Quantifying your organization's candidate experience starts with collecting the right data from your applicants. Here's how you can use polls and surveys to engage with candidates, while getting the information you need to improve and innovate your interview process:
What Is Candidate Satisfaction?
Candidate satisfaction is a measurement of how a candidate views your hiring journey. Data from candidates is collected through surveys or polls asking candidates for their opinion on different parts of the interview process.
How Is Candidate Satisfaction Measured?
Candidate satisfaction can be measured in several ways. One of the most common is through polls or surveys, with outcomes measured by Net Promoter Scores.
Net Promoter Scores
Net Promoter Scores (NPS) can be used to determine a customer’s satisfaction with a product or service.
Here’s how Net Promoter Scores work:
A company will ask customers one question where they are asked to rate their candidate experience on a scale of 0 to 10. These responses are then broken down into three categories, which are assigned to a point system.
Promoters: Anyone who gives a rating of 9 or above. These are the people who had a stellar experience, and would probably recommend the company to a friend.
Passives: Anyone who give a rating of 7 or 8. These people had a so-so experience, and may not have been totally satisfied.
Detractors: Anyone who gives a rating of 6 or below.
The Net Promoter Score is calculated by subtracting the number of Detractors from the number of Promoters, and is measured on a scale of +100 to -100.
Net Promoter Score Formula:
# of Promoters - # of Detractors = NPS.
Using Net Promoter Scores For Candidate Satisfaction
Let’s see how this works in terms of candidate experience. Say you send out a survey to all your candidates asking them to rate your hiring process on a scale from 0 to 10. Candidates that have a positive candidate experience will be more likely to give your company favorable ratings, resulting in higher candidate satisfaction scores.
While this is a great way to gauge the overall quality of your candidate experience, there are many other factors that can contribute to the success of your hiring journey.
Companies may want to use a two or three question survey to collect data on different aspects of the interview process. This will allow your hiring team to see which parts of your interview strategy really work, and which ones need some improvement.
Consider the type of information you may want to measure as you evaluate your interview process. Did candidates feel like they were ready for their interviews? How did job seekers feel about they way you communicated with them?
When asking candidates for feedback, consider these factors:
- How informed a candidate felt about upcoming interviews or the interview process as a whole
- How satisfied a job seeker felt about their candidate experience
- If a candidate would consider applying to the company again if rejected from the role
- How well a company communicated with candidates throughout the hiring journey
- If a candidate would recommend the company to a friend who was looking for open positions
- How the candidate felt about your company before and after the interview process
When To Ask For Candidate Feedback
It’s important to ask candidates for feedback throughout every stage of the interview process -- even if they get rejected for the role.
While this may seem counter-intuitive, asking candidates for feedback during different stages of the hiring journey can actually yield data that better reflects the true strengths and weaknesses of your organization’s hiring journey.
Not all feedback is going to be great. And, as expected, those who receive a job offer will typically rate your company higher than those who don’t. But asking candidates for feedback during different stages of the process catches talent as they’re in the middle of the experience, giving you a real-time look at every phase of your hiring journey.
Communicating With Candidates: Don’t Be Afraid -- Just Ask!
Polling candidates after multiple stages of the interview journey may seem like you’re asking a lot. But asking candidates for feedback after an interview shows that you care about their hiring journey and value their opinions.
Asking for feedback can also be super simple.
- Send along a quick poll or survey along with your interview follow-up email
- Send a quick survey via SMS
- Ask candidates to rate your interview process on a scale of 0-10, allowing for a simple one-click reply via email or SMS.
Collecting data from candidates about your hiring process will help you team improve your recruiting strategy. Engaging candidates through surveys sent via SMS or email throughout different stages of the hiring journey can help you gain valuable feedback, while also showing candidates you value their opinion.
Learn how Convey for Communication can help your company send trigger-based polls and candidate satisfaction surveys to talent via email or text message. Capture comments and analyze trends for insight into your company’s ratings and how candidates view your employer brand.
