Candidate NPS
A Data-Driven Guide to Measuring Hiring Success
1 in 3 candidates reject job offers because of negative employer reviews online. The candidate NPS is a vital recruitment metric that measures and enhances the hiring experience.
Your treatment of candidates during application speaks volumes. A whopping 95% of candidates see it as a preview of their potential employee experience. The current reality isn’t great – 60% of candidates have a poor hiring experience. Most of them (72%) will likely share their negative feedback online. Tracking and improving candidate experience matters more than ever. Nearly 20% of employers will face tough competition to attract talent by 2025.
This piece shows you what Candidate Net Promoter Score means and how to measure it properly. You’ll discover proven ways to turn candidate feedback into real improvements for your hiring process. The guide helps you create effective surveys, understand cNPS data, and make changes that build a winning candidate experience.
What is Candidate NPS and How is it Calculated?
The quality of your hiring process depends on how satisfied your candidates are. Candidate Net Promoter Score (cNPS) ranks among the best ways to gage your hiring process through job seekers’ eyes.
Definition of Candidate Net Promoter Score
Organizations use Candidate Net Promoter Score to track how likely candidates would recommend their hiring process to others. Unlike regular recruitment metrics that track efficiency, cNPS focuses on how candidates feel about their experience.
The concept comes from the traditional Net Promoter Score used in customer experience. Companies have adapted these principles to talent acquisition. This score gives a clear picture of candidate experience quality and shows how strong and impactful your employer brand is.
The 0-10 Scale: Promoters, Passives, and Detractors
The heart of cNPS lies in one simple question asked to candidates: “How likely are you to recommend our hiring process to a friend or colleague?”. Answers range from 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (very likely). Based on their scores, candidates fall into three groups:
- Promoters (score 9-10): These candidates loved their experience and eagerly recommend your process. They often become your company’s biggest fans.
- Passives (score 7-8): These candidates had an okay experience but remain neutral. They won’t promote your company and might choose competitors instead.
- Detractors (score 0-6): These candidates had poor experiences and won’t recommend you. They might share negative feedback online or with others, which could hurt your employer brand.
Well, Candidate NPS is one of the metrics contributing to hiring success. RPOs like Taggd can help businesses track, report, and improve recruitment process by analysing other recruitment KPIs like source quality, cost-per-hire, quality of hire, and offer acceptance rate.
Step-by-Step cNPS Calculation Formula
Your cNPS calculation is simple:
cNPS = % of Promoters − % of Detractors
This gives you a score between -100 and +100. Here’s an example:
From 100 surveyed candidates:
- 50 scored 9-10 (Promoters): 50%
- 30 scored 7-8 (Passives): 30%
- 20 scored 0-6 (Detractors): 20%
Your cNPS would be: 50% – 20% = +30
Passives don’t count in the final calculation, but they could become either promoters or detractors later.
What is a good candidate NPS score across industries
Good Candidate Net Promoter Scores vary by industry, but here’s what different scores mean:
- Negative cNPS (-100 to 0): You have more unhappy candidates than happy ones, which shows major issues in your hiring process.
- Positive cNPS (0 to 30): You’re doing better than average but still have room to grow.
- Good cNPS (30 to 50): Your scores show strength, and most candidates like your process.
- Excellent cNPS (50 to 70): Your hiring process works really well, with most candidates becoming promoters.
- World-class cNPS (70 to 100): These rare scores show an amazing candidate experience.
Different stages of hiring show different scores. Hired candidates usually score around +80, while rejected candidates average -5. These numbers change based on when candidates leave the process.
Your cNPS helps you make smart improvements to your candidate experience, which builds a stronger employer brand and better recruitment results.
Designing an Effective Candidate Experience Survey
A good candidate NPS program starts with well-laid-out surveys. Your surveys should boost response rates and give you applicable information to enhance your recruitment process.
Key questions to include beyond the NPS question
The main cNPS question shows overall sentiment. Additional questions help uncover why candidates give certain ratings. Research shows mixing quantitative and qualitative questions gives you both measurable data and deep understanding of what candidates think.
These targeted areas should be part of your surveys:
- Communication effectiveness: “How would you rate the responsiveness and quality of communication throughout the process?” This shows how quickly and well your team communicates with candidates, which directly affects their satisfaction.
- Process clarity: “Was the recruitment process clearly explained to you?” Candidates want to know what happens next. Unclear processes often frustrate them the most.
- Interview experience: “How would you rate your interviewers’ preparedness and professionalism?” Your interviewers represent your company. Their performance greatly affects how candidates see you.
- Application ease: “How would you rate the difficulty of completing our application process?” This helps spot problems in your application system that might make candidates quit midway.
You should also add at least one open question like “What would make our hiring process better?” This lets candidates freely share ideas and often reveals surprising ways to improve.
