Thank you, I appreciate that you made the effort. Many companies won't allow it due to legal risk, not to mention the social risks you report and related.

Our solving and counter-solving leads us into fairly dysfunctional places.

I’ve had people come back at me after giving feedback, which I always do give for anyone I’ve spoken to. They argue, they ask for a second chance, etc. I simply tell them my decision is final and stop responding to further communication attempts. I have no problem doing that.

But that’s a minority: most people just appreciate getting some feedback, and not being ghosted.

And if they’ve taken an hour out of their day to speak to me, providing a short piece of (ideally actionable) feedback, or at least that explains where their experience or skills didn’t match up to other applicants, is the least I can do. It’s also an opportunity to provide encouragement on positive aspects of the interview, even if those weren’t enough to carry the day.

You have to understand that even - perhaps especially - unsuccessful applicants will talk about their experience of your hiring process. Unless you work somewhere that people really want to work, and where they’ll be willing to wade through shit to do it (cough, Google, cough - perhaps Google of yore anyway), you want to be doing everything you can to ensure that even unsuccessful applicants are treated well and have as positive an experience as possible.

It won’t always work out but, in my experience, the extra effort is worthwhile.