Candidate Experience Survey: Key Questions and Best Practices

In today’s competitive job market, organizations can’t afford to overlook how candidates feel during the recruitment journey. A candidate’s experience during the hiring process shapes their perception of your organization and influences whether they accept an offer and how they speak about your employer brand.

A positive candidate experience fosters engagement, increases offer acceptance rates and enhances your company’s reputation. In contrast, a poor experience deters top talent and may lead to negative reviews on platforms like Indeed, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor.

What is a candidate experience survey?

A candidate experience survey is a structured questionnaire designed to gather feedback from job applicants about their hiring journey. It assesses key touchpoints, from the application process to interviews and final decisions, helping organizations measure candidate satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.

Candidate experience survey questions include open-ended and multiple-choice (closed-ended) formats, prompting candidates to share their thoughts on the hiring process. The surveys provide valuable feedback on interview experiences, communication quality, and overall perceptions of an organization’s hiring approach, offering a well-rounded view of candidate journeys.

Benefits of conducting candidate experience surveys

Candidate experience survey feedback enhances the interview process and improves your overall recruitment outcomes by helping you make data-driven decisions around the hiring journey. Specific benefits include:

1. Improved hiring efficiency: Surveys help identify bottlenecks in the recruitment process, such as delays in response times or unclear job descriptions, allowing you to streamline processes and reduce time-to-fill and applicant drop-off rates.
2. Enhanced employer brand: A positive candidate experience influences how your candidates perceive and talk about your organization, even if they aren’t hired, leading to a stronger brand reputation, higher Net Promoter Scores (NPS), and more favourable reviews of your organization (e.g., on Glassdoor).
3. Higher candidate engagement and referrals: Candidates who feel respected and valued are likelier to stay engaged and refer others, even if they don’t receive an offer, boosting survey response rates, referral rates, and satisfaction scores.
4. Increased offer acceptance rates: Smooth and respectful hiring journeys build trust with your candidates, making them more likely to accept job offers, promoting higher offer-acceptance percentages and providing insights into why offers are declined.
5. Data-driven recruitment: Insights from survey data help you make more informed decision-making, refine your interview process, improve your recruiter training, and align your recruitment strategies with business goals.

When and how to conduct a candidate experience survey

You should strategically time and manage candidate surveys to get the most from them. Following are some of the most relevant considerations.

Key stages for sending the survey

Conduct surveys at different points in the hiring process to capture different types of feedback:

• After an interview: Gather insights on the interview process, communication clarity, and candidate expectations. These help refine interviewer training, streamline communication, and improve the candidate journey.
• Post-offer (accepted or declined): Understand why your candidates accept or reject offers, considering salary levels, role clarity, perceptions about culture, and the overall hiring experience. This will highlight areas for improvement and provide insights into what motivates your candidates to accept offers.
• After onboarding: Evaluate new hire experiences relative to their expectations. This helps your HR team refine your employer branding and hiring strategies to boost long-term retention.

How to ensure high response rates to your surveys

You can boost response rates through:

• The right timing: Send surveys within 24–48 hours after an interview or decision while the experience is fresh. For post-onboarding, send surveys within 30–90 days of employment.
• Incentives to participate: Offer gift cards, company swag, or prize draws to encourage candidates to complete the survey.
• Automation tools: Use Google Forms, Typeform, or ATS integrations (e.g., Greenhouse, Lever, Workday) to streamline the survey process and ensure timely delivery.

Key questions to include in a candidate experience survey

A well-designed candidate experience survey includes metric-based and open-ended questions to capture valuable insights across different touchpoints. The following questions, grouped into key themes, will help you gather meaningful feedback to refine and improve your hiring process.

Overall satisfaction

Understanding your candidates’ overall impressions helps you gauge how effective your hiring process is and identify areas for improvement. Look for trends in satisfaction scores and qualitative feedback that highlight strengths and weaknesses in your recruitment approach.

Open-ended questions:

• What was the most positive aspect of your hiring experience?
• What could we do to improve the hiring process?
• Was there anything that negatively impacted your hiring experience?
• What aspect of the hiring process did you find the most frustrating or confusing?
• How would you describe your overall impression of our company after the hiring process?

