In the first chapter of our eBook, we introduced the basics of Candidate Experience surveys. Now it's time to go even deeper and look at what we like to call the North Star metric – the Candidate Net Promoter Score (cNPS). In this chapter, we explain how to use it, what is a good cNPS score and give you tips on how to start measuring it.
What Is the Candidate Net Promoter Score?
The Candidate NPS came from the Net Promoter Score, which is a widely used marketing metric. It's based on the question: “How likely is it you would recommend … to others?” We're sure you've been asked that a thousand times.
Research by Professor Fred Reichheld shows that high scores on this question correlate strongly with repurchases, referrals, customer loyalty and other actions that contribute to a company's growth. That's why the likelihood-to-recommend question is often referred to as the "Ultimate Question".
In recent years, the NPS has expanded from a marketing metric to being widely used in Talent Acquisition as an indicator of performance and success of hiring teams. The Candidate NPS tells you how candidates experience your recruitment process and if they would recommend applying for a job at your company to friends and family. Measuring the cNPS score can be used to improve your hiring process and Candidate Experience, strengthen your Employer Brand, and identify detractors and promoters.
How Do You Calculate Candidate NPS?
It is very simple to calculate cNPs. You start by asking your candidates the question: "Based on your application, how likely are you to recommend applying to our company to others?".
The first part of your question should change based on the recruitment stage at which the survey is sent. For example, if it is sent after an interview, you would ask, 'Based on your interview,...' and the same with other stages in the hiring journey. If you prefer not to change the question for each step, you could say, "Based on the recruitment process so far, how likely are you to recommend applying to our company to others?".
Candidates can score this question on a scale from 0 (extremely unlikely) to 10 (very likely). Then the three groups are defined: detractors, passives and promoters.
- Detractors are all scores of 6 and below. These candidates are often dissatisfied with their Candidate Experience and may spread negative word of mouth, potentially harming your Employer Brand.
- Passives: are scores of 7 and 8. While they are not dissatisfied, they are not enthusiastic enough to actively promote your company. Passives are considered neutral and do not directly impact the cNPS calculation.
- Promoters: are scores of 9 and 10. These are the candidates who are most likely to recommend your company to others, making them your brand ambassadors.
Your Candidate Net Promoter Score will be the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. Candidate NPS ranges from −100 (meaning everyone is a detractor) to +100 (meaning everyone is a promoter). If you are wondering what is a good average score, don't worry we explain it in the next section.
Example of Candidate Experience NPS Calculation:
Let's say you've gathered the following cNPS scores from five candidates: 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
You have:
- 1 detractor with the answer 6 (20% of everyone),
- 2 passives with the answers 7 and 8 (40% of everyone),
- 2 promoters with the answers 9 and 10 (also 40%).
To calculate the cNPS, you would subtract the detractor (20%) from the promoters (40%). This means you have a Candidate NPS score of 20 (40% - 20%).
What Is a Good Candidate NPS Score?
When it comes to the Candidate Net Promoter Scores, many TA professionals find themselves asking: "What qualifies as a "good" score?" There's no one-size-fits-all answer, but the best way to determine how your Candidate Experience measures up is by looking at benchmarks.
While any positive score above zero would suggest more candidates are promoting your company than detracting from it, benchmarks provide valuable context. For example, in the Engineering department, a Candidate NPS score of +15 is considered strong, while for a sector like Shopping & Retail average score is +45 (see Graph below). Benchmarks allow you to understand whether your score is competitive or behind the industry standards.
Without these comparisons, you could be celebrating a score of 20, not realizing that the average in your sector is 50. Or the opposite, you might be discouraged by a score of 45, when in reality, that could be a standout performance for your industry. So, while aiming for a high score is always a good goal, the real measure of success lies in how you compare to your peers.
Where to Get cNPS Benchmark Data?
Lucky for you, Starred collects cNPS data from thousands of job seekers and releases a Benchmark Report every year. We break down the data by company size, region, department, candidate stage, NPS quartile, and more! The report also features a qualitative analysis section, looking at the candidates' comments and categorizing them by topic and sentiment.
Read our 2023 Candidate Experience Benchmark Report here!
Wondering how to track benchmarks even better? Starred offers an easy way to compare your performance against industry benchmarks and even set your own internal benchmarks directly within the platform. It will eliminate the need to depend on generic public benchmark lists and you will be able to see cNPS survey data for every stage of your hiring process. Implementing an automated solution can save you the headache of manually collecting responses, calculating cNPS, analyzing data and finding the reliable benchmark lists to compare against.
