The recruitment process allows the company to expand the team with valuable employees. This is an excellent opportunity to get the insight you need to create a positive candidate experience and improve the company’s image (employer brand).
Conducting customer and employee satisfaction surveys is already a standard. Candidate experience surveys are slowly joining the must-do HR surveys in companies worldwide. Surveying candidates soon won’t be additional research for HR and recruiters but a regular part of the hiring process.
Why Candidate Feedback Matters?
Candidate Survey is a simple tool that allows you not only to gather feedback about the progress of the recruitment or application process. Thanks to candidate experience survey results, the company will learn how to attract the most qualified candidates, improve its course, and evaluate which stages are evaluated negatively or positively.
By measuring candidate experience via survey, you can get valuable insights about:
- The whole recruiting process and the quality of the hiring process in different departments,
- Hiring efforts of HR managers,
- The market of job seekers,
- Employer brand,
- Company values, communication, and culture,
- The quality of our job offer (job descriptions, career site, etc.).
Except for the ready-to-use candidate experience survey template below, we will also describe the most common questions of candidate surveys and the benefits your company can get while conducting them among job applicants.
Who to invite to complete the candidate experience survey?
The answer is simple – candidates applying for employment in our company, so all participants of the recruitment process. To be reliable, it should be directed to all – both hired and rejected candidates at various stages of recruitment, including attaching a CV on the career site and the interview process with the hiring team,
The more candidates surveyed, the better – an effective way to get results from many respondents (achieve a high response rate) is to attach a link to the feedback survey with the recruitment results.
Great Candidate Experience Survey questions
The hiring process could be complicated. If you work in the HR department or are a recruiter by yourself, you know it well.
Thanks to candidate experience surveys, you can collect valuable feedback and quickly fix even poor recruitment experience. But what are the right candidate experience survey questions to ask?
Survey Questions for Hiring Managers
1. How would you rate the interview process?
2. How will you evaluate the individual elements of contact with the recruiter:
- Knowledge of your CV and experience;
- Application form, job description, and company description on the job seekers platform;
- Waiting time for feedback during the recruitment process and after sending the application
- Information about what stage your application is at
- The way the appointment was made
- Recruiter’s culture
- Quality of the feedback provided during the recruiting process
3. Based on your recent recruitment to [COMPANY_NAME], please rate on a scale of 0-10 how likely it is that you would recommend applying to our company to your friends or family. (NPS question to measure the overall level of candidate satisfaction);
4. Please write what we did wrong so that we can improve the recruitment process in the future (deepening, open questions after NPS).
Gather More Honest Opinions Regarding Candidate’s Experience
You can adjust this candidate experience survey questions to your recruitment process, for example, by changing the Net promoter Score question with questions about overall candidate experience (How would you rate your experience during the recruitment process?).
But even before you dig into the details of candidate experience, ensure you have all the essential information you will need to analyze results. So if your survey is not connected to HR or the recruitment system (HRM), remember to ask the basic candidate experience survey questions, like:
- At what stage did the recruitment end?
- Which department did you apply to?
- Which position did you interview for?
- How did you find out about the recruitment for this position?
- Did our career site answered your questions?
Remember to limit the open-ended questions to a minimum. Closed questions are easier to fill in and save applicants time and effort.
When to Conduct Candidate Experience Surveys?
The timing of the Candidate Experience Survey is critical. You should know that the answers given before knowing the recruitment process results may not be candid.
That’s why we advise sending candidate experience surveys a few days after the candidate familiarizes himself with the recruitment results. The opinion is then more balanced, devoid of emotions resulting from rejection or acceptance into the position.
Candidate Experience Survey – Benefits
Asking for opinions of candidates participating in recruitment processes can bring many benefits to your organization, the whole HR team, and a particular recruiter. Here are some of the most significant advantages:
Improved Hiring Process:
Feedback from candidate surveys can highlight areas of the hiring process that need improvement, leading to a more efficient and effective recruitment process.
Enhanced Employer Brand:
Positive candidate experiences can contribute to a strong employer brand, making it easier to attract top talent. Candidates who have a positive experience are more likely to recommend the company to others, both as potential employees and customers.
Higher Quality Hires:
By understanding what candidates value in the hiring process, companies can better tailor their approach to attract and retain high-quality candidates.
Cost Savings:
A more efficient hiring process can lead to cost savings by reducing the time and resources spent on recruitment. Insights from candidate surveys can help identify bottlenecks or delays in the hiring process, allowing companies to streamline and expedite recruitment.
Retention Improvement:
Understanding candidate perceptions can help identify potential issues that may affect employee retention. Addressing these concerns can lead to higher employee satisfaction and longer tenure.
Diversity and Inclusion:
Candidate experience surveys can reveal potential biases or barriers in the recruitment process, helping companies create a more inclusive hiring environment.
Data-Driven Decision-Making:
Surveys provide quantifiable data that can inform strategic decisions about recruitment, helping companies allocate resources more effectively.
Legal Compliance:
By monitoring and improving candidate experiences, companies can reduce the risk of discrimination or bias in their hiring practices, reducing legal liabilities.
Competitive Advantage:
Companies that prioritize candidate experience are more likely to stand out in a competitive job market, attracting top talent away from competitors.
Employee Engagement:
A positive candidate experience can lead to higher engagement levels among new hires, as they are more likely to start their roles with a positive attitude toward the company.
Referral Program Boost:
Candidates who have a positive experience are more likely to refer other qualified individuals to the company, potentially expanding the talent pool.
Continuous Improvement:
Regular candidate surveys promote a culture of continuous improvement in the recruitment process, ensuring that the company adapts to changing candidate expectations and market conditions.
Enhanced Reputation:
Positive feedback from candidates can enhance the company’s reputation not only as an employer but also as a partner or service provider in the industry.
Customer Impact:
Candidate experience surveys help companies create a more candidate-centric approach to recruitment, leading to numerous benefits that positively impact the organization’s bottom line and reputation.
Are you ready to measure candidate journey & recruiting cycle?
