Hey Little Pineapple,
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You probably think companies avoid giving feedback because they’re lazy (and that's the most gentle description I can think of).
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And I'm telling you it's not exactly true.
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Here's my story from the times when I used to believe I could fix recruitment and tried to change the system.

Chapter 1 - The Experiment

I was working on a role with 2 mandatory, non-negotiable requirements:

1. You must be based in Europe
2. You must have Unity experience with F2P mobile games

Clear. Simple. No wiggle room.

Because I had a large pipeline, I thought:

“Let me do something good. Let me give every rejected candidate a short, honest explanation.”

So I wrote a mass message saying:

• You’re rejected because you are not based in Europe
  OR
• Your CV does not show Unity experience on mobile F2P titles

And I added:

“This is a mass message, not personal feedback. If you think I made a mistake feel free to reply.”

Seemed fair.
Transparent.
Helpful.
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But oh boy, was I naive, little pineapple.

Chapter 2 - The Guy

One guy replied:

“You probably don’t know geography because my country is in Europe.” (It was. That wasn’t the issue.)

Then:

“I have plenty of Unity experience.” (True. But none on mobile F2P games.)

Then he argued:

“Unity is Unity. It doesn’t matter.”

Even if he were right - I don’t make the rules.
Hiring managers do.

It's honestly pretty obvious to anyone who ever worked in a company.

I explained that he didn’t present relevant experience on his CV.

He kept arguing.

So I stopped the email ping-pong and invited him for a call.

And on that call?

He threatened to post about me on LinkedIn.

Because he didn’t like the reasons he didn’t qualify.

So I wasted an hour of my time trying to explain the very simple reasoning behind rejection.

And that was the day I stopped doing this “feedback for everyone” experiment.

Not because I’m cynical.
But because reality slapped me in the face.

And every recruiter has a version of this story.

Most recruiters in the beginning of this job think:

“I’ll change the system.”
“I’ll give feedback to everyone.”
“I’ll make hiring more human.”

Then they go through a few of these cases and realise:

The cost of feedback is substantial.
The benefit to the business is zero.
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​And the risk? ​
Very real.

If you’re reading this and thinking:
“Okay… but how do I know what I’m doing wrong if no one tells me?”

That’s a fair fear.

If you want a human to look at your profile, positioning, or interview story and tell you honestly what’s helping you and what’s quietly killing your chances, you can book a short call here:
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No scripts. No HR polish. Just reality.

6 reasons why you really don’t get feedback

Here’s the part no motivational LinkedIn post will tell you:

Feedback is a terrible cost–benefit decision inside a company.

Because:

1. Time cost: 200–600 applicants → impossible to personalise
2. Emotional cost: some candidates argue, debate, escalate
3. Legal cost: one poorly phrased line goes viral as discrimination
4. Business cost: recruiters aren’t measured on “coaching rejected candidates”
5. Skill gap: Most interviewers aren’t trained to give hard feedback
6. Practicality: at the CV stage, there’s often nothing useful to say anyway

This isn’t “companies don’t care.”

The system is optimised for efficiency, not your personal growth.

And when you think about it, it's pretty understandable as well.
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Why would the company you aren't even working at care about your development?

How to ask for feedback (if you still want to try)

You can’t force it. But you can increase your odds:

• Ask once, briefly, within a week
• Emphasise learning, not challenging
• Remove all blame, emotion, and entitlement - no one owns you anything, really
• Make it safe to say “no”

Example: “Thank you for letting me know about the decision. If possible, could you share one or two things I could improve for future opportunities? A short, candid note would be really helpful. And I completely understand if policy prevents specifics.”

That’s as good as it gets.

If you want to become better than 95% of candidates with structure, discipline, and a plan, stop waiting for companies to guide you.

Guide yourself.

And if you want help building that system, you can either hit reply or book a call directly here:
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No pressure. Just clarity.
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That's it from me this time.
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Have a great rest of the week Little Pineapple,
Patryk
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PS