The ROI of Candidate Experience: How It Impacts Hiring Success

Recruiters believe hiring new employees will become more challenging in the coming time.

However, not many are willing to change what it takes to provide an exceptional candidate experience.

As per CandE Benchmark Research Report: 

Candidate expectations across the candidate journey will seemingly increase, but unfortunately, many employers will continue to deliver marginal recruiting and hiring experiences.

Companies that deliver a positive candidate experience not only attract qualified candidates but also establish a good brand name for the organization, leading to more sales and promotions.

Learn more about the ROI organizations achieve out of a positive candidate experience. 

Top 4 Ways Candidate Experience Boosts ROI for Organizations 

1. Attracts high-quality candidates

Any great candidate has multiple options on their hand, and they diligently evaluate them while accepting job offers.  

A good candidate experience establishes a competitive edge. It leaves a strong impact on the top talent, which they notice and acknowledge. They directly associate it with company culture and values. 

The psychology behind it is simple: a strong candidate experience builds an emotional connection with these candidates, assuring that as employees, they will feel respected, valued, and aligned with their personal and professional goals.

Some important statistics to focus on:

• 66% of candidates said a positive experience influenced their decision to accept a job offer, and a poor experience led 26% of job seekers to decline offers in 2024 alone
• Companies that deliver positive candidate experiences see a 70% improvement in hiring quality
• Companies that do personalized communication with their applicants experience a 40% increase in candidate engagement

Some additional ROIs include:

• Companies hire faster because of simple and non-complex hiring stages
• Companies save themselves from investing in outreach campaigns to find the right talent
• Selected candidates are more likely to accept job offers because they associate positive emotions with your company
• Companies save them attrition costs as employees are more likely to stay longer if they feel valued during recruiting 

2. Improved recruiting KPIs performances 

A good candidate experience adds so many returns to the hiring process, such as:

• Increased Offer Acceptance Rate:  58% of candidates have declined offers due to a negative candidate experience; hence, candidates are more likely to accept offers from companies that provide a smooth and respectful hiring process.

• Reduced Time-to-Hire – A positive experience reduces delays caused by indecision or an inefficient hiring process.  Learn from here:

Primarily, employees withdraw their applications due to a poor candidate experience. 

• Increased Quality of Hire – As I already mentioned, companies see a 70% improvement in the quality of hires because of positive candidates' experience.

• Candidate Net Promoter Score (NPS) – Candidates show a 20% higher willingness to refer your company after experiencing a positive candidate experience. 

• Reduced Cost-per-Hire – An exceptional candidate experience minimizes the hiring recruitment funnel, saves advertising costs, and reduces candidate drop-offs, hence reducing cost-per-hire.

• Better Employee Retention Rate – A strong candidate experience sets clear expectations, leading to better cultural fit and long-term retention; hence, companies are 3x more likely to achieve improved employee retention.

3. Strong Employer Brand that gets you more referrals

Candidates worldwide share their positive/negative hiring experiences with their close people (significant others, close friends, colleagues, peers, etc.). 

When they speak positively about your company, it creates a brand name (subtly) for your organization, and they are more likely to bring qualified candidates via word of mouth.

Candidates also publicly share their hiring experiences on social media platforms, and on online employer review sites such as Glassdoor and Indeed, etc. 

You will not only save your company from a bad reputation if you consistently deliver positive candidate experiences but also establish a name for your organization where top talent wants to work.

So here’s the ROI you get from a strong employer brand:

• Strong talent pool 
• More likely to attract top talent because of trusted referrals 
• Referrals tend to convert quicker, hence a short recruiting cycle and lesser hiring costs
• The stronger the employer brand, the more the retention as companies see less turnover

Statistics to focus on:

• 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before even applying for a job. 
• A strong employer brand cuts recruiting costs by 50%
• Companies with strong brands fill positions up to 1-2 weeks faster
• Referred employees tend to stay 45% longer and perform better from day one

4. Create brand advocates and increase conversions 

Candidates have an emotional memory of how they were treated during the hiring process, whether they got the job or not. 