Metric-based questions:

• How would you rate your experience with our hiring process? (Scale: 1–5)
• How likely are you to recommend our hiring process to others? (Scale: 1–5)
• How satisfied were you with the transparency of the hiring process? (Scale: 1–5)
• How satisfied were you with the overall hiring experience? (Scale: 1–5)

Clarity and communication

Use clear communication to ensure your candidates understand job expectations, timelines, and next steps, promoting a smoother experience and better perceptions of your employer brand. Look for feedback on job descriptions, recruiter responsiveness, and transparency throughout the process.

Open-ended questions:

• What aspects of our communication content and approach could be improved?
• Did you receive enough information to make an informed decision about the role? What additional information would you have liked to receive?
• How could we have improved our communication during the hiring process?

Metric-based questions:

• Did you clearly understand the role and expectations? (Yes/No) If not, what was missing?
• Was the job description aligned with what was discussed during the interview process? (Yes/No) If not, what was different?
• How timely was the feedback that was provided to you? (Scale: 1–5)
• How transparent was the communication from recruiters and hiring managers? (Scale: 1–5)

Interview experience

Positive interview experiences can significantly impact candidates’ perceptions of your company, even for rejected candidates, and improve the likelihood that strong candidates will accept an offer. Look for feedback on how professional your interviewers were, the relevance of questions asked, and overall candidate comfort with the interview process.

Open-ended questions:

• What did you appreciate most about the interview process?
• Were there any aspects of the interview that you found challenging or unclear?
• How could the interview process be improved to evaluate candidates better?

Metric-based questions:

• How pleasant was your interview experience? (Scale: 1–5)
• Did the interviewer make you feel comfortable? (Yes/No) If not, what happened?
• Did the interview questions effectively assess your skills and experience? (Yes/No)
• How well did the interviewer explain the role and the hiring process? (Scale: 1–5)
• How relevant were the interview questions to the role (Scale: 1–5)

Hiring process efficiency

A streamlined hiring process reduces candidate frustration and prevents talent loss due to delays or inefficiencies. Look for feedback on how smooth the application process was, response times, and process bottlenecks.

Open-ended questions:

• What part of the hiring process felt the most efficient?
• Were there any unnecessary steps or redundancies in the application process, and if so, what were they?
• Was there any step in the process that felt particularly time-consuming or confusing?
• Were there any technical issues or difficulties you experienced when submitting your application, and if so, what were they?

Metric-based questions:

• How smooth and easy to complete was the application process? (Scale: 1–5)
• Did you experience any delays or confusion? (Yes/No) If yes, what happened?
• How would you rate the responsiveness of the hiring team? (Scale: 1–5)
• How timely was any feedback received after your interview? (Scale: 1–5)

Employer brand perception

Your company culture and the values demonstrated through the hiring process leave an impression on your candidates. This influences whether they accept an offer or speak positively about your organization. Look for feedback on alignment between your branding efforts and candidate expectations.

Open-ended questions:

• What stood out about our company culture during the hiring process?
• Was anything in the hiring process contrary to the brand and image of our organization that you expected?
• Did the hiring process reinforce or change your perception of our company?
• What improvements could we make to reflect our company culture better during recruitment?

Metric-based questions:

• Did your perception of our company improve, stay the same, or decline after the hiring process? (Improve/Same/Decline)
• How well did our company’s values resonate with you during the hiring process? (Scale: 1–5)
• How well did the hiring process reflect our company culture in your view? (Scale: 1–5)
• Did our employer branding align with your experience throughout the hiring process? (Yes/No) If not, what was different?
• How likely are you to speak positively about our company, even if not offered the role? (Scale: 1–5)

Fairness and inclusivity

An equitable hiring process helps your organization attract diverse talent and comply with fair hiring practices. Look for feedback on inclusivity, bias, and accessibility.

Open-ended questions:

• Were any aspects of the hiring process feeling exclusionary or biased?
• Were there any areas where we didn’t adequately accommodate your accessibility or personal needs? What could we have done to improve on them?
• What improvements can we make to ensure a more inclusive hiring experience?

