Registration Opens for 2026 Candidate Experience Benchmark Research Program

Registration is now open for the 2026 Candidate Experience Benchmark Research and Award Program, marking the 15th year of this industry benchmark initiative. The program provides organizations with critical data to measure, understand, and optimize their recruiting processes while improving candidate experience through confidential feedback collection from job seekers at all hiring stages.

The 2026 CandE Program offers employers an opportunity to benchmark their candidate experience against global peers using a time-tested methodology. This approach captures feedback from pre-application through onboarding stages to reveal the true impact of recruiting efforts on employer brand and business outcomes. According to Jason Moreau, CEO of Survale, the program combines prestigious research with analytics technology to give talent leaders actionable intelligence for driving operational change beyond just measuring sentiment.

Participants in the 2026 program gain access to a lite version of Survale's analytics platform, enabling global benchmarking against aggregate data from hundreds of organizations. The program helps identify perception gaps between recruiting teams and candidate experiences while providing expert consultations to review results and develop improvement strategies. Organizations achieving the highest candidate satisfaction ratings will be recognized as 2026 CandE Award Winners, establishing industry excellence standards.

Kevin Grossman, VP of CandE Benchmark Research at Survale, emphasized that candidate expectations continue evolving in competitive hiring markets. The CandE Program provides deep analysis of candidate resentment, fairness perceptions, and business impacts beyond simple metrics. Organizations can learn more about methodology, benefits, and registration details at https://survale.com/candes/.

In conjunction with National Candidate Experience Day, Survale will host a webinar presenting findings from the 2025 CandE Research Program on January 21. This session will explore emerging trends and developments expected to shape candidate experience strategies throughout 2026 and beyond.