Tips on Measuring Candidate NPS
1. Automate Your Candidate NPS Process
In the previous chapter, we discussed the importance of automating your Candidate Experience surveys. But how does automation help with measuring the cNPS score?
Automation ensures consistency – by automatically sending surveys at key touchpoints you’ll capture real-time responses from a broader sample of candidates, providing you with more reliable data for calculating the cNPS. This will help you track trends and patterns over time, making it easier to spot areas for improvement.
Automating your NPS survey process means you can focus on action, not administration. By reducing manual tasks, your team can dedicate more time to analyzing the feedback and implementing changes that result in positive Candidate Experience and ultimately, a higher cNPS score.
2. Track cNPS for Rejected Candidates
It's clear that you should know if your applicants are satisfied with your hiring process, whether they were hired or not. Hired candidates most likely will be biased as they just got a job offer, so the real learnings will come from the rejected talent. They are much greater in size and can significantly impact your company's reputation, as they are more likely to openly share their genuine opinions.
If you measure cNPS of the unsuccessful candidates at every stage in the hiring process, it will give you the full picture. Candidates who have been rejected after an application or a CV screening will have a different experience than those who were rejected after an interview process. Our Benchmark Report shows that the lowest NPS (-26) was for Candidates Rejected after an assessment. Also, make sure to send NPS surveys to the candidates who withdrew their applications. Understanding their reasons for abandoning the process will help you identify potential issues in your recruitment that may be causing candidates to lose interest.
3. Filter Your cNPS on Different Levels
Make sure you know the different Candidate Net Promoter Scores of all stages of the candidate journey, so you can pinpoint what moments need improvement – is it the application process, interview stage or maybe the attitude of your hiring managers.
These insights will already help you get a clear picture of the experiences of the different candidates, but after a while, you'll want to differentiate the data even more. Starred dashboards allow you to segment the cNPS data by a range of filters like, role, department, country, interviewer and even measure your Recruiter and Hiring Manager NPS.
For example, segmenting your data per 'hiring manager' will tell you how well different hiring managers are at delivering great experiences. Being able to filter job roles or departments will let you tailor experiences to different types of people because, after all, a software developer is a different persona than a sales representative.
4. Ask More Candidate Experience Questions
Find out 'the why' behind the Candidate Net Promoter score: that is, why someone would recommend you or not. Limiting yourself to asking only the NPS question in your candidate surveys won't tell you enough. To find out what's causing the score, you should ask 3 to 5 other questions that are going to show you the reason why.
Related recommended reading:
- Chapter 4: Candidate Experience Survey Questions and Free Templates
- Chapter 6: What to Ask in an After-Interview Survey?
If you correlate the questions to your NPS you will have much deeper insights and it will allow you to see the causes of unhappy candidates, for example:
- You could see a particularly low score in terms of satisfaction towards the interview experience, and this score has a strong positive correlation to your cNPS. This means that if you improve the score of the interviews, you will improve your candidate NPS.
But how to find these patterns and correlations without manual statistical analysis?
Because we get it, you want to collect your feedback and get cracking with the insights. The answer is the Starred Priority Matrix. This matrix does these calculations for you and ranks the drivers behind your NPS. Just focus on your priority ranking and you will improve the Candidate Experience in no time.
5. Giving Feedback Goes Both Ways
If you ask rejected candidates for anonymous feedback, you allow them to vent their feelings in a safe space where they will be encouraged to give their honest thoughts. This will let you be the first point of contact and solve issues in the candidates' feedback before they go and share their experience on Glassdoor. Starred's Firefight Response can send a warning notification to your hiring team when a candidate has a bad experience, so they can immediately respond even if the response is anonymous.
But here’s the thing: giving feedback is just as important as getting it. In fact, 70% of rejected candidates say they’d have a more positive impression of your company if they received detailed feedback for not being selected. By doing this, you can avoid damaging your Employer Brand. Plus, following up with candidates, especially those who gave a low score, can actually turn their negative experience into a positive one. So, make sure to reach out and address their concerns!
Learn How Improving the cNPS Saved $142K in Revenue
If you increase your NPS score the business will benefit, but how much? And how to get your stakeholders on board with delivering a great Candidate Experience? A success story from VodafoneZiggo might be able to answer these questions: read how VodafoneZiggo saved $142K in revenue in just 3.5 months.
Their success lies in learning how to prioritize Candidate Experience by listening to the feedback and experiences of their candidates. This not only saved money but also caused a significant increase in their cNPS scores.
What's next?
What are your thoughts after learning all about the Candidate Net Promoter Score, are you serious about measuring your Candidate Experience now? If the answer is yes (and we hope it is by now), head over to the next chapter, where we will introduce you to Candidate Experience Survey Best Practices!