Metric-based questions:

• Did you feel the hiring process was fair and unbiased? (Yes/No) If not, please explain.
• How inclusive did you feel the hiring process was regarding diversity and representation? (Scale: 1–5)
• Did you feel your unique background, skills, and experiences were valued throughout the hiring process? (Yes/No) If not, please explain.
• Did you experience any bias or discrimination during the hiring process? (Yes/No) If yes, please explain what happened.
• Were reasonable accommodations made for any specific needs or requests? (Yes/No) If not, please explain what accommodations you would have needed.

Post-hiring experience (hired candidates)

Understanding how well your new hires transition into their roles provides insight into whether your hiring process sets the right expectations or prepares your new starters adequately. This is valuable for both your hiring managers and HR teams. Look for feedback on alignment between the hiring experience and actual job responsibilities:

Open-ended questions:

• What aspects of onboarding could be improved to better support new hires?
• Does anything about your new role differ significantly from what you expected? How could we adjust our process or communications to address this?
• What additional information or resources would have helped you transition into your new role?

Metric-based questions:

• How well did the hiring process prepare you for your role? (Scale: 1–5)
• Do you feel your role matches what was described during the hiring process? (Yes/No) If not, what was different?
• How satisfied were you with the overall onboarding experience? (Scale: 1–5)
• How aligned are your job responsibilities with what was discussed during the hiring process? (Scale: 1–5)

How to use candidate survey insights to improve your hiring process

Candidate experience surveys provide valuable feedback to help you refine your organization’s hiring strategies and create more efficient, candidate-friendly processes. Here are several ways to leverage survey insights to enhance your recruitment outcomes:

1. Identify common pain points in the hiring process: Survey insights uncover areas where your candidates may experience frustration, such as unclear job descriptions, slow response times, or lengthy application processes, and make necessary adjustments to address these bottlenecks.
2. Make data-driven changes to recruitment workflows: Analyze trends in candidate feedback to optimize hiring stages, reduce redundant steps, and set up technology solutions to improve efficiency and overall satisfaction for your candidates.
3. Improve communication strategies: Use your candidates’ feedback to refine the clarity, frequency, and tone of your communications so that your candidates feel informed, respected, and engaged throughout the hiring process.
4. Enhance interviewer training and consistency: Survey data can highlight gaps in how prepared your interviewers are, their professionalism, and the relevance of their questions, enabling your HR teams to provide targeted training and standardize their interview practices.
5. Optimize your organization’s brand messaging: Gather feedback on your employer-brand perception to identify misalignment and refine your messaging and improve consistency between branding efforts and the actual recruitment experience for your candidates.
6. Increase fairness and inclusivity: Identify concerns related to bias, inclusivity, or accessibility and use insights to implement fairer hiring practices, improve diversity initiatives, and create a more inclusive recruitment experience.
7. Boost offer acceptance and reduce candidate drop-off: Understand why your candidates accept or reject offers so that you can address concerns around salary competitiveness, cultural fit, job expectations, or other factors that influence decision-making, ultimately leading to higher offer acceptance rates.

Optimize your hiring processes with Deel

Deel offers a comprehensive suite of tools to help you implement and optimize your global recruitment strategies effortlessly, including:

• Automated surveys to gauge candidate sentiment, gather actionable feedback, and help keep your candidate engagement initiatives on track
• Survey insights to track and measure how your candidates perceive your company culture, ensuring alignment between your hiring process and employer value proposition
• Workflow builder to automate custom workflows and take new hires from trainee to high performance faster, with structured onboarding journeys and seamless task management
• Performance analytics and reporting using powerful performance management software to evaluate recruitment effectiveness, optimize your interviewer training, and ensure your hiring decisions align with your company goals
• Built-in global HRIS to centralize and manage all your global HR needs, providing a seamless hiring and onboarding experience for direct employees, EOR employees, and contractors alike

Request a demo to discover how our solutions can help you enhance the candidate experience, access top talent, and improve hiring outcomes for your organization.