In preparation for our final 2025 Global CandE Benchmark Research Report to be released, here are the 10 key takeaways across the candidate journey in 2025. This is based on over 110 companies hiring around the world and their candidate experience feedback from over 66,000 job candidates. Two of our 2025 research reports – What Sets CandE Award Winners Apart and The Business Impact of Candidate Experience – are available for download.
1. COMPANY VALUES AGAIN ATOP EMPLOYER MARKETING CONTENT
In 2025, CandE-Winning employers had a 31% higher NPS rating at the research/attract stage (52 compared to 38 for all companies in North America). This includes providing content around company values – something that continues to be the most valuable to candidates in our research. Values were again the number one type of marketing content consumed during research globally, with 51% of all candidates citing it as most important, up 11% from 2024.
2. AI TECHNOLOGIES UTILIZED TO COMMUNICATE AND SCREEN
Based on the 2025 What Sets CandE Award Winners Apart, all of the top 10 overall CandE Winners told us they utilized some form of AI recruiting technologies in 2025. 80%+ of the top 10 large, midsize, and small CandE Winners were also more likely to utilize AI recruiting technologies in North America. Also, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America CandE Winners utilized AI recruiting technologies more often than all other participating companies.
3. TIMELY DISPOSITIONS ALWAYS A DIFFERENTIATOR
69% participating employers in our research were focused on timely dispositions within 1-2 weeks, but CandE Winners still dispositioned candidates more often within 3-5 days – about 4% more often in 2025 compared to all participating employers. And 60% of the top 10 North America CandE Winners said they disposition within 3-5 days in 2025, 16% more often than all employers.
4. CANDIDATES WAITING TO HEAR BACK
More CandE Winners were also keeping fewer candidates waiting to hear back after they apply, another key differentiator of a positive candidate experience. The longer candidates have to wait, the more negative their experience becomes. Keeping candidates in the loop helps them see where they stand and demonstrates respect for their time and efforts. In 2025 all CandE Winners in North America kept 61% fewer candidates waiting on next steps 2+ months after applying, a significant difference.
5. A HIGHER LEVEL OF POSITIVE PERCEIVED FAIRNESS
During screening and interviewing, most employers engaged candidate semi finalists and finalists more consistently and fairly. CandE Winners have a competitive edge when it comes to candidates’ perception of assessment and interview fairness. While “fairness” is subjective, candidates who find any recruiting step and/or stage fair and positive are those willing to apply again, refer, and increase brand affinity. In 2025, CandE Winners had a 23% higher assessment perception of fairness and a 13% higher interview perception of fairness than all other companies combined, most likely due to consistent communication and feedback loops.
6. STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS, FOLLOW-UPS, AND NEXT STEPS
In 2025, all CandE Winners said they conducted structured interviews 9% more than all employers combined. This means that more employers are investing in structured interviewing, which always reaps the benefit of a great positive candidate experience, and not just the CandE Winners. 47% of CandE-winning candidates said they received information and next steps with an even greater willingness to refer others.
7. FINALIST FEEDBACK INCREASES WILLINGNESS TO REFER AND ENGAGE
Most of the highest-rated companies in our research this year provided some level of feedback to finalists, and CandE Winners overall gave 20% more feedback to finalists than all other companies combined in 2025. And here’s why giving feedback can pay off: When specific feedback was given to candidates, their willingness to refer others NPS rating increased 69% in 2025. Their willingness to increase their relationship with the employer NPS rating increased by 64%.
8. INTERVIEW TO OFFER TIME
Time is always a crucial factor in recruiting, especially for the candidates who get the offers. In 2025, 60% of candidate respondents said that less than one week elapsed between the last interview and their receipt of an offer letter, down slightly from 2024. When employers make timely offers within one week, candidates’ willingness to refer others increased 108%. CandE-Winning companies performed about the same. That’s because most employers are “all in” with their potential new hires, which is how it should be.
9. PREBOARDING ENGAGEMENT
Even though only 20% of all participating companies and CandE Winners on average the past few years have provided multiple options to communicate goals to new hires, have them meet key team members, get questions answered, all prior to their start date, these candidates were 133% more willing to increase their relationship out of the gate. The more nurturing and engagement that occurs prior to their start date, the greater opportunity to improve new hire retention from the beginning, at least in the short run, and to build the sturdy bridges from candidate to employee experience.
10. NEW HIRE FEEDBACK
This year, only 38% of employers said they asked for candidate feedback before day one, but only 30% of candidates said they were asked. It’s about the same for CandE-Winning companies and their candidates. But for those who do ask for feedback from new hires, the benefits are always positive: Candidates who were asked to provide feedback prior to their start date had a dramatic increase in their relationship rating by 130%. Asking for feedback can strengthen the affinity further and help with early retention.
The complete report will be available soon!
This year we’re also celebrating 15 years of the Candidate Experience Benchmark Research and Awards Program. 15 years of elevating and promoting a quality candidate experience and helping employers and TA teams improve their recruiting and hiring practices.
Join us on Wednesday, January 21, for hashtag#CandExperienceDay2026 where you can share your positive Candidate Experience stories, quotes, memes, pictures & videos online.
We’ll also be running a webinar on January 21 from 2-3 PM ET on “What’s in Store for Candidate Experience in 2026” and you can register here.
