Candidate Experience

Why measuring candidate experience is a must

Candidate experience starts the moment they apply and continues to the moment you either decline the candidate or extend a job offer. 

Your candidates’ experience will say a lot about your company, so it needs to be super smooth. Set up a candidate experience survey to learn how you can make your hiring process better.

Here are some reasons why candidate experience surveys rule:

• They allow candidates to be honest: Anonymous feedback makes it easier for candidates to be open about their experience.
• You can see what needs to be improved: Candidate experience surveys + recruiting metrics = a clear idea of what’s hot and what’s not in your hiring process. 
• You can boost your brand: Asking for feedback shows you care about candidates’ opinions and that you want to make your candidate journey the best it can be.

Candidate experience survey questions

What role did you interview for?

I found the interview process: (select all that apply)

• A challenge but super interesting
• Fast but smooth
• Totally boring
• Way too long
• Other

How was the communication?

• Awesome
• Awesome most of the time
• OK
• OK most of the time
• Terrible

How well did we describe the role?

• Awesome, I understood everything.
• Pretty good, I understood most of it.
• OK, I understood the basics.
• Pretty bad, I didn’t understand most of it.
• Terrible, I didn’t understand anything.

How consistent was the job description with what came across in the hiring process?

• Very consistent
• Mostly consistent
• Somewhat consistent
• Barely consistent
• Not consistent at all

Were your interviewers well-prepared?

• Totally 
• Mostly
• Not really 
• Not at all

Your assignment would have been better if you had:

• Better instructions
• Clarifications from the hiring manager
• More time
• Nothing, it went awesomely
• Other __________________

Would you recommend our company as an employer?

• Totally
• Sure, why not
• I guess
• I doubt it
• Definitely not

What do you think would make our hiring process better?

Do you want to add anything extra about your experience?

How to ace candidate experience surveys

• Get the right tools: There are a ton of tools you can use to help you ace your surveys like Typeform and Google Forms. 
• Mix up your questions: Use both closed and open-ended questions but keep your survey short, with around 10 questions max. 
• Send it to all candidates: Whether your candidate was rejected or hired, it’s good to get their feedback. You’ll gain different insights from candidates who had different experiences.

How to make candidate experience surveys work for you

• Look for patterns: If lots of candidates say the same things, it’ll help you spot areas for improvement.
• Combine feedback: Use other feedback to check if things add up. Think: Glassdoor review, social media comments and direct feedback.  
• Act: Once you pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses, your next step is to revamp your hiring process, improve your hiring comms and build an awesome candidate experience.