Candidate Experience Still More Positive for Females, People of Color, and Gen Z

Our 2024 CandE Benchmark Research once again revealed that females, people of color (Black, Hispanic, and Asian), and younger candidates (Gen Z) rated their candidate experiences more positively than all other demographics we track (see the table at the bottom of this article). This includes all job types (hourly, professional, management) across company sizes and industries.

This most likely has to do with the continued focus on inclusive language and examples of diversity that employers are bringing to their careers sites, candidate communication, job ads, and other marketing collateral for their employment brands. This is true around the world in our data, although in this article we’ll focus more on our North American research, which has a much larger sample size across industries and company sizes. Our forthcoming executive research brief on this data will be global in scope.

In 2024, the top 3 types of recruitment marketing content consumed more by females, people of color, and younger candidates before they applied for a job included:

1. Company Values
2. Diversity and Inclusion
3. Product and Services Information

When we compare to all candidates in 2024, the top 3 look like this:

1. Company Values
2. Company Culture
3. Diversity and Inclusion

What’s interesting is that females, people of color, and younger candidates value what a company markets and sells nearly as much as their values and their diversity and inclusion initiatives. But for all candidates, diversity and inclusion continues to be a top 3 research priority.

This is the fourth year that we’ve asked candidates to identify their race and ethnicity in addition to gender and generation, which we’ve been asking for years. The strongest NPS ratings for those willing to continue a relationship with an employer (applying again, referring others, being a brand advocate, being a customer), even when they don’t get hired, again includes females, people of color, and younger candidates, as mentioned above.

However, these NPS ratings have decreased due to an overall deterioration of a positive candidate experience that we’ve found the past two years in our CandE Benchmark Research. For example, the female candidate experience decreased 16% since 2022; the Black candidate experience decreased 11%; and the Gen Z candidate experience decreased 19%. 

Also, how these candidates in 2024 perceived their candidate experiences may or may not translate into positive employee experiences (we’ll cover internal employee candidate experience in our forthcoming executive research brief on this data). We don’t know for certain because we aren’t measuring what happens once a new employee starts, but it’s clear from the data above that investing in DEI recruitment marketing continues to pay an employer branding dividend for employers through a better candidate experience for traditionally underrepresented groups.

Candidate resentment as we measure it – the percentage of candidates who told us they will no longer engage a business or your brand (apply again, refer others, be a brand advocate, etc.) – was much lower for these groups that had a more positive candidate experience (females, people of color, and younger candidates), even though their positive ratings decreased. 

• Females have a 33% lower resentment rate than males.
• Gen Z has an 86% lower resentment rate than Millennials (and similar with other generations).
• And Black, Hispanic, and Asian candidates have a 43% lower resentment rate than White candidates.

Like many well-intentioned business initiatives, there are backlash problems with how some companies have pursued DEI, and different perspectives on how to improve on them. Plus, there has been an increase over the past few years in our candidate comment sentiment of candidates complaining about ageism and racism. Unfortunately, the continued backlash against DEI programs, diversity recruiting, and what ultimately benefits employers when focused on inclusion has most likely contributed to the lower candidate experience ratings we’re seeing, especially as more employers publicly announce they’re doing away with their DEI initiatives. 

Despite these headlines and those stating that “DEI is dead,” 80% of organizations remain dedicated to their DEI efforts, with another 10% intensifying their focus, according to Seramount (a company that provides DEI consulting services).

Also, according to a newly released Harris Poll/Axios Vibes survey, 61% of those surveyed said diverse employees have a positive impact on organizations, and 75% agreed that more needs to be done to guarantee everyone is advancing.

Addressing systemic discrimination while increasing access to opportunity for all are essential to inclusive recruiting that has most certainly impacted the business bottom line positively. When candidates felt seen and heard, and believed they were able to convey their skills and experiences adequately, their positive sentiment increased, as did their perception of fairness in our research. Consistent and timely communication and feedback loops also ensure increased candidate positivity. 

In fact, the highest-rated companies in our benchmark research (CandE Winners) have a 36% higher perception of assessment fairness rating and a 21% higher perception of interview fairness rating for all candidates – and even with decreasing ratings, it’s still much higher for females, people of color, and younger candidates. Across the candidate journey, CandE Winners are more consistent and timely with their process structure, communication and feedback loops, optimizing their recruiting technology stack, and so much more. You’ll find all those differentiators throughout our annual CandE Benchmark Research reports.

% Hired, % Resentment Rate, and Relationship NPS Ratings by Demographic