A CareerXroads and Friends Monograph

The Candidate Experience:
What they say it is; What it really is; and, What it can be

Primary authors: Gerry Crispin & Mark Mehler, co-founders CareerXroads

Contributing Authors and Editors: Elaine Orler, Joseph Murphy, Chris Hoyt, Michael Kannisto, Russell Kronenburg, Marvin Smith, Mark McMillan, Kristen Weirick, Sarah White

Important Note: This first of a kind, virtual monograph, is a single, comprehensive treatment of the candidate experience. To achieve this ambitious goal, we will periodically (at least quarterly) revise this document with additional links to articles, blogs, company case studies, slide decks, tools and other reference material that our primary and contributing authors believe relevant. If you are reading this feel free to distribute as you see fit. Suggestions for content can be made by emailing Gerry Crispin or any of the other authors. The most recent updated version of this document will be kept in pdf format on this page.

Monograph Index & Introduction

  1. A History of the Candidate Experience: A Magical Mystery Tour.
  2. Toward a Working Definition of the Candidate Experience: The Moment They Know It
  3. A Business Rationale for the Candidate Experience: Why Oh Why Should We Care!
  4. Corporate Case Studies: Who is Making a Difference and Reaping the Rewards
  5. Metrics and Tools and Toys, Oh My!: Resources For Stakeholders To Enhance or Leverage The Candidate Experience

Recruiters, HR Leaders, Job Seekers, nearly everyone who has ever held a job, looked for a job or hired someone for a job has an opinion about "The Candidate Experience". The irony is that there is no standard definition for the phrase "Candidate Experience" when applied to recruiting. There is no Merriam-Webster definition, no Wikipedia definition and, even if there were there is no agreement in the staffing world about what a candidate is let alone the experience he or she is supposed to be having.

There are however, at least one million opinions... just ask Google (1.4 million and counting). A quick search on one recruiting related site - ERE.net - returns 756 mentions of "candidate experience" in the title of blogs and articles. SHRM.org in contrast has only 23 results for the phrase.

Unfortunately, among the 100,000 or so people claiming expertise about what the candidate experience is (literary license) the few common themes we have found have little substantive support for their conclusions. It is our intention to change that.

Read The Candidate Experience Report