Candidate experience survey: A how-to guide and 20 questions

When you consider building a world-class brand, what springs to mind? Developing a style guide? Providing excellent customer service? How about hiring and recruitment?

Hiring—especially the candidate experience—is often an overlooked aspect of brand building. However, it is extremely important.

Prioritizing this experience sets candidates up for success, regardless of whether they are hired. A positive experience can also lead to candidates who enthusiastically promote your company. 

A candidate experience survey enhances the hiring and recruitment process. It allows hiring teams to collect feedback, refine hiring strategies, and bolster the company’s brand.

In this article, learn how to create a winning candidate experience survey, when to send it, and how to interpret the results.

A candidate experience survey is a questionnaire designed to collect feedback from job applicants about their interview experience.

The typical candidate experience survey encompasses several key aspects of the recruitment process, including:

By collecting comprehensive candidate experience feedback, companies can gain invaluable insights into their hiring processes, uncovering strengths and pinpointing specific areas for improvement.

This detailed examination helps organizations enhance their overall recruitment strategy and foster a more positive candidate experience, leading to a stronger employer brand and a more engaged talent pool.

Collecting comprehensive feedback on candidate experience is crucial for enhancing and refining your recruitment process.

Job candidates are a valuable source of insights about their experiences that HR professionals may not fully capture or understand.

Such feedback allows for identifying areas for improvement and facilitates the development of strategies to create a more positive candidate journey. This will enhance your organization’s reputation and attract future candidates in the competitive job market.

Here are several reasons why candidate experience surveys are important.

Candidate feedback enables you to identify potential issues with your hiring and recruitment processes.

For example, candidates might inform you about unclear job requirements or communication lags. By addressing these issues, organizations can address friction points, reducing the time to hire and improving the candidate experience for future candidates.

Additionally, candidate feedback surveys can empower teams to identify biases in the hiring process.

By collecting candidate experience survey data, organizations can create a more equitable and inclusive hiring process and measure progress, resulting in a more diverse and productive workforce.

Hiring is an excellent strategy for enhancing and elevating your brand's presence and reputation in the market.

When candidates go through the hiring process, they evaluate their fit for the role and assess the overall company culture and experience provided by your organization. Whether selected for the position, these individuals often share their insights and experiences with friends and social networks.

A positive hiring experience can transform candidates into enthusiastic brand ambassadors who actively promote your company and its values.

Such advocacy reinforces your brand image and can significantly impact the perception of potential candidates and clients, strengthening your position in the industry.

Candidates want to feel respected throughout the hiring process.

Emphasizing a positive candidate experience enhances brand reputation and promotes valuable word-of-mouth marketing.

This enhanced reputation can significantly increase the flow of top talent eager to apply for future job openings at your organization.

Ultimately, creating a thorough and respectful recruitment process benefits the candidates and strengthens the organization's talent pipeline in the long term.

Creating a positive candidate experience during the hiring process can significantly enhance employee morale and increase retention rates.

When potential employees have a comprehensive hiring process, they feel valued and are likelier to report satisfaction and loyalty towards their jobs. This enhanced sense of job satisfaction typically cultivates a stronger commitment to the company's values and mission, leading to a more dedicated and motivated workforce.

As a result, fostering an exceptional candidate experience can yield long-term benefits for both the individuals and the organization.

Receiving and giving a rejection is never enjoyable, but it doesn’t have to be a negative experience. Rejections can serve as opportunities to build relationships.

When candidates feel appreciated, they are more inclined to apply for future positions and suggest the same to their colleagues and friends. Even candidates who are not selected can effectively promote the brand ambassadors. 

Additionally, a positive rejection experience decreases the candidate's chances of posting negative reviews and online comments. Addressing concerns and offering constructive feedback can protect the employer's brand.

Related reading: How surveys help Wellstar improve the candidate experience

Conducting a candidate experience survey is crucial for measuring the candidate experience and improving the hiring process. Here are eight detailed steps for effectively conducting candidate surveys.

Conducting a candidate experience survey begins before you hit the "send" button.

It's crucial to take the time to articulate your objectives for the survey clearly. What specific insights are you aiming to uncover?

Are you looking to understand the overall candidate experience comprehensively, or do you wish to delve deeper into particular aspects of the process? For instance, are you interested in analyzing the application process to identify potential bottlenecks or understanding the nuances of the interview experience to enhance candidate engagement?

Additionally, consider whether you want to explore how candidates feel about your company's culture and values or gather feedback on communication practices throughout the recruitment journey.

Clearly defining these areas of interest will not only guide the creation of your survey questions but also ensure that you gather precise feedback that can improve your hiring strategy.

Defining interest areas will guide your candidate experience survey questions and ensure you gather actionable feedback for improving your hiring strategy.

