Applicant Survey Overview

 

It’s possible to have a positive experience with your firm and not get hired, but that’s not the case for the majority of candidates who apply for a position and don’t get placed. In fact, 60% of applicants who applied for a position and weren’t placed on an assignment are detractors. While only 13% are promoters. With a benchmark of -47%, there’s work to do to turn around these applicants who are having an interaction with your company.

Our Solution: Applicant Experience Survey

Statistics show, that the overall satisfaction of applicants who applied and weren’t placed on assignment continues to decline with a 10% drop in just 2 years.

Measure the satisfaction of those job candidates that apply for a position. This is a tough group to make happy, but they provide valuable insight and feedback on your application and interview process.

We have two different surveys aimed at this talent pool: Applied and Interviewed. From this study, you’ll be able to quickly identify ways to improve this interaction with your brand, process, and internal employees.

Applied (Not Placed)

Below are the seven survey questions directed at your talent that have applied for a position but haven’t had any further interaction with your brand.

1. Based on your interaction with us so far, how likely would you be to be to recommend [brand] to a friend or colleague? [NPS, Scaled]

2. What is the primary reason behind the rating you provided? [open end]

3. Were you able to apply to the position(s) posted by [brand] without issue? [Yes, No, N/A]

4. After applying, how quickly did a recruiter from [brand] contact you? [24 hours or less, 24 hours to 1 week, A week or more, I was never contacted, N/A]

5. Did your recruiter set expectations about how best to communicate with them throughout the process? [Yes, No, N/A]

6. Were you provided advice or coaching to help in your job search? [Yes, No, N/A]

7. What if anything, do you need from [brand] that would help in your job search? [open end]

Email

Subject: [brand]: Short Survey

Hi [fname],

Thank you for taking the time to apply for a work opportunity through [brand]. We take feedback seriously and would like to learn more about your most recent experience with [brand]. The survey below is just 7 questions and should only take a few minutes.

Please click the following link now to begin the survey:

[link]

(Please note: If you have problems loading the survey, you may also copy the entire link into your web browser)

You're busy! So to thank you for taking the time to share your comments, you will be entered into a drawing for a [incentive description]. By taking time to share a few thoughts with us on your application experience, you are helping us identify areas to improve.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Sincerely,

[email_signature_name]

[email_signature_title]

Interviewed (Not Placed)

Below are the eight survey questions directed at your talent that have made it into the office for an interview with a recruiter, perhaps even as far as interviewing with a client, but haven’t been placed on an assignment.

1. Based on your interaction with us so far, how likely would you be to be to recommend [brand] to a friend or colleague? [NPS, Scaled]

2. What is the primary reason behind the reason you provided? [open end]

3. Did someone at [brand] interview you? [Yes, No, N/A]

4. After the interview, did your recruiter set expectations on how best to communicate with them throughout the process? [Yes, No, N/A]

5. Were you presented with at least one opportunity that might be a good fit for you? [Yes, No, N/A]

6. Were you provided advice or coaching to help in your job search? [Yes, No, N/A]

7. If you interviewed with a client for a work opportunity, did someone at [brand] prepare you for your interview? [Yes, No, N/A]

8. What if anything, do you need from [brand] that would help in your job search? [open end]

Email

Subject: [brand]: Short Survey

Hi [fname],

Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed by [brand]. We take feedback seriously and would like to learn more about your most recent experience with [brand]. The survey below is just 8 questions and should only take a few minutes.

Please click the following link now to begin the survey:

[link]

(Please note: If you have problems loading the survey, you may also copy the entire link into your web browser)

You're busy! So to thank you for taking the time to share your comments, you will be entered into a drawing for a [incentive description]. By taking time to share a few thoughts with us on your interview experience, you are helping us identify areas to improve.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Sincerely,

[email_signature_name]

[email_signature_title]

Best Practices | FAQ

Who to involve?

This feedback can be applied to the field level but it’s best to launch and initially keep feedback to the executive level as scores are most likely going to be in the negative. We’re looking for solutions not finger pointing. Since this will be a separate program outside of your other talent engagements, it will not negatively affect your Best of Staffing scores or eligibility.

Disabling Notifications

As you first launch this program, similar to above, keep automated notifications turned off. It’s best to start by viewing the feedback in aggregate versus immediately pushing this data out to the field.

Action Plan

Once the bulk of the feedback is in, find common themes in the responses and begin to create an action plan with potential process changes, automation adjustments and internal communication.

Survey Frequency

Depending on how quickly you can implement change, we recommend surveying the applicant pool at minimum once a year. Twice a year would be the max we would recommend.

Incentive

We recommend including an incentive to encourage applicants to provide feedback. This would be administered by your company, so you could also switch it out to be really anything (an iPad, Amazon Gift Card, Movie Tickets, or even a donation to their favorite charity.)