Survey · Other
Candidate experience survey template
One survey for every applicant, whether they were hired or not. People who only applied skip the interview questions, and anyone who didn't feel treated with respect is asked what happened, so the complaints worth acting on come with detail.
Try it live
Try it as a respondent
Every question, and where it leads
The conversation
What a respondent is asked, in order.
Thanks for applying to work with us. Whatever the outcome, we'd value two minutes of honest feedback on how our process felt.
Which role did you apply for?
How clearly did the job ad describe the role and what it would involve?
How far did you get in the process?
Thinking about your interviews, how much do you agree with each of these?
How well did we keep you informed along the way?
What was the longest you waited to hear back from us?
Did you feel treated with respect throughout?
We're sorry. What happened that made you feel that way?
What one change would have made the process better for you?
How likely are you to encourage a friend to apply here?
Ends with
Thank you for telling us
The flow
Where each answer leads. Every route here is editable once the form is yours.
Short text
Opinion scale
Single select
Matrix
Rating
Single select
Yes / No
Long text
Long text
NPS
What this template uses
- Short text
- Opinion scale
- Single select
- Matrix
- Rating
- Yes / No
- Long text
- NPS
- 3 branches
Questions to consider
- When will you send it: after rejection, after an offer, or at a fixed point for everyone?
- Should it be anonymous, or do you want to link answers to a role or a hiring manager?
- Which stages of your process deserve their own rows, such as a take-home task or an assessment day?
- Who reads the answers about respect, and how quickly will they act on them?
How to use the responses
Look at answers by stage: people rejected after applying mostly judge your communication, while interviewed candidates can tell you whether interviewers were prepared and questions were fair. A pattern of long waits or never hearing back is usually the quickest fix. Read every answer about respect as soon as it arrives, and share themes with hiring managers each quarter rather than single comments that could identify someone.
How to customize and share it
- 1Rename the interview rows to match your own stages, adding one for any task or assessment you set.
- 2Turn the role question into a dropdown of your open roles, so answers group cleanly by vacancy.
- 3Share the link in your decision email or embed it on your careers page, with a line saying feedback cannot affect any application.
Frequently asked questions
What is a candidate experience survey?
A short survey sent to job applicants about how the hiring process felt, from the job ad to the final decision. It shows where good candidates lose interest or leave with a poor impression.
Should I send it to rejected candidates?
Yes. They are the people most likely to notice slow replies and unclear next steps, and hearing from them is how you find out. Say clearly that their answers won't affect any application.
What should a candidate experience survey ask?
How clear the job ad was, how interviews went, how well you kept them informed, how long they waited, and whether they felt respected. A question on whether they'd encourage a friend to apply sums it up.
When should I send a candidate experience survey?
A day or two after the final decision, while the process is fresh but the outcome has sunk in. Sending it to everyone at the same point keeps the answers comparable.