Check out how OYO rooms experienced big lift in hiring metrics with efficient and tightly controlled Talent Acquisition and Retention strategy to generate stronger financial metrics and increased productivity.
Optimal survey length and format
Many think shorter surveys work better. The data tells a different story. Surveys with 1-10 questions maintain a steady 20.1% response rate. Surveys with 11+ questions see only a small drop to 18.2%. This means you can collect complete feedback without losing too many responses.
Experts say surveys should take 5-6 minutes to complete, with 12-15 questions at most. Finding the right balance matters – get enough data while respecting candidate time.
Question formats that work best include:
- Likert scales (1-5 or 1-10 ratings) for measurable feedback
- Multiple-choice questions for easy comparison
- Open-ended questions for detailed insights
Anonymous surveys present an interesting case. Common belief suggests they encourage honest answers. However, data shows non-anonymous surveys get higher response rates (20.6%) compared to surveys with anonymous options (17.7%).
Timing your surveys for maximum response rates
Good timing dramatically boosts response rates. Send surveys right after key moments when experiences are fresh in candidates’ minds. Notion’s team waits 3 days after rejecting candidates. This keeps the human touch intact before sending surveys.
Numbers show 94% of people respond within nine days of getting the survey. Make sure to give at least this much time for responses. Research hints that sending surveys between 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM works better. People often look for productive tasks during this time.
Automated systems should handle survey delivery as per best survey practices. This frees up your recruitment team to analyze feedback and take action instead of managing survey logistics.
Implementing cNPS Measurement at Critical Touchpoints
Multiple measurement points throughout your hiring funnel give you a complete view of candidate sentiment. Your process strengths and weaknesses become clear when you place Candidate NPS surveys at key touchpoints.
Application stage measurement
The candidate sentiment tracking should start at the beginning of their experience. LinkedIn data on candidate experience shows rejected candidates at the application stage have an average NPS of -8. This sets a significant baseline measurement. Quick automated surveys right after application submission capture fresh impressions about your career site, job descriptions, and application form usability.
Your Applicant Tracking System should trigger surveys automatically. This ensures consistent data collection without overwhelming your recruitment team. The feedback from candidates who withdraw their applications is valuable. It often reveals process barriers that make qualified talent leave your pipeline.
Post-interview feedback collection
Candidates form lasting impressions of your organization during the interview phase. Research shows post-interview NPS averages around 0 for rejected candidates. This presents a natural chance to improve.
The best results come from sending surveys right after the first interview when candidates’ impressions are fresh. VodafoneZiggo, a telecom company, saw their metrics soar after they started following up personally with candidates who gave low scores.
Assessment stage evaluation
Assessment stages get the lowest satisfaction scores, with rejected candidates giving an average NPS of -26. This negative sentiment makes assessment feedback valuable to refine the process.
The feedback about assessment length, relevance, and communication needs careful review. Compare your results against industry standards to decide if your assessments need a complete redesign or minor tweaks.
Offer and rejection experience tracking
Hired candidates (average +80 NPS) and rejected candidates (average -5 NPS) respond very differently, so analyze them separately. Wait three days after delivering rejection news before sending surveys. This allows emotional responses to settle.
Rejected candidates’ insights often lead to the best improvements. It’s worth mentioning that 70% of rejected candidates would view your company more positively if they received detailed feedback.
Check out the offer and rejection job trends in IT, Pharma, and telecommunications industry to support growth trajectory for your business.
Onboarding satisfaction measurement
The candidate experience measurement concludes with tracking satisfaction through onboarding. This final touchpoint links recruitment impressions with early employment experience and adds context to your talent acquisition strategy.
This creates a continuous feedback loop that makes ongoing refinement possible throughout your recruitment process, from the first application through successful integration into your company.
Data Analysis Techniques for Actionable cNPS Insights
Numbers alone won’t make things better – you need smart analysis to learn what the data tells you. Your approach to analyzing candidate NPS feedback determines how well you can enhance your recruitment process.
Segmentation by candidate type and stage
The best way to analyze cNPS starts with breaking down the data. Looking at departments, locations and roles shows team patterns you might miss otherwise. Each hiring manager’s data reveals their strengths and areas where they can improve.
Stage-based breakdowns tell the most interesting story. SHRM studies show rejected candidates rate their experience differently based on when they were rejected—candidates cut during assessments give the lowest scores (-23). This detailed view helps you focus on stages that need quick fixes.
Trend analysis and benchmarking
Single data points tell only part of the story. The largest longitudinal study shows seasonal changes and measures how specific changes affect the process.
Your scores make more sense when compared to both external and internal standards. The industry suggests positive scores above 0 are good enough, scores above 30 are considered strong, and anything above 50 shows excellence. Your own past performance serves as the best yardstick—steady improvement matters more than random targets.
