Talent Board (The Candidate Experience Awards)

What Talent Board (The Candidate Experience Awards) does

Talent Board is a U.S. non-profit organization operating the CandE (Candidate Experience) Benchmark Research and Award Program, the first non-profit initiative in the industry to give large numbers of companies access to aggregated candidate experience datasets. Founded in 2011 and operated by Survale, Inc., the organization has spent 15 years collecting candidate feedback through a proprietary survey methodology, accumulating approximately 2 million candidate responses across 2,000+ participating organizations in North America, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America. The program enables enterprise talent acquisition teams to measure candidate experience from pre-application through onboarding, benchmark against peers, identify perception gaps between recruiter assumptions and candidate reality, and earn CandE Award recognition for above-average performance.

The underlying technology is a survey and analytics platform (branded as Survale) that automates candidate feedback collection, integrates with ten major ATS/HRMS systems (Workday, Greenhouse, Oracle, UKG, iCIMS, SmartRecruiters, Jobvite, Phenom, Radancy, AMS One), and applies AI-assisted comment mining and analysis to open-ended responses. Supporting modules include Candidate Experience Surveys, Onboarding & Quality of Hire metrics, Employee Experience Surveys, a Pro Edition tier, and a Hiring Manager Certification program. A parallel EmployE program extends the same benchmarking framework to the employee lifecycle.

Revenue is generated through an annual subscription-style benchmark program with participation-based, quote-based pricing, supplemented by Pro Edition upgrades, certification training, and award recognition fees. Go-to-market is consultative enterprise direct sales supported by dedicated specialists, monthly networking calls, and content marketing through research reports, case studies, and events. Customer segments span Healthcare, Financial Services, Retail, Technology, Business Services, and Travel & Hospitality, with named enterprise logos including Ford, Foot Locker, Southwest Airlines, Schneider Electric, Waste Management, and 7-Eleven.

Name

Talent Board (The Candidate Experience Awards)

Legal name

Survale, Inc.

Website

https://thetalentboard.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Talent Board is a U.S. non-profit operating the CandE (Candidate Experience) Benchmark Research and Award Program, serving enterprise talent acquisition teams globally with proprietary candidate surveys, peer benchmarking across four regions, and annual award recognition across 2,000+ participating organizations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Candidate Experience Benchmarking and Talent Acquisition Analytics

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Talent Acquisition (Recruiting) & Applicant Tracking (ATS) (BPACAPAD)

Keywords

• Candidate experience benchmarks
• Talent acquisition surveys
• Recruitment analytics platform
• Employer brand research
• HR benchmarking programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Cruz

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. CandE Benchmark Research Program: Annual benchmark research program where organizations participate to receive detailed candidate experience benchmark reports comparing their performance against peers. Includes recognition as CandE Award winner for above-average performers.
2. EmployE Benchmark Research Program: Employee experience benchmark research and award program, separate from the core candidate experience program

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Talent Board operates the CandE (Candidate Experience) Benchmark Research and Award Program, a nonprofit initiative that measures and benchmarks candidate experience from pre-application through onboarding. The program collects anonymized candidate feedback via surveys and provides participating organizations with comparative benchmark reports, perception gap analysis, demographic breakdowns, and award recognition for above-average performers. It runs on Survale's technology platform and integrates with major ATS/HRMS systems including Workday, Greenhouse, Oracle, UKG, iCIMS, SmartRecruiters, Jobvite, Phenom, Radancy, and AMS One.

Product overview

The CandE (Candidate Experience) Benchmark Research and Award Program is a comprehensive talent feedback platform operated by Talent Board, built on Survale's technology. The platform consists of the core CandE Benchmark Program for measuring candidate experience across North America, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America, paired with the CandE Awards for recognizing excellence. Supporting modules include Candidate Experience Surveys (the core survey tool targeting 80%+ non-hired candidates), Onboarding & Quality of Hire metrics, Employee Experience Surveys, Survale Pro Edition for advanced segmentation, and Hiring Manager Certification training. The parallel EmployE Program extends the benchmarking approach to employee experience. Feature set includes Automated Surveys, Powerful Analytics, Comment Mining, AI Analysis, Fully Branded Surveys, Hiring Manager Feedback, Talent Acquisition Feedback, SMS Delivery, Data Exports, and Career Site Feedback. The platform integrates with major ATS/HRMS systems including Workday, Greenhouse, Oracle, UKG, iCIMS, SmartRecruiters, Jobvite, Phenom, Radancy, and AMS One.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CandE Benchmark Research and Award Program Core benchmarking program that measures candidate experience from pre-application through onboarding, providing organizations with survey data, benchmark comparisons, demographic breakdowns, perception gap analysis, and CandE Award recognition for above-average performers.
• CandE Awards

