Using NPS to optimize candidate experience – Part 1

3 mins, 15 secs read time

At Greenhouse, we believe that our customers’ success is our success. We partner with our customers to support them in optimizing their recruiting and onboarding functions, with the goals of demonstrating the value of our products and services, and building lifelong partnerships.

With such a broad mandate, how do we know whether or not we’re doing a good job? While our Customer Success team generally has a sense of how our customers feel through organic touchpoints, we also capture quantitative measures via structured surveys. The primary survey we use measures Net Promoter Score (NPS), which is based on responses to the following question:

How likely is it that you would recommend Greenhouse to a friend or peer?

NPS is widely used because of its simplicity and its correlation with business outcomes. The phrasing of the question goes further than simply asking customers if they are satisfied with our products and services, and instead asks how likely they are to take the additional step to actively recommend our products and services. If our customers feel strongly enough to recommend Greenhouse, they will likely want to continue our partnership and renew their contract (and potentially purchase additional products and services). If they take the question literally, they could act as advocates to help generate new business via referrals and references.

To ensure that we have a consistent and timely pulse on our customer sentiment, we survey them after their first major milestone (completed implementation and launch of Greenhouse), and every six months thereafter. Since we use NPS to predict business/financial outcomes, we only survey our primary contacts who are the most active users of our product at their organization, and who have the most influence in making a renewal decision.

As survey results come in, we take the time to review and respond to each one in real-time (more on this in the next article of this series). In addition, on a monthly basis, we prepare summary reports for the entire company, as well as tailored analyses for the Customer Success and Product teams.

Applying NPS to people teams

The concept of NPS and customer surveys can be applied to People Teams as well. Just as customer sentiment can predict your ability to attract new prospects, retain existing accounts and grow business, feedback from candidates can predict your ability to attract and retain talented people.

Using Greenhouse, you can set up a structured hiring process that includes a candidate survey for anyone that has reached the end of their interview process (regardless of whether they are ultimately hired or rejected). As part of a world-class employer brand and talent acquisition model, all candidates should walk away with a positive experience and impression of your company. To that end, the most important question in our survey asks candidates how they agree or disagree with the following statement:

Overall, my interviewing experience was a positive one.

If candidates have a good experience, they are not only more likely to accept an offer, but also share their impression with others and bring additional applicants into your pipeline. Conversely, if candidates have a bad experience, they may also share their impression with others and deter them from applying in the future. It’s clear how impactful these outcomes could be for your talent acquisition team!

People surveys shouldn’t exist only within recruiting and talent acquisition teams. Once candidates are hired, you can continue to solicit feedback from employees via employee engagement surveys. This will allow you to have a pulse on overall employee sentiment, which serves as a predictor for employee lifetime value.

n the next installment of this series, you will hear from Allen Beers and Jacqui Maguire from Greenhouse’s Customer Success and People Teams. They will discuss how to take action on the data you’ve received from your surveys by strategically reaching out to different segments of responders, and upgrading internal processes to reflect lessons learned from the valuable feedback.