With candidates, you don’t just share an affinity as future applicants but also as potential customers, partners, or employees. Yet, many organizations choose to ignore this fact. By doing so, they risk damaging their reputation, which could ultimately affect their sales.

An infamous case of Virginia media is a classic example for understanding the impact of negative candidate experience.

Virginia Media suffered a £4.4 million revenue loss because 18% of their rejected candidates were Virgin customers, and 6% of them actually switched providers because of bad recruiting experiences.

Another aspect of losing sales with candidate experience is that when employees share their negative experiences about your company online, people, in general, will have an emotional reaction to the news. 

This will likely impact business conversions as customers who see a strong, employee-friendly culture are more likely to trust and engage with your brand.

Hence, the expected impact of a good candidate relationship includes:

• A positive employer reputation enhances customer trust and loyalty.
• Companies with a positive, employee-friendly culture are more likely to build trust and attract both customers and talent.
• Positive experiences reduce the likelihood of negative PR or legal disputes from rejected candidates.

Statistics to focus on:

• 94% of candidates with good hiring experience will reconsider your company for different positions 
• 65% of happy candidates are likely to do business with you again
• 60% of job seekers will not purchase from the brand because of poor candidate experience

Best practices for delivering an at-par candidate experience 

1. Measure and monitor

Delivering a positive candidate experience starts with tracking and analyzing key touchpoints in the hiring process. Two key ways to do it is via:

• Surveys
• Tracking metrics

Candidate feedback surveys must be shared with candidates and recruiters to help gauge experience at different hiring stages. These can be quick pulse surveys and should include questions about communication, ease of application, interview experience, and overall impressions of the company. 

Tracking metrics involves deciding on your core recruiting KPIs and monitoring them to make the changes and get the desired results. Learn more about recruiting KPIs here.

2. Set up automated communication

Active and positive communication is the key pillar of providing great candidate experience. 

Often, recruiters do not stress over consistent engagement, which makes candidates feel confused and unsure about their application status or the reasons for rejection. This leads to applicants retaining negative memories of your company.

A simple goal of keeping candidates in the loop works wonders for navigating this problem. Setting up an automated communication workflow triggered by specific actions will instantly deliver a better candidate experience.

For example, some easy areas to cover include:

• Sending confirmation email post application submission
• Engagement emails after every interview
• Feedback emails after rejecting candidates

While bulk email templates can simplify communication, some may argue they lack personalization. However, something is always better than nothing to keep candidates informed.

Instead of worrying about it all, focus on personalizing critical conversations—especially feedback emails—so candidates walk away with a positive impression, even if they weren’t selected.

And for other emails, make sure to use the recruiter’s own email address so the conversation feels more personal. The content should also have a natural, human touch rather than sounding like a repetitive, templated message.

3. Use AI-powered ATS tool

Traditional Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are no longer efficient. They may help with resume sorting, but they often rely on rigid keyword matching, leading to qualified candidates being overlooked. Plus, they don’t offer much when it comes to engagement.

AI-powered ATS tools, on the other hand, transform the hiring process.

Your ATS tool must offer:

Explore the 15 best applicant tracking system tools for your 2025 hiring needs.

Also, discover 60 essential questions you should ask to ask before choosing an applicant tracking system.

Wrapping up!

Positive candidate experience is the key to establishing credibility for your organization, where recruiters and applicants are spending less time on hiring.

The whole process of delivering exceptional candidate experience becomes much easier with an AI-powered ATS tool. It is because of its capabilities to take load and reduce manual involvement.

This impact isn’t just theoretical—companies using AI-powered ATS tools are already seeing tangible results.

DeepScribe, a healthcare AI platform, was able to cut its hiring costs by 30% with Kula’s AI features. 

As Samantha, Head of Talent, says, "I chose Kula because I like to be on the cutting edge. I want to be at the forefront of AI in recruiting."

Kula features that made their hiring more efficient include:

• AI scoring for applications to focus on top talent
• Automated communication workflows for consistent engagement 
• AI Notetaker for catching interview insights to make better decisions 

Interested in seeing how Kula makes your hiring smarter and faster?? Book a personalized demo and learn how our intuitive platform accelerates hiring without compromising quality.

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