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I was just recently informed that I was successful in securing a role that I applied for. I've been described by some as "intensely literal" which thankfully hasn't worked against me in my last couple interviews but I do want to improve on my interview "skills". I'm wondering how unusual would it be to ask for feedback on how I could have interviewed better? I'm mostly interested if there was anything that raised flags or concerns so I know to avoid that in the future. At the same time, I don't want to raise further flags by asking a weird and/or unusual question.

EDIT: For posterity's sake I decided to post an update. I decided to go ahead and ask for feedback. The question did throw them off a bit but what they mentioned was beneficial. Without getting into all the details, the main thing I was concerned about was that I downplayed my skills too much and didn't give myself enough credit. Their feedback suggested that their takeaway was that I was honest and fairly perceptive of my own skills.

fib112358
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  • @TheWanderingDevManager, related but not a duplicate as I was successful (I got the job, I was not rejected). – fib112358 Jul 15 '16 at 08:59
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    no it's essentially the same and one of a number of similar questions. The "how unusual as successful " part is opinion based so off topic. – The Wandering Dev Manager Jul 15 '16 at 09:05
  • It is not essentially the same. The benefits of giving feedback to an interviewee who was unsuccessful is different to that of one that was. The top answer is not applicable to me at all. The key point of the question is the part you quoted, how unusual is it for a successful candidate to ask for feedback. Regarding it being opinion based, I'd add that every answer here is an opinion, so can you clarify that statement? – fib112358 Jul 15 '16 at 09:11
  • @JoeStrazzere haha, well I guess that answers my question. – fib112358 Jul 15 '16 at 11:27

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We always talk to people we interviewed after the fact, whether we hired them or not, if they are willing to talk to us. We talk to them about what they could do better and we hope they're willing to talk to us about what we can do better. I would like to think this practice isn't unusual, but it probably is.

David Schwartz
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    I think giving feedback to non-hires is unusual, for the simple reason that innocent feedback like "We didn't like how you talked 10 minutes straight about your jewish heritage, because it isn't really related to the job at hand." to often leads to discrimination lawsuits. – s1lv3r Jul 15 '16 at 10:05
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    When interviewing and hiring, there are things you can say at any stage that will lead to lawsuits. For us, improving our hiring process is worth some risks, and people are not going to tell us what we could do better if we don't offer to do the same. It's perfectly okay to say, "Interviewers felt that you talked a lot about personal matters that weren't relevant to your skills and stated that they couldn't get you back on subject even with prodding". – David Schwartz Jul 15 '16 at 10:09