11 Ways To Fast-Track Interview Scheduling

We asked CEOs and HR managers to share their thoughts on how you can speed up your interview scheduling. From customizing your invitation templates to automating schedules, we uncovered these tips to help you streamline your work and free up time to focus on top candidates.

Here are 11 ways to fast-track interview scheduling:

Customize Your Interview Invitation Template

Using an email template to schedule candidates makes interview email correspondence faster than drafting each invitation from scratch. On top of that, a customized template can help cut down on much of the back-and-forth that leads up to the interview. Your template should answer all the FAQs you get from candidates, so you can send out your invitations and get back to work as you both await the interview.

James Diel, founder and CEO
Textel

Stay True To Recruitment Timeframes

To truly fast-track interview scheduling, you must firmly communicate the time that works best for hiring managers and executives. In today’s market, as much as you’d like to commend applicants for setting boundaries in their own schedules, recruitment processes simply can’t operate only when candidates feel like being interviewed. Over-accommodating applicants’ demands complicates the entire hiring process because of all the back and forth communication needed to secure schedules.

We stay true to our recruitment timeframes, utilizing automated interview schedulers to ensure total coordination with every party involved. If candidates disagree with our time availability, we can easily move on to other candidates. This produces more rapid and effective results for us, boosting our recruitment operations and inviting flexible and competitive talent into the organization.

Kris Lippi, owner
I Sold My House

Integrate an Applicant Tracking System

We’ve found that one way to fast-track interview scheduling is to use an applicant tracking system integrated with our HRIS. This way, if we find out a candidate has been hired elsewhere or is no longer interested in the position, we can mark their interview slot as canceled and immediately schedule someone else. This helps us avoid having to track down candidates who’ve moved on from consideration for a role they were never really interested in in the first place. That saves us time and money from having to fill those slots with other applicants.

Tom Leighton
Sofary Lighting

Use Doodle To Create Interview Schedules

As a remote business that hires all over the world, we find that creating schedules while considering different time zones can be challenging, and almost always involves collaboration with potential candidates. This can turn into a huge correspondence headache, which is why I started using Doodle. Doodle allows you to schedule a large number of one-on-one meetings with ease.

By creating a schedule with allotted interview times, you can leave it up to your candidates to choose the slots that are best for them. This reduces scheduling hiccups, and also keeps all scheduled interviews in one place. You can sync your own calendar to Doodle, so you never have to worry about double booking yourself. Giving candidates a chance to set up their own interview time also provides some insight into their professionalism and punctuality. Remember, the interview starts as soon as correspondence begins.

Nick Drewe
Wethrift

Clearly Define Job Requirements

If job requirements are loosely defined, the hiring process can be brought to a standstill. You will end up seeing unqualified or overqualified candidates if it’s too broad, and you’ll be wasting both their time and yours. A clearly defined set of requirements will automatically help to eliminate unqualified candidates, and fast track your process.

Regardless of the position, having clarity from the start will help you make faster decisions. This is especially true when you are looking at similarly qualified candidates. By describing what you truly need in the role, clearly defined requirements will help you make the right decision, and fill the role with the best person.

Ouriel Lemmel, co-founder,  WinIt

Request Available Times for Interviews in Applications

A great way to expedite the interview scheduling process is to request that applicants, in the job application, include available dates and times when they’re available for interviewing. This can be very helpful in eliminating some of the back and forth that can occur in coordinating a mutually agreeable time for an interview.

Drew Sherman, RPM

Share a Calendar Scheduling Link

The best way I know of to fast-track interview scheduling is by giving candidates access to my calendar. When I reply to their application, I direct them to a scheduling link at the bottom of the e-mail. This takes the time and energy that goes into planning off my hands, and empowers the candidate to select the time that best works for them, and also aligns with my schedule.

Anytime I can let technology do the work for me is an opportunity I try to take advantage of. Removing a human scheduler or going back and forth with a candidate on the best available times takes up a lot of energy and focus. A simple scheduling link does away with all of that inefficiency.

Devin Schumacher
SERP

Send Detailed Emails

You never want to be in a situation where you have to exchange several emails with a candidate in order to settle on a suitable time slot for both parties. It wastes time, creates confusion and shows a lack of organization. To prevent that, I always send thorough emails to invite applicants to interviews. In the email, I let them know all relevant details so they will rarely need to reply requesting more information. Some things I include are the role, interview format, approximate duration, what platform we’re using for the call, interviewers’ names and positions, and a link to my calendar with several time slots. The last one helps us find a suitable time for a call without worrying about time zones and work schedules.

Georgi Todorov
ThriveMyWay

Stay Organized Through a Systematic Approach

The key is to be organized and prepared. Utilize a system or software that can help you manage the candidate pool and screening process. We maintain a database of top talent that is regularly updated with candidate availability and contact information. We also have a team of recruiters who are in close communication with our candidates to ensure that they are kept up-to-date on the status of their applications. This strategy allows us to quickly match a candidate’s availability with our needs and to get them in for an interview as soon as possible.

Christa Reed, Job Searcher

Use Round-Robin Interviews

Having one or two people perform all the interviews for every position can slow down the process significantly. To keep us speeding along, interviews are a team effort, using a round-robin interview process in which different team members interview candidates on a rotation.

One manager can’t interview 24/7, but with the power and schedule of several teammates, we can move candidates through interviews much more quickly. We’ve also found we hire a more diverse set of people since every interviewer has a slightly different mix of values.

John Li
Fig Loans

Automate Schedules With Scheduler Tools

Scheduler tools offer an opportunity to automate scheduling across the business lifecycle. Particularly when it comes to recruiting, a seamless, connected process is critical for both the candidate and organization. Given the importance of employer brand in today’s job market, we are keen to ensure each part of the candidate process is thoughtfully curated.

Calendly has been a life saver, offering scheduling variation, ease and integration given the magnitude of interviews held weekly. This resource has supported us in engaging candidates globally (accounting for time zone) and helped us reduce double-booking. From an efficiency standpoint, scheduling tools such as Calendly reduce back-to-back emails and save significant time – a recruiter/hiring manager’s dream.

Chelsea C. Williams
Reimagine Talent Co.

By Staff Reporter

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