9 Ways to Upgrade How You Schedule Interviews

Scheduling interviews with candidates can be time-consuming and a hassle. We’ve gathered insights into how companies can maximize their time and resources during the hiring process from CEOs, founders and hiring professionals. Here are some innovative ways that these experts found for lessening the load of interview scheduling, while finding new ways to interact with potential candidates.

Co-Work Together With the Candidate for a Day

In our company, we like to hire people who we co-work with. By working alongside each other first, we get to know the individual and they get to know us.

We can ask one another questions and have social time during the day or after work too. While this may not work for every business, it can be an affordable way to find exceptional employees and complete a thorough 2-way vetting process.

Benjamin Carew
Founder, Othership

Limit Emails and Capitalize on Productivity Software

Limit the number of emails you exchange with potential talent. This will save time and back and forth trying to find a mutual time to talk. Instead, use productivity software to offer options based on both of your schedules. Providing options on the date and time, as well as a minute limit, will allow for smoother scheduling via technology.

Raina Kumra
Founder and CEO, Spicewell

Send Personalized Emails With Detailed Content

Creating a memorable candidate experience is an essential part of your hiring process, and it doesn’t matter if you are two founders hiring your first employee or if you are a twenty-person HR team hiring your 1000th! First impressions matter and they start from the first time you connect with a candidate. Make it count.

It takes 60 seconds (or less) to personalize an email. Thanking the candidate for their interest in your company and providing thorough details about the hiring process (including who they are going to meet, the timeframes, how to request accommodations and next steps) is a must!

Using scheduling software (ensure your schedule is up to date before you share it) to avoid the timely back and forth can be a real game-changer.

Heidi Hauver
VP of People Experience, Shinydocs

Lean on an Applicant Tracking System

One innovative way to schedule job interviews is to use an applicant tracking system (ATS). Our ATS system allows us to view all the search committee members’ calendars and to email the applicant to schedule a time for an interview. You can choose to proceed with the interview via Zoom or schedule an in-person interview.

Lindsey Hight
HR Professional, Sporting Smiles

Arrange for Group Interviews to Identify Interpersonal Skills

Groups are a modern, innovative way to schedule job interviews. First, by observing how candidates behave in a group setting, HR can gain critical insight into personalities and interpersonal skills. Second, they may identify future leaders. These types of interviews are unexpected and can bring out the best or the worst in candidates.

Seeing how potential talent navigates a group by taking turns, speaking up or standing down with others, will reveal skills that don’t necessarily come out in one-on-one meetings.

By scheduling a group interview, you can learn more about your candidates across a variety of measures.

Temoer Terry
Partner, The Mommy Care Kit

Use Calendly to Schedule Job Interviews

Gone are the days of back-and-forth emails between an applicant and a hiring manager to schedule a job interview. Calendly, a free online appointment scheduling software, allows hiring managers to sync their work calendars with Calendly’s interface.

Calendly generates a link to the hiring managers’ up-to-date schedule. The hiring manager can send the Calendly link in email communication to an applicant asking them to select a time slot to interview. It’s really simple and saves hiring managers and candidates a lot of time!

Lindsay Hoag
Founder & CEO, Totally Remote HR

Maximize Time and Resources with Chatbots

I think using a chatbot to schedule job interviews is an innovative way to save time and resources and make the process more accurate. It can also help with sending reminders and appointment confirmations, which means you don’t have to spend time manually inputting information into your calendar or emailing it out to applicants.

The chatbot will also handle questions that applicants might have about the job or their application status—and it can also give them links to relevant documents, like the job description, and application form, or even reschedule interviews in case a candidate misses one.

Amy Gilmore
Managing Editor, Learn Financial Strategy

Rely on the Cronofy Platform

With the advancement in technology, a digital era has arrived with ‌new innovations. Cronofy is the platform that I would recommend for scheduling job interviews.

This is one platform that is well-tested and used by thousands of enterprises or companies all over the globe. It will be much more convenient and will take very little time to organize everything systematically. People have given excellent reviews of Cronofy and have also been using it for a long time.

Roger Deutsch
CEO, Alcat-Europe

Reach Out With an Engaging Video Message

When scheduling a job interview, reach out personally and show your authentic self. As job interviews are not only about learning more about professional skills but also about finding out what kind of person they are, showing initiative in establishing connections can be a game-changer. No need to make a long video, a short authentic clip will work just as well.

Sasha Prylypska
Product Manager, Elai.io

Authors

Staff Reporter