Registration has commenced for the 2026 Candidate Experience Benchmark Research and Award Program, marking the fifteenth anniversary of this industry benchmark initiative. The program offers organizations comprehensive data to measure, understand, and optimize their recruiting processes through confidential feedback collected from job seekers across all stages of hiring. For vendors serving the human resources industry, this development represents a critical source of market intelligence on current candidate perceptions and organizational performance gaps.
The CandE Program enables employers to benchmark their candidate experience against global peers using an established methodology. According to Jason Moreau, CEO of Survale, the program integrates research with analytics technology to deliver actionable intelligence that talent leaders can use to drive operational improvements. "There is no better way for an organization to validate their recruiting strategy," Moreau stated. This validation is particularly valuable for HR vendors who must advise clients on evidence-based recruiting solutions and demonstrate the return on investment of their products and services.
Participants gain access to a "lite" version of Survale's analytics platform, which facilitates global benchmarking against aggregated data from hundreds of organizations. The program helps identify significant perception gaps between recruiting teams and actual candidate experiences, provides expert consultations, and recognizes top performers with CandE Awards. Kevin Grossman, Vice President of CandE Benchmark Research at Survale, emphasized that the program extends beyond basic metrics to examine complex factors like candidate resentment, fairness perceptions, and overall business impact. "Candidate expectations continue to evolve, and in any competitive hiring market, understanding those expectations is paramount," Grossman noted. For HR vendors, this deeper analysis reveals emerging pain points and opportunities for innovation in talent acquisition technology and consulting services.
The implications for the HR vendor community are substantial. The benchmark data provides objective evidence of where recruiting processes succeed or fail, allowing vendors to tailor their offerings to address specific deficiencies identified across hundreds of organizations. The recognition of award winners also highlights organizations implementing best practices, offering vendors potential partnership opportunities and case studies. Organizations interested in the methodology, benefits, and program timeline can find detailed information at https://survale.com/candes/. In related developments, Survale will host a webinar on January 21 to present findings from the 2025 research program, coinciding with National Candidate Experience Day. This webinar will offer vendors early insights into trending candidate expectations before the 2026 program data collection begins, enabling proactive strategy adjustments.
The longevity of this fifteen-year program underscores the enduring importance of candidate experience measurement in talent acquisition. For HR vendors, the annual benchmark serves as both a barometer of market needs and a roadmap for product development and service enhancement. As recruiting technology evolves and candidate expectations shift, access to this comparative data becomes increasingly vital for vendors aiming to maintain competitive relevance and demonstrate tangible value to their HR department clients. The program's focus on actionable intelligence rather than mere metrics aligns with the vendor community's need to provide concrete solutions that improve hiring outcomes and organizational performance.