Correlation with other recruitment metrics
The data becomes more valuable when you see how cNPS relates to other recruitment KPIs. The Greenhouse Recruiting Team watches candidate satisfaction along with four other quarterly metrics to check their team’s health.
This complete view shows if better candidate experiences lead to improved hiring outcomes like quality of hire or faster filling of positions.
Text analysis for qualitative feedback
Scores point out problems but comments explain why they exist. Looking at common themes in responses helps spot patterns:
- Categorize comments into themes (communication issues, interview quality, etc.)
- Identify recurring pain points mentioned across multiple responses
- See how specific feedback themes connect to NPS scores to measure their effect
Text analysis tools can pull out codes and sub-codes from feedback automatically. This makes it easier to spot what creates bad or good experiences. Combining scores with detailed feedback gives you the full picture needed to make targeted improvements.
Transforming cNPS Data into Recruitment Process Improvements
After collecting candidate NPS data, you need to turn these analytical insights into real improvements. The right implementation can make feedback a powerful tool to excel in recruitment.
Identifying high-impact improvement areas
You can create meaningful change by focusing on specific issues instead of trying to fix everything at once. Break down your cNPS data by these key factors:
- By recruitment stage (application, interview, assessment, offer/rejection) to spot satisfaction drops
- By recruiter or hiring manager to find performance patterns
- By department, role, or location to see team-specific trends
This detailed approach helps you focus on areas that need the most attention. Rejected candidates often give the most valuable feedback, especially those who dropped out of the process.
Creating targeted intervention strategies
Once you know your priority areas, create specific solutions for each problem. Use SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals to stay focused. If candidates complain about communication, set clear response times and create message templates.
Break down big goals into smaller, practical tasks. Don’t just say you’ll “improve candidate communication.” Spell out the changes, who’s responsible, and the timeline.
Measuring the impact of process changes
Keep an eye on cNPS trends to see if your changes work. Compare current data with past results to track your progress.
Test your solutions on a small scale before rolling them out widely. The plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle offers a good framework: plan the change, test it with a small group, check the results, then decide to expand or adjust.
Building continuous improvement cycles
cNPS improvement needs to be an ongoing process, not a one-time fix. Feedback loops should connect all levels of your organization. Regular cNPS data analysis helps you make steady progress and achieve Candidate Experience Benchmark.
The Kaizen approach works well for improving candidate experience. It focuses on making each stage of the process better. Your main goal should always be to create positive experiences for candidates. These improvements boost candidate satisfaction and make your employer brand stronger.
Conclusion
Candidate NPS is a powerful metric that turns recruitment from guesswork into informed decision making. Organizations can build hiring processes that strike a chord with candidates through smart surveys, careful analysis and targeted improvements.
This piece showed you:
- The quickest way to calculate and set standard cNPS scores
- Ways to design meaningful candidate experience surveys
- Plans to measure key touchpoints
- Methods to analyze cNPS data and extract applicable information
- Ways to turn feedback into real process improvements
Note that positive candidate experiences directly affect your success in attracting and securing top talent. Your employer brand becomes stronger and creates a more resilient recruitment pipeline with each small improvement in cNPS scores. Start measuring your candidate NPS today and watch your hiring success grow through informed refinements.
FAQs
Q1. How is Candidate Net Promoter Score (cNPS) calculated? Candidate NPS is calculated by surveying candidates with a single question about their likelihood to recommend your hiring process, using a 0-10 scale. The percentage of Detractors (0-6) is subtracted from the percentage of Promoters (9-10) to yield a score between -100 and +100.
Q2. What is considered a good Candidate NPS score? A good Candidate NPS score varies by industry, but generally, any score above 0 is considered positive. Scores between 30-50 are considered strong, 50-70 excellent, and above 70 world-class. However, consistent improvement matters more than arbitrary thresholds.
Q3. How can companies effectively measure hiring success beyond cNPS? Companies can measure hiring success through various metrics alongside cNPS, including time to fill, application completion rate, offer acceptance rate, and quality of hire. Integrating these metrics with cNPS provides a comprehensive view of recruitment effectiveness.
Q4. What are the key stages for implementing cNPS measurement in the hiring process? Critical touchpoints for cNPS measurement include the application stage, post-interview, assessment stage, offer/rejection experience, and onboarding satisfaction. Measuring at these stages provides a comprehensive view of candidate sentiment throughout the hiring journey.
Q5. How can organizations transform cNPS data into actionable improvements? To turn cNPS data into improvements, organizations should segment data by recruitment stage and other criteria, identify high-impact areas, create targeted intervention strategies, measure the impact of changes, and build continuous improvement cycles. This approach helps prioritize and implement meaningful enhancements to the recruitment process
