CandE Research & Awards
The CandE Awards: Candidate Experience Benchmark Research Program
The CandE Benchmark Research and Award Program has spent 15 years measuring candidate experience from pre-application through onboarding. With data from 2M+ candidates at 2,000+ companies, the program reveals the perception gaps between what your TA team believes and what candidates actually experience. And the top performers win CandE candidate experience awards!
Program Benefits
What You Get From the CandE Program
Global Benchmarking
Compare your candidate experience ratings against participating organizations across North America, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America.
Powerful Data
Access anonymous, secure candidate survey data with demographic breakdowns by job type, gender, generation, race, and ethnicity.
Time Tested Methodology
Built on a proven talent board benchmark survey methodology and distribution guidelines refined over 15+ years and nearly 2 million candidate responses.
Identify Perception Gaps
Uncover the gaps between what your TA team believes about your hiring process and what candidates actually experience at each stage.
Full Spectrum Feedback
Capture candidate experience from pre-application through onboarding with surveys targeting 80%+ non-hired and 20% hired candidates.
Understand Candidate Sentiment
Analyze impact by job type, gender, generation, race and ethnicity to understand how different candidate segments experience your process.
Expert Consultation
Get concrete recommendations from candidate experience specialists with regular check-in calls to review data and answer questions.
Track Year-Over-Year Progress
Repeat participants see how their improvements compare against evolving benchmarks, with a dedicated community and monthly networking calls.
The CandE Awards
Get Recognition for Candidate Experience Excellence
Get industry recognition for your TA team. CandE Award winners consistently demonstrate excellence across the candidate journey. These organizations set the standard for how employers engage, communicate with, and respect candidates throughout the hiring process.
What award winners demonstrate:
- Enhanced information sharing about company values, culture, and opportunities
- Faster feedback delivery and closure communication for all candidates
- Structured interview processes with clear qualification feedback
- Timely job offers and pre-onboarding engagement initiatives
- Positive business impacts that come from increased referrals and customers
Eligibility Requirements
- Participate in the annual CandE Benchmark Research and Awards Program
- Achieve an above-average CandE Score compared to all participants
- Meet minimum candidate survey response thresholds based on hiring volume
- Maintain required hiring-to-rejection candidate ratios (80%+ not-hired surveyed)
What the Research Shows
Ready to Benchmark Your Candidate Experience?
Join 2,000+ organizations that have used the CandE program to measure, benchmark, and improve their candidate experience. See how you compare — and what you can do better.
CandE Program FAQ
Participating organizations receive a detailed candidate experience benchmark report comparing their candidate experience against thousands of peers. You’ll identify specific perception gaps between your TA team and candidates, get actionable recommendations, and — if you score above average — earn recognition as a CandE Award winner.
Yes. The CandE Benchmark Research Program supports global participation with candidates surveyed across North America, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America. You can gather results by region to understand geographic differences in candidate experience.
Absolutely. You control which segments you send surveys to. You can segment by geography, business unit, job level, and hiring stage just by who you send surveys. The CandE Program doesn't provide the same level of segmentation as Survale Enterprise, though, so contact Survale to understand which solution is right for you.
Any organization that participates in the annual CandE Benchmark Research Program is eligible. To win, you must achieve an above-average cNPS benchmark compared to all participants, meet minimum survey response thresholds, and maintain a balanced candidate ratio across hiring stages.
Response rates are highly dependent on the quality and age of the candidate list you send to. Most participating organizations meet the minimum response thresholds required for benchmark inclusion.
Yes. The CandE Program does not require any Personally Identifiable Information (PII). All individual company data is kept strictly confidential. Benchmark reports show your results against anonymized aggregate data. Your specific scores, candidate comments, and internal data are never shared with other participants or made public without your explicit permission.