[fjones11]

In many cases, a company is concerned about opening itself up to potential legal action. It sucks for candidates who really just want to know how to improve, but the safest action for a company is to simply not provide any information, rather than provide something that could be used against them later.

It's not dissimilar to why many companies can't provide more info on reference checks than the dates of someone's employment.

If you don't recall any major red flags, it really might just be an issue of fit. Maybe you didn't have a specific type of experience or expertise that they decided would work best for this job (and another candidate did). It doesn't mean you're not a great candidate, just that you're not the right candidate for this job at this company.

[mabui91]

Is this specific to US? Since I have never had any issues with receiving feedback in Europe. Fun fact: The current job I'm at, I was declined at first, but after asking for feedback and having a follow up discussion about it, they changed their mind and offered me the position.

[brudgers]

It is typical in the United States. In part due to the nature of employment law. In part due to employment law making the legally conservative approach normative. I would say your experience is not entirely beyond possibility here when dealing with a small company and an unadvertised position. It is unlikely at an organization of substantial size with an advertised position.

[bjourne]

> In many cases, a company is concerned about opening itself up to potential legal action.

Can you give an example of specific kinds of feedback that would open a company up for legal action?