Candidate experience survey template: Questions to improve your hiring process

What to include in a candidate experience survey

A useful candidate experience survey balances being comprehensive while being easy to complete. Use a consistent five-point scale for rated questions, so you can compare results over time, then add a small number of open-ended questions to capture context the ratings may miss.

The template below covers:

• Overall experience
• The application process
• Recruiter communication
• Interviews
• Hiring decisions
• Open-ended feedback

You can adapt the wording to match your process while keeping the core questions consistent enough to spot patterns across roles, teams and hiring stages.

Greenhouse, for example, uses nine questions on a five-point scale in its own candidate survey, with space for candidates to add comments.

Overall candidate experience

Overall experience questions give you a high-level view of how candidates felt about the hiring process and whether they would engage with your company again.

Focus the questions on:

• Overall satisfaction with the hiring process
• Willingness to reapply
• Likelihood to recommend the company
• Whether the process met expectations

Treat this section as your headline measure, and track it over time across roles and stages.

Application experience

The application section shows whether candidates had the information and support they needed before and during the application process.

Cover the parts of the application journey that shape that first impression:

• Clarity of the job description
• Ease of finding role information
• Ease of completing the application
• Consistency between the posted role and the process

Use responses to improve careers pages, job descriptions and application workflows.

Recruiter communication

Communication questions gauge how clearly and consistently candidates were kept informed throughout the process.

Look at the communication touchpoints that shape that experience:

• Clarity of process expectations
• Timeliness of updates
• Access to a clear point of contact
• Communication of next steps and timelines

Use results to spot patterns across recruiters, handoffs and communication workflows, then refine those touchpoints where needed.

Interview experience

Interview feedback helps you understand whether candidates felt prepared, respected and able to show their skills and experience.

Shape the questions around the parts of the interview candidates can evaluate directly:

• Interviewer preparedness
• Clarity about interview format
• Relevance of interview questions
• Opportunity to demonstrate qualifications

Adapt the section to reflect panels, assessments, take-home exercises or other structured interview formats in your process.

Hiring decision and feedback

Feedback on the final decision shows how candidates experienced the timing, clarity and tone of outcome communication.

Your questions should focus on:

• Timeliness of the decision
• Clarity of outcome communication
• Usefulness of post-interview feedback
• Whether candidates felt their time was respected

Adapt the questions to match how your team communicates final decisions and whether you provide structured feedback.

Open-ended candidate feedback

Open-ended questions give candidates room to add context, explain their ratings and raise themes you may not have anticipated.

Use prompts that invite reflection on:

• The strongest part of the experience
• Opportunities to improve the process
• Moments that changed their perception of the company
• Additional feedback they want to share

Look for recurring themes across responses and add targeted prompts when you want deeper feedback on a specific stage or interaction.

Download the candidate experience survey template

Use the Greenhouse candidate experience survey template to turn these questions into a consistent feedback process. Our survey template gives your team a practical starting point for collecting useful candidate feedback. You can customize it around your hiring stages, choose when to send it and use the results to spot patterns across the candidate journey.

Candidate experience surveys in the age of AI

As AI becomes a larger part of recruiting, candidate surveys can help teams understand how people experience those interactions.

The Greenhouse 2026 AI in Hiring Report, based on 2,950 active job seekers, found that 63% had experienced an AI interview. But transparency hasn’t kept pace: 70% said they weren’t clearly told beforehand that AI would evaluate them, and 38% had withdrawn from a process that included an AI interview.

Those findings make transparency an important part of understanding how candidates experience AI in the hiring process.

Ask candidates whether they understood where AI was being used, whether its role was clearly explained and whether they had sufficient opportunities to interact with a person. You can also ask whether AI made the experience better, worse or had no impact.

Keep these questions as a focused addition to the core survey when AI plays a meaningful role in your hiring process. Your core questions should still focus on the communication, preparedness, fairness and respect that shape how candidates experience the process.

Running a candidate experience survey

A strong candidate experience survey starts with two clear choices: when to send it and how to review the feedback. Keep both consistent, so you can spot patterns, compare results and improve the parts of the hiring process candidates experience most directly.

When should you send a candidate experience survey?

Send the survey while the experience is still fresh in the candidate’s mind, but the right timing depends on what you want to measure and when candidates are most likely to feel comfortable sharing candid feedback. Some teams send it shortly after the interview stage while others wait until after a final decision, a withdrawal or the close of the process.

Once you choose the right point in the process, use it consistently and use the same trigger across comparable candidate groups. Automated survey distribution can help every eligible candidate receive the same opportunity to respond while making it easier to compare across roles, teams and time periods.

How to measure candidate experience survey results

Measuring candidate experience involves looking at the overall score, then digging into the patterns and any over-time trends. Start with a simple headline measure, such as the percentage of respondents who choose one of the top two ratings on your five-point scale. From there, compare results across application experience, recruiter communication, interviews and hiring decisions to see what is shaping candidate sentiment.

When you have enough responses, break the data down by department, location, role type, recruiter or hiring stage. That segmentation can help you see whether a pattern shows up across the process or within a specific team or stage.

Keep tracking the same measures over time, too. Candidate feedback becomes more useful when you review it alongside other recruitment KPIs and use reporting and insights to connect survey trends with the rest of your hiring data.

How to turn candidate feedback into hiring improvements

Collecting feedback is the starting point. The next step is turning the feedback into positive action.

Set a regular cadence for reviewing survey results. During your review, look for repeated themes across ratings and written responses. Then, prioritize areas that appear often or have the clearest impact on the candidate experience. Each priority should have a clear owner and timeline, so feedback leads to action.

Let the results guide the change. If communication scores are low, start by looking at response-time expectations or status updates. And interview feedback may reveal a need for stronger interviewer training or clearer interview plans.

If candidates flag friction earlier in the process, review job descriptions and application requirements. Feedback about hiring decisions can then help teams make rejection messages and next steps clearer and more respectful.

After making a change, keep measuring the same area. Comparing results over time helps you see what’s improving and where candidates are still asking for a better experience.

Build a better candidate experience with Greenhouse

Candidate surveys give hiring teams direct feedback from the people experiencing the process. The most useful approach is consistent: ask the same core questions, look for recurring patterns and measure whether the changes you make actually improve the experience.

Greenhouse helps you connect candidate feedback with hiring data, so you can understand what is working and where the process can become clearer, more consistent and more thoughtful for candidates.
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See how we help hiring teams create a stronger candidate experience at every stage.