In this article, you learn how to create feedback forms and interview templates. By default, the templates you create are available to all jobs. When you update these templates, all jobs linked to them are also updated.

In Ashby, you have the option to set up reusable templates in Admin and one-off objects on a per-job basis. We recommend creating templates, as this makes updating many jobs at once easy in the future.

Only Organization Admins can configure shared interviews and feedback forms by default. You can grant Elevated Access users permission to edit shared interviews and feedback forms if needed. More on this at Additional User PermissionsAdditional User Permissions.

Feedback forms and shared interviews can be set up on all Ashby All-in-one plans.

Shared feedback forms are standalone pre-configured questionnaires for application reviewers and interviewers to fill out to rate a candidate.

To set up a feedback form:

Once you add a question, you can set it as Required or Private:

Required: An interviewer must complete this field when submitting feedback. Private: Only those with Organization Admin access or Elevated Access - Admin Private access can see those fields when viewing or completing feedback. Private fields can be added for information like salary expectations.

You can also take the following action with a feedback form question field:

Your organization may use Ashby's artificial intelligence (AI) features, such as AI NotetakerAI Notetaker, to improve the objectivity and efficiency of generating feedback post-interview.

We recommend the following ways to optimize your feedback forms for use with AI features:

Providing this context upfront ensures AI answers are relevant and saves time by capturing the data your team finds most valuable for hiring decisions.

When you link a feedback form to an interview, that form appears on the interview briefing for any interviewer participating in that interview on the Your Feedback tab.

To submit feedback without it being associated with an interview scheduled through Ashby, navigate to the candidate's profile, then click More and Submit Feedback to fill out a feedback form.

You can also click More and Request Feedback without Scheduling to ask another user to add feedback for the candidate without scheduling an interview.

Shared Interviews allow you to set up interviews that can be used across multiple jobs and stages, while custom interviews can only be set up and used for a specific job on a specific stage.

You can create new shared interview types in Admin > Interviews & Scheduling > Shared Interviews, then reuse them across jobs.

To set up a shared interview:

To link an interview to a job:

You can use an interview to schedule one-off interviews on a candidate's profile. Click + New Interview on the candidate's profile, then choose whether to schedule manually or generate a direct booking link for a candidate.

Direct Booking Link: When creating a one-off direct booking link, you can select the interview type via the Interview drop-down menu.

Manual Schedule: When manually scheduling the candidate, click Add Interview on the calendar interface to determine the interview type.

If an interviewer is on a panel for an interview or a take-home where feedback is required by default, they receive one email a day prompting them to leave feedback.

To confirm an interview is set to have feedback required by default, click on the interview in question in Admin > Interviews & Scheduling > Shared Interviews.

To adjust the interviewer notification settings, navigate to Admin > Organization Setup > Feedback Reminders. You can adjust the following:

You can also set whether pending feedback is completed by default when a candidate changes stage in your interview process.

If Complete pending feedback by default is enabled, then when you move a candidate to another stage, the interview, take-home or assessment feedback that is outstanding will be marked as completed and notifications will stop being sent.

Feedback reminders can also be sent manually from the feedback entry on the candidate's feed. Navigate to the candidate profile, find the feedback entry on their feed and click Send Feedback Reminders.

You can then determine whether the notification should be sent via email, Slack or both and add an optional message. Click Send Reminder to sent the notification.

Users can submit feedback from Slack. They can click the Submit Feedback button within the notification to start the feedback submission process.

To delete a feedback form, click More at the bottom of the feedback form submission, select Delete from Ashby, then click Yes.

Only Organization Admins and the user who submitted a feedback form can delete a feedback form from the candidate's feed (if they have access to it).

Archiving a feedback form does not immediately remove it everywhere. The impact depends on how and where the form is being used.

Existing scheduled interviews

Ashby ties feedback forms shown on interview briefings to the interview settings, not the form's active status. If an interview is not updated to use a new, active feedback form, the archived form continues to appear on the interview briefing and interviewers can still complete it. If you change the interview's feedback form to a different active form, the interview briefing updates and the archived form no longer appears for the interview.

Reporting

You cannot report on archived feedback forms. If a report references a question from an archived feedback form, the report shows an error. Archived feedback form questions are no longer available as reportable fields.

How can I keep reporting on this data?

If you need to continue reporting on responses after archiving a feedback form, you can use Form Field ConnectorsForm Field Connectors to link feedback responses to a candidate custom field. This allows future reports to reference the custom field instead of the archived feedback form.

You can archive other feedback forms by navigating to Admin > Interviews & Scheduling > Feedback Forms, clicking on the feedback form in question and clicking Archive.

You cannot delete the default feedback form, but you can amend it.

If the interview is in the past, you can click the Past Interviews button in the Interviews section of the Home page to view all interviews that have already taken place. Once you submit your feedback, you can make adjustments to your comments by navigating back to the interview in question and going to the Your Feedback tab. From there, you can click Edit Feedback to update your feedback.

If you have access to the candidate profile, you can also scroll to the interview in question on the candidate's feed, then click More and Edit for the feedback in question.

If you edit feedback, the edits directly update the feedback form fields. We do not offer versions of feedback; Ashby only shows the latest version.

Ashby includes the Overall Recommendation field by default, and you cannot remove it from a feedback form. This is because the score added to this field is used for reporting and for interview feedback summaries.

You set the interview duration when creating a schedule interview activity, when creating a direct booking link, or when manually scheduling an interview.

While exporting candidate feedback is possible (more on this at How do I export candidate data?How do I export candidate data?), you cannot currently export feedback form templates.

No, you can only assign one feedback form to an interview.

If you have Elevated Access - Admin, Elevated Access - Admin Private, or Organization Admin access, navigate to the Feedback tab within the feed on the candidate's profile. If there are any feedback forms that are yet to be completed, you can click the Write Feedback button to complete the feedback form on the interviewer's behalf.

Yes, you must link a feedback form to an interview if Is Feedback Requested is set to Yes on the Overview tab of the interview type.

If you switch the question field type on a feedback form, this can impact reporting. For example, if you switch a checkbox or multiple choice question field to a short answer field, you can no longer report on the checkboxes selected within previously completed feedback forms. As such, we recommend making minimal changes to question fields once you finish creating and start using feedback forms for interviews.

Some questions on the feedback form may be marked as Private. Navigate to either the shared feedback form at Admin > Interviews & Scheduling > Feedback Forms or to the schedule interview activity within the job's interview plan if the form is a custom feedback form. Confirm whether the interviewer should be able to add information to this field on the feedback form and uncheck the Private checkbox if this was set by mistake.

Once you create your feedback form, navigate to the full list of feedback forms at Admin > Interviews & Scheduling > Feedback Forms, then click the three dots beside the Uncategorized tag. Click Add to Group, then select the group you want to add your feedback form to.

Yes! On the candidate's profile, click the More button, then Request Feedback without Scheduling to get started.

You can then specify the interview type and the user who should complete the feedback form.

Once submitted, the user sees the request on their home page, both in the Interviews section and in their tasks. Clicking on either the task or interview prompt takes them to the feedback form they should complete.

Ashby doesn't provide a standalone link to a feedback form. Instead, you can send the interviewer a link to the interview briefing, where they can open and submit their feedback form.

To share the feedback form through the interview briefing:

The interviewer opens the briefing and completes the form from the Your Feedback tab. Interviewers can also find the briefing link in their interviewer-only calendar invite.