Quantifiable outcome

• Satisfied candidates are 52% more likely to refer others
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• WorkdaycoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with Workday ATS/HRMS platform enabling seamless candidate survey data collection and benchmark participation for Workday customers
• GreenhousecoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with Greenhouse ATS enabling candidate experience surveying and data synchronization for benchmark program participation
• OraclecoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with Oracle recruiting platform for candidate survey delivery and experience benchmarking
• UKGcoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with UKG HRMS platform enabling candidate experience measurement and benchmarking
• iCIMScoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with iCIMS Talent Cloud platform for candidate surveying and benchmark data collection
• SmartRecruiterscoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with SmartRecruiters ATS enabling candidate experience surveys and benchmarking participation
• JobvitecoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with Jobvite recruiting platform for candidate surveying and benchmark program
• PhenomcoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with Phenom recruitment marketing platform for candidate experience measurement
• RadancycoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with Radancy career site platform for candidate experience surveying
• AMS OnecoreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with AMS One recruitment services for candidate experience benchmarking

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• SHL: SHL (now part of Exponent) is a global leader in talent assessment and people analytics, serving enterprise TA teams with psychometric and skills testing plus broader workforce analytics. Comparable as an enterprise talent measurement incumbent, though SHL focuses on candidate skill/fit assessment rather than candidate experience benchmarking.
• Glassdoor: Glassdoor operates the largest candidate/employee review platform, collecting unstructured candidate and employee sentiment at scale. Comparable to Talent Board because both turn candidate experience data into employer benchmarking intelligence, though Glassdoor is broader and consumer-facing rather than a non-profit research program.
• LinkedIn Talent Insights: LinkedIn Talent Insights provides talent market benchmarking, pipeline analytics, and skills data to enterprise HR teams. Comparable in offering enterprise-grade talent benchmarking intelligence, but as part of LinkedIn's broader professional network data moat rather than a survey-based program.
• HireVue: HireVue combines video interviewing, AI-driven candidate assessment, and post-hire experience measurement for enterprise TA teams. Overlaps with Talent Board's candidate experience measurement and AI analysis capabilities, though HireVue centers on assessment/interviewing rather than benchmarking.
• Indeed Hiring Lab: Indeed's research arm publishes labor market and candidate experience data using its proprietary job platform data. Comparable to Talent Board's role as a public-facing talent research authority, though Indeed is a broader incumbent leveraging marketplace data rather than enterprise surveys.

Direct peers

• Comparably: Comparably collects workplace culture, candidate experience, and compensation reviews and publishes employer rankings and "Best Places to Work" awards. Closely comparable to Talent Board's CandE Awards model of converting candidate sentiment into employer recognition and benchmarking.
• Great Place to Work: Great Place to Work runs large-scale employee survey programs and best-workplaces certification/awards. Directly analogous to the CandE/EmployE structure — a non-profit-style benchmark research program that awards certification to employers based on validated employee/candidate survey data.
• Survale: Survale, Inc. is the legal entity that operates and hosts the Talent Board CandE program on its talent feedback platform, sharing the same product surface (candidate experience surveys, AI analysis, integrations, EmployE program). Effectively the parent platform powering the benchmark program and the closest direct comparable.

Emerging players

• Eightfold AI: Eightfold AI is a talent intelligence platform using AI to power talent acquisition, management, and workforce planning for global enterprises. Adjacent to Talent Board's enterprise TA serving motion and uses AI-driven analytics on talent data, representing where venture-backed competitors could expand into the benchmark/experience layer.
• TalentNeuron: TalentNeuron provides external talent market intelligence, including labor-market benchmarking and workforce planning analytics. Comparable to Talent Board's enterprise benchmarking value proposition, but with a focus on supply/demand market data rather than candidate-experience survey data.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks3 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/thecandes
• Facebookfacebook.com/CandEAwards
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-talent-board

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Talent Board (The Candidate Experience Awards)