SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - May 2, 2012) - The Talent Board, a non-profit organization focused on facilitating the evolution of the employment candidate experience, today announced its open nominations call for the 2012 Candidate Experience Awards. Designed to evaluate the candidate experience offered by companies throughout the entire recruitment cycle, this benchmark competition embarks on its second year to recognize those companies which elevate the candidate experience and to highlight potential areas for improvement overall. Employers can begin their direct nomination process by visiting http://www.thecandidateexperienceawards.org/how-to-apply/.
"With more than 400 companies in North America and the U.K. expressing early interest in applying, we are pleased to announce the official launch of round one for the 2012 awards program," commented Elaine Orler, Chairman of the Talent Board and CEO of Talent Function Group. "Following a tremendously successful inaugural year, it's clear that companies are eager to participate in the benchmarking competition, and to understand how they can strengthen their employment brand by providing a first-rate recruiting and hiring experience for their candidates."
The Candidate Experience Awards (or CandEs) competition consists of three survey rounds that are designed to recognize organizations that produce outstanding candidate experiences. Round one is comprised of a multi-dimensional survey designed to capture and evaluate the nominated company's recruitment processes and practices impacting the candidate experience. The submission deadline for this phase of the award process is June 15, 2012. The CandEs program is open to all North American and U.K. based companies and is free for all participating companies.
Companies that complete the first round submission process will receive an Employer Benchmark Report. Those that meet the standard for candidate experience will be invited to participate in round two of the competition, which involves surveying a random sampling of the company's 2012 candidates. Companies that meet criteria for both rounds one and two will be awarded a "CandE Award Winner" designation stamp. High scoring companies will be advanced to the final round, where they will be interviewed by the CandE judging panel to determine areas of distinction. "With Distinction" honorees will be celebrated, along with all CandE winners, at the 2012 HR Technology Conference in Chicago.
The 2011 awards program honored companies including Pacific Northwest, PepsiCo, Risk Management Solutions, Sage Software and StateFarm, among others. The program's benchmarking study found that while some companies are including innovative recruiting practices to improve their candidate experiences, many are unable to eliminate the "black hole" communication gap, which can be damaging to employment brand, reputation and even a company's bottom line. The complete 2011 Candidate Experience report is available for download at: http://www.thecandidateexperienceawards.org/report-download/.
The Talent Board was founded by the talent acquisition industry's leading experts, including Orler, Gerry Crispin, CareerXroads and Ed Newman, Inside TMT. Along with the other acting Talent Board members and group of high profile sponsors, these individuals are contributing their time and passion to underwrite this initiative, which is changing the way in which job candidates are treated.
A limited number of sponsorships are still available for the 2012 CandEs. For more information, please visit http://www.thecandidateexperienceawards.org/become-a-sponsor/.
About The Talent Board
The Talent Board is a non-profit organization focused on the elevation and promotion of a quality candidate experience. The organization, awards program and its sponsors are dedicated to recognizing the candidate experience offered by companies throughout the entire recruitment cycle and to forever changing the manner in which job candidates are treated. More information can be accessed at http://www.thecandidateexperienceawards.org.