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I'm currently serving notice period in my current company and will be joining a new company in some time (a little over a month). So naturally my current company is looking for a replacement, and I was asked to conduct a technical round before our director meets and finalizes a candidate. I have worked for the company for a couple of years now, and don't want my/any projects to fail. I really hope they succeed with as little overhead as possible. Hence, I would really like to get someone settled in my position before leaving.

Recently, I met a candidate who is highly supported by our HR and looked good on paper but didn't answer most of my questions well. Hence, I didn't find the person suitable for the job. Having said that, my last day at work is approaching and we haven't found a replacement for my position yet. So, my question is "Will me speaking badly about a 'highly desired' candidate be viewed as me being disloyal, damaging, etc in any way to the company?"

I have had no issues with any of my colleagues, managers, etc including the said HR and I'd like to keep it that way if possible.

Side notes: As far as I know, my technical round is final, but our director also has exposure to the technical aspects and may ask some questions of his own (which kind of adds to my worry, as if he found I passed an unsuitable candidate, I may lose his trust).

FYI, even though I framed the question like I'm currently in the situation, I was short on time and had to give my answer yesterday evening. I rejected the candidate, citing some of the 'shaky' responses they gave (which clearly didn't convince our HR who seems upset), but I would like to be prepared and act more cautiously in similar situations in the future. I don't know how else I could handle it better.

"I was asked to conduct a technical round before our director meets
and finalizes a candidate".

You were probably asked to do this because you have the best grasp of what the candidate will be doing and if he is able to perform that.

There are many candidates that look good in HR eyes but are terrible while doing their job.

I would say it's professional to share your concerns with the director so he may be aware and ask similar questions to dispel or confirm doubts.

No, you did the right thing. The candidate wasn't good enough, so you said so. That's just simple honesty and professionalism, assuming that your judgement isn't being influenced by the fact you're leaving (and it very much sounds like it's not being influenced). You gave management the information they needed to make a decision. They're still at liberty to say "we'll hire this candidate anyway, even though our technical team has reservations about them".

In fact, I'd think worse of a leaving employee who just said "yes, they're great" to everybody they interviewed as their potential replacement because that's the "easy" thing to say.

Don't think of it as speaking "badly" about the candidate.

You shouldn't be any more worried about giving negative feedback about a favored candidate as you would be about giving positive feedback about a unfavored candidate. You, HR, and your director are all involved in the hiring process for specific reasons, it's OK if you don't all agree.

The thing you need to worry about is giving accurate feedback. Make sure you understand what kind of feedback you're being asked to provide - in this case, it sounds clear that you're being asked to evaluate technical skills. So, do that.

Honestly, the fact that you're leaving soon, or that you're personally interested in these project succeeding, shouldn't play into it. You're still an employee of this company (for now), you've been given a task, and you can and should do your best to perform it.

While you are still working at the company, you should work to the same standard as you would if you weren't currently serving your notice period (though you are only human, and motivation will probably slip towards the end).

Hiring / recruitment is a key part of any job, and arguably the most important thing any company can do. You have been asked to be a part of the recruitment process, so you should do it to the best of your ability.

If you believe that the best thing for the company would be to reject the candidate - then you should recommend that the candidate is rejected. That isn't "speaking bad about your replacement", that is doing your job on behalf of the company. It is the professional and proper thing to do. Conversely, a positive recommendation would be putting the company at risk of a bad hire, which is not a good outcome.

(If it helps you worry less: if the only answer it was acceptable for you to give was "yes", they wouldn't have bothered asking you at all...)

I agree with other answers that say that you should provide a clear and thruthful feedback.

Only I suggest that you make sure you and your director and HR all agree on what kind of a person they want to hire. For example, if your director and HR are OK with hiring a capable junior, and you asked some advanced technical questions, then probably it is not correct to outright reject the candidate. In any case, you should clearly state your doubts, but don't say that the candidate is not good for the position until you clearly understand what others expect from that position.

In fact, I do not know how hiring process is organized in your company, but in some organisations you might have some kind of "veto right" to completely reject a candidate. In situations when you are not leaving, such a right is sensble, as you would work with a successfull candidate, and so you may have all rights to reject a candidate that did not suit your expectations.

But you are leaving, so the candidate will work with your director, not you. So I think that you should not use such "veto right" in this case. State your doubts clearly, but make it clear that it is director and HR who should make the final decision.

Not telling them truthfully that you wouldn’t hire this candidate, that would be disloyal, damaging, not doing your job.

How this can be seen wouldn’t matter to me. If they ask for my opinion and then don’t like it, that’s not my problem, that is someone else’s problem. But most likely your HR and hiring manager are reasonable people and will realise that they are getting good advise.