Candidate NPS, calculated and read properly
Candidate NPS, or CNPS, is the one number that compares cleanly across hiring stages, job families and quarters. This is the arithmetic behind it, and how to read its movement without pretending an industry benchmark exists, inside the wider candidate experience platform.
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One question, asked of candidates instead of employees
How likely are you to recommend applying here, on a scale of 0 to 10. The same question your eNPS already asks of employees, put to everyone who reached a hiring stage, including candidates you rejected and candidates who declined.
- Detractors0 to 6
- Passives7 to 8
- Promoters9 to 10
Seven of the eleven points are detractor territory, which is why the score moves faster than an average would.
Promoters minus detractors, as a percentage
Deliberately the same arithmetic as the eNPS you already report, which is what lets a candidate score sit beside an employee one without a translation step. The result runs from minus 100 to plus 100 and is a whole number, not a percentage, so it is written as plus 30 rather than 30%. A large passive share means a process nobody objected to and nobody would recommend, which the score alone will not show you.
Both percentages are taken over everyone who answered, passives included in the denominator.
The number is a starting point, not a verdict
A single candidate NPS tells you almost nothing. The same score across stages, cohorts and quarters is what turns it into a decision.
Compare against yourself
No dependable external benchmark exists, so the honest comparison is your own history: this quarter against last, one job family against another.Split it by stage
An overall plus 30 can hide an offer stage at minus 10. Stage cuts locate the problem instead of averaging it away.Read the drivers underneath
The score says how people felt; drivers say why. The full set of candidate experience metrics covers clarity, speed, fairness and communication, and improve candidate experience covers what to do once the weak one is obvious.Put it next to eNPS
Because the calculation matches your employee score, the candidate number and the employee number read on one line across day one, on the same recruitment dashboard.
Candidate NPS, answered
What is candidate NPS?
Candidate NPS, or candidate net promoter score, is the standard net promoter question asked of job candidates rather than of employees, the way eNPS asks it of your staff: how likely are you to recommend applying here, on a scale of 0 to 10. It is also written candidate net promoter score, and occasionally shortened to CNPS, though that abbreviation is used for other things and is worth avoiding in a report someone else has to read. It is the headline figure in a candidate experience program because it compares cleanly across stages, job families and quarters. CultureMonkey produces it as part of a wider candidate experience platform rather than as a standalone metric.
What does CNPS stand for?
CNPS is shorthand for candidate net promoter score: the net promoter question asked of job candidates rather than of employees. You will also see it written cNPS or candidate NPS, and all three mean the same measure. Be aware the abbreviation is not exclusive to hiring, so in a document that will be read outside your talent team it is worth writing candidate NPS in full at least once. CultureMonkey reports it as part of a wider candidate experience platform, alongside the drivers that explain the score.
How do you calculate candidate NPS?
Group responses on the 0 to 10 scale: 9 and 10 are promoters, 7 and 8 are passives, 0 to 6 are detractors. Take the percentage of promoters and subtract the percentage of detractors. If 50% are promoters and 20% are detractors, candidate NPS is plus 30. The result runs from minus 100 to plus 100 and is written as a whole number, not a percentage. Passives count toward the response total but not toward the score.
What is a good candidate NPS score?
We will not quote you a target, because a dependable external benchmark for candidate NPS does not exist. Published figures vary widely by source, industry, hiring volume and how the question was asked, so a number lifted from a report is rarely comparable to your own hiring. The useful measure is direction against your own baseline: whether this quarter beats last, whether the offer stage trails the interview stage, whether one recruiter's cohorts differ from the team.
Is candidate NPS the same as eNPS?
The calculation is the same, the population is not. eNPS asks current employees how likely they are to recommend working somewhere; candidate NPS asks people who went through hiring how likely they are to recommend applying. CultureMonkey uses the same score maths and the same delivery channels for both, with a candidate reporting threshold set separately from the employee one, which is what lets the candidate number and the employee engagement metrics be read as one continuous line across day one.
Should rejected candidates be included in candidate NPS?
Yes, if the stage you are measuring is one they reached. Excluding rejected candidates and those who declined an offer removes the responses most likely to explain lost acceptances, and it quietly inflates the score. Include them, and read the cut separately as well as in the total.
See candidate NPS beside the eNPS you already track
One score, one calculation, read across the handoff at day one.