[bell-cot]

If I'm the HR VP, my choices look like this:

Forbid Feedback - this is a one-liner in our procedures manual. For internal Training, I might add a 3-minute "here's a real-world example, where well-intended feedback turned into a disaster" story to any 3+ hour training. That'll be a different case every time, to keep it fresh and drive home the point.

Allow Feedback - now I'm letting my front-line troops, who don't have much training for it, spend time wandering in legal minefields. The time is on my dime. Any additional training is on my dime. The liability (which could easily be $millions) is on my dime. And 99% of the (modest) upsides are for some declined candidate who we'll probably never see again.

[scrapheap]

I can understand when a company has a policy of never giving feedback, but it's a shame when they can't at least be polite about it. How hard is it to have an standard response saying something along the lines of "Sorry, it is not company policy to provide feedback"?

[bell-cot]

> How hard is it...

Not very - though the experienced prospects don't need to be told.

And people who are inclined to sympathy and politeness tend not to stick around in a role which requires lots of saying "no", to people who really wanted to hear "yes".

Finally, the sooner you close the door on further communication, the less time you waste with candidates who fall short of "calm and professional" in accepting their "no".