was with 2 other people including the lead panellist who is more senior so has final say. we were interviewing people for jobs at my own level so I understood what was expected of them.

However not only did every candidate not meet the standard, some got the lowest scores possible. The other 2 panelists were harsher than me and my scores tended to be higher but were bumped down.

Whilst I do agree that none were great, I just think giving lowest scores possible will open us to challenge and criticism and feel guilty about that! If you had an interview and got the lowest possible score, surely you’d want to know why etc. or am I overthinking this?

Why would the candidates know the scores? Surely they’d just be told if they’re successful or not.

Don’t feel guilty of people don’t get a job. It’s far worse to inflict someone crap on your colleagues.

I'm really not understanding why you're worrying about this. It doesn't sound like the final decision rested with you so nor will any pushback. Put it to the back of your mind.

I've done hundreds of interviews and never been challenged once on my scoring. And if people are crap, I have no qualms about giving them a low score. It's not an exercise in massaging their ego.

Well it’s public sector recruitment where a score is provided for each question!

The panel notes can be made available through a subject access request - I think it’s likely someone would request when they get the lowest possible scores. A lot of candidates were internal too so would be aware of this.

I wouldn’t care as much if I thought this was the end of it. Though I do see not much would necessarily come of this