Benchmark Your Candidate Experience — How To Register

Here’s how the program works:

1. Company registers here.
2. Company completes the employer self-assessment survey (Round 1)
3. Company completes methodology survey and receives candidate survey distribution guidelines
4. Company selects candidate target population and distributes candidate survey link (Round 2)

Talent Board collects, analyzes and gives company access through its partner survey platform Survale.

Total Investment to Participate:

• $750 USD registration fee (pay in £ – € – and other currencies)
• 3+ hours of time for employers
• 5+ minutes of time for candidates

After over 10 years of candidate experience benchmark research, Talent Board is excited to launch a new CandE Benchmark Membership program for HR and recruiting leaders and their teams.

You may also want to consider our CandE Benchmark Memberships. These are annual memberships that gives recruiting leaders and their teams deeper annual insights from our annual benchmark research program, plus many more benefits. Learn more here.

Survey Design

• Survey methodology guidelines, surveys and candidate targeting resources
• API integration available to distribute via Survale if needed (additional investment when applicable)

Benchmark Data

• Candid anonymous feedback from targeted candidates to understand your perception gaps
• Confidential and anonymous aggregated benchmark data
• Access to all benchmark data via secure Survale account and powerful filtering tools

Benchmark Insights

• 1-on-1 data review to understand overall business impact
• Access to industry peers and experts on candidate experience
• Employers with the highest positive candidate ratings to receive public industry recognition and a CandE Award

Our research program is comprised of two (2) primary rounds of surveys: Round 1 is the employer survey and Round 2 is the candidate survey that you’ll distribute. To be considered for a CandE Award an employer must successfully complete round 1 and 2. Whether you qualify for a CandE Award or not, you will always receive all your data back, our data analysis and the aggregate benchmark data for the region you participate in.

Round 1 is our current self-assessment employer survey designed to capture and evaluate a company’s recruitment processes and practices that impact the candidate experience. Employers will receive all their data.

• 54 questions
• Covers pre-application to onboarding 
• Includes candidate experience self-assessment questions
• Takes 30-60+ minutes to complete
• Download the 2023 Employer Survey questions here. 

Round 2 is our current candidate survey designed to capture a company’s candid candidate experience feedback.

Employers can choose to either survey a batch of candidates at once to hit their minimum number, or choose to survey continuously to smaller groups of candidates during the program year until the deadline. Employers will also receive all their data no matter how many responses they receive.

• 67 questions total including 6 demographic questions and several optional open-ended questions for candidates to leave verbatim comments
• Covers pre-application to onboarding and includes multiple candidate ratings
• Takes 3-5+ minutes to complete depending on how far candidates progressed in recruiting process – most candidates need to only answer less than half of the questions
• Download the 2023 Candidate Survey questions here.

Round 2 also offers a shorter candidate survey for returning companies only designed to capture a company’s candid candidate experience feedback. Employers will receive all their data.

• 17 questions including 6 demographic questions
• Includes the 4 key competitive ratings and other overall experience data from the first 11 questions from the full candidate survey
• Takes 1-2 minutes to complete

Minimum Requirements:

Less than 500 annual regional hires: 50 completed surveys

• Average 5% responses rate 
• Distribute to a minimum of 1,000 candidates
• 80% or more not hired; 20% or less hired

500-1,000 annual regional hires: 100 completed surveys

• Average 5% response rate 
• Distribute to a minimum of 2,000 candidates
• 80% or more not hired; 20% or less hired

1,000-2,500 annual regional hires: 250 completed surveys

• Average 5% response rate 
• Distribute to a minimum of 5,000 candidates
• 80% or more not hired; 20% or less hired

2,500+ annual regional hires: 500 completed surveys

• Average 5% response rate 
• Distribute to a minimum of 10,000 candidates
• 80% or more not hired; 20% or less hired

Again, a little investment goes a long way to understand the impact of candidate experience on your business from pre-application to onboarding.

The candidate survey has logic built into it, so candidates only see questions based on how far they got in the hiring process – no candidate will see all the questions. On average, candidates spend about 3-5 minutes completing the survey.

A candidate who has applied for a role at your company would only see close to half of the questions on the candidate survey. There are questions in each section where candidates can choose to leave verbatim comments as well, which you will have full access to.

You can download the 2023 candidate survey questions here.

Here are 10 reasons why your company should participate in the 2023 CandE Benchmark Research Program:

1. Learn what your candidate perception gaps are and what candidates value in your recruiting and hiring experiences.
2. Identify strengths and weaknesses in your recruiting process and your overall candidate experience with continuous candidate feedback. 
3. Receive multiple candidate ratings including how likely candidates are to apply again and refer others.
4. Understand your recruiting and hiring impact by job type, gender, generation, race & ethnicity, and many other filtering options.
5. Benefit from our proven candidate experience surveys, survey methodology and distribution guidelines.
6. Access to all your data and the aggregate benchmark data by region via our secure technology partner Survale.
7. Receive insightful takeaways and recommendations from the Talent Board team on where to make improvements.
8. Build the business case with concrete data to develop improvement strategies based on the candidate feedback data you receive.
9. Track year-over-year changes and the return on investment on improvement initiatives you’ve implemented.
10. Connect with like-minded talent acquisition leaders and their teams working hard on improving recruiting and candidate experience.

Does it cost anything to participate in the Talent Board Candidate Experience Awards and Benchmark Program?

Yes, there is a one-time annual registration fee of $750 USD for participating in 1-4 regions.

What are the benefits of participating in the CandE Awards and Research?

In exchange for a little investment necessary to complete both the employer survey and distributing the candidate survey to a targeted population of candidates (Talent Board collects the data), each participating employer will, at a minimum, receive aggregate survey data on how they compare to other employers across industries as well as how candidates rate their experiences. In other words, each company will get specific feedback on how they can improve their candidate experience. Top-ranked benchmark companies that win a CandE award will be recognized publicly for their excellence and will receive a digital logo to proudly display on their employment marketing materials.

What countries are eligible to apply?

Currently the awards and research is available to employers in North America (NA) ; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); Asia-Pacific (APAC); and Latin America (LATAM). The candidate survey is also available in a limited number of languages besides English.

Is there any risk that our recruiting practices and negative candidate responses will be revealed or exposed?

No. All employer and candidate responses are confidential and we do not collect any candidate contact information. Only employers that win a CandE award will be revealed publicly, and then only by ranking. The identity of employers that participate, but do not win a CandE award, will not be revealed. Certain exemplary aspects award-winning employer recruiting practices may be included in Talent Board’s annual research report or press with participating employer permission.

You can find our privacy policy here.

If you have any questions or would like to talk with us before registering, please send us a message or schedule time with Ron Machamer, Global Program Director at Talent Board, who would be your primary contact when you participate. We look forward to working with you!