Once you clearly understand your objectives, you can confidently develop a tailored candidate survey that thoroughly addresses the specific questions you wish to answer.

When you reach out to the candidate, it's important to clearly articulate the reasons behind conducting the survey.

Explain that this survey aims to gain valuable insights into their experience and perceptions, which will ultimately help improve the recruitment process and overall candidate engagement.

By outlining how their feedback will be used, you set the stage for a constructive dialogue. For example, to inform recruitment strategies, enhance communication methods, or improve the candidate experience.

It is crucial to keep your questions concise and to the point; candidates are significantly more likely to complete a brief and easy-to-understand survey.

Consider incorporating diverse survey question types to enhance the survey's effectiveness. This can include:

By utilizing this varied approach, you will gather a comprehensive set of data that can provide valuable insights for your objectives.

Empower candidates to share their views honestly with an anonymous and confidential candidate experience survey.

Anonymity ensures that respondents’ identities remain private even after completing the survey. Confidentiality restricts who has access to survey responses.

Ensuring responses, whether they reflect positively or are critical of the recruitment experience, can make respondents feel comfortable sharing their true experiences.

Related reading: How to get better insights with a solid survey design plan

Numerous platforms provide an array of user-friendly templates and integrated analytics tools designed to simplify and enhance the overall user experience.

The extent of customization options available should be evaluated, as this flexibility allows users to tailor their projects according to specific needs and preferences.

Assessing the data analysis capabilities is essential; robust analytical features enable users to glean valuable insights from their data, facilitating informed decision-making and strategy development.

SurveyMonkey fulfills these needs with an expert-made candidate experience survey template to gather valuable feedback regarding the recruitment process.

In addition to the templates, SurveyMonkey provides comprehensive analytical tools that empower organizations to interpret the survey data, uncover insights, and make informed decisions based on the feedback received.

Will you send your survey to every candidate who applies for a job, or will you be more selective in your outreach?

Some teams send the survey only to candidates who have completed the recruiting process, gathering feedback from those more engaged with the company.

Alternatively, some teams survey only shortlisted candidates who meet specific criteria for more relevant insights. 

As you determine your strategy, reflect on the objectives you wish to achieve from the survey. Are you aiming to gather comprehensive feedback on the application experience? Or are you more interested in insights related to the interview process?

By thoughtfully considering your goals, you can tailor your survey distribution to target the appropriate audiences, ensuring responses address your interview questions.

The timing of your experience survey can significantly influence the response rates and the quality of the feedback you receive.

You should time the survey around key touchpoints within the candidate journey.

Consider distributing the survey immediately after the recruitment process when candidates are likely to have strong impressions and detailed thoughts fresh in their minds.

This approach enhances the likelihood of higher response rates and encourages candidates to provide more meaningful, specific feedback.

Implementing this strategy will likely yield insights that can help you improve your hiring practices and candidate experience.

After collecting the survey responses, the next step is to analyze the data.

Look for trends in the candidates’ answers. Are there specific points of agreement among the candidates? Did more than one candidate use similar words or phrases?

Identify the areas where your organization excelled, as well as those that may need improvement.

Related reading: How to analyze survey data

The primary objective of a candidate experience survey is to improve and refine the overall hiring process.

Collecting feedback from candidates provides valuable insights for meaningful improvements. These changes might involve various strategies such as offering hiring managers comprehensive training programs.

It is also essential to maintain open lines of communication with all stakeholders regarding the improvements you are implementing. This transparency ensures that everyone understands the rationale behind the changes and fosters a collaborative environment aimed at enhancing the candidate experience.

After you have made changes to the hiring process, it is essential to follow up with candidates to maintain a positive relationship.

Start by expressing your gratitude for their feedback and for taking the time to participate in the selection process. Be specific about the improvements you’ve made based on their suggestions. Emphasize that their input was valuable and played a crucial role in shaping the updated process.

This follow-up not only reinforces your commitment to providing an excellent hiring experience but also shows candidates that their opinions matter. By doing this, you contribute to a more positive perception of your brand, which can help attract future talent and foster goodwill in the job market.

Creating a candidate experience survey can be challenging, especially when selecting the right questions. Using a template—like our Candidate Experience Survey Template—can go a long way toward helping you create a professional survey with a high response rate. Platforms and services like SurveyMonkey Genius allow you to create surveys that directly align with user goals.

Here are 20 questions to get you started on your candidate experience survey.

Follow these guidelines to boost response rates and get the most out of your candidate experience surveys.

Candidate experience is no different from customer experience. It’s an invaluable part of your brand that deserves strategic attention.

Candidate experience surveys can improve hiring processes, enabling you to attract top talent and build positive relationships with applications.

Ready to get started? Try the SurveyMonkey Candidate Experience Survey Template today and transform your hiring process!