Candidate experience survey questions are the foundation for a strong focus on candidate satisfaction for most organizations. At Survale, we are often asked by prospective clients “do we have to come up with questions or do you have them?” Oh, we have them alright. Our pre-built templates provide candidate experience survey questions that clients can use as is or customize. But if you don’t use Survale, you are welcome to use our questions which I’ll provide shortly. But first… 
Remember your most recent job search? How many places did you apply? Dozens? Hundreds? Now imagine getting a survey from an organization asking you what your experience was with their process. I guarantee you won’t remember unless a hiring manager disrespected your time or they presented you with a parting gift after the interview. The point is, most candidates can remember little about your organization let alone what happened within the hiring process. So take these questions and please, please, please use them at least monthly. Better yet, send specific candidate experience surveys at each stage of the candidate lifecycle:
Candidate Experience Survey Questions and Frequency
Please don’t use these questions to do one survey and assume you are getting a strong value. The key to candidate experience surveys is to request feedback often, keep it brief and DO something with the feedback. So many organizations gather up their applicants from the previous 6-12 months, send out a candidate experience survey and then move on to the next item of the day. They often discover areas they can improve and they may or may not implement those improvements. But the value is weak at best and here’s why.Remember your most recent job search? How many places did you apply? Dozens? Hundreds? Now imagine getting a survey from an organization asking you what your experience was with their process. I guarantee you won’t remember unless a hiring manager disrespected your time or they presented you with a parting gift after the interview. The point is, most candidates can remember little about your organization let alone what happened within the hiring process. So take these questions and please, please, please use them at least monthly. Better yet, send specific candidate experience surveys at each stage of the candidate lifecycle: - Career site visitor
- Applicant
- Phone screen
- Interview
- Offer letter
- Declined/accepted offer
- First week of employment
- Three month check in
- Six month check in
- First year quality of hire survey
Create a Recruiting Feedback Culture
Many Survale clients use candidate experience surveys as a first step toward creating a recruiting culture that thrives on feedback. They get feedback from candidates, feedback from hiring managers, feedback from recruiters and more. And they use that feedback to optimize every facet of their processes. With this kind of focus (and a platform that automates gathering and analyzing all this feedback) how could you NOT deliver world class recruiting results?The Candidate Experience Survey Questions
Now that I’ve put these questions into a greater context, have at ‘em: Pre Applicant- Searching for the job was: Difficult, Neutral, Easy
- If you filled out an application, the application process was: Difficult, Neutral, Easy
- BEFORE applying my perception of [company] as an Employer was: Negative, Neutral, Positive
- AFTER applying my perception of [company] as an Employer was: Negative, Neutral, Positive
- Based on your experience with [company] SO FAR, how likely are you to refer someone to work here? (Net Promoter score)
- What went well with your search/apply experience? How can we improve? (open ended question)
- How prepared was your interviewer? Not Prepared, Prepared, Very Prepared
- Did the interviewer have a copy of your resume? No, Yes, I Don’t Know
- How were the interviewers manners? Poor, Neutral, Great
- How knowledgeable was the interviewer about the role? Poor, Neutral, Great
- Did the interviewer make good use of your time? No, Somewhat, Yes
- Please provide any additional information that would help us improve your experience. (open ended question)
- Based on your experience so far, how likely are you to refer someone to work at [company)? (Net Promoter Score)
