How To Schedule an Interview

Interview scheduling is often the first point of contact employers have with candidates, and it’s crucial to creating a great candidate experience from the start. With the right process, you can streamline scheduling to make it simpler for the hiring team and candidates.

What is Interview Scheduling?

Interview scheduling is more complex than it seems. It’s a process where recruiters, talent acquisition, or HR coordinators/specialists quickly and efficiently set up interviews with candidates. Scheduling interviews takes place multiple times throughout a candidate’s journey and can involve a lot of back and forth.

Depending on the hiring process, scheduling might start at the screening step (in the form of screening interviews) or immediately after. Scheduling interviews can take up a lot of time and create a lot of work because it involves coordinating with interviewer schedules and communicating back and forth with candidates.

In a structured interview process, the hiring team plans every step before scheduling starts. In semi-structured or unstructured processes, planning happens on the fly, which makes things more flexible. The less structured the process, the greater the risk that timelines get dragged out and the interview schedule becomes more challenging.

Life happens, and accommodating cancellations, no-shows, and rebooking is all part of scheduling too. Allowing candidates to self-schedule using software for interview scheduling is becoming an increasingly popular option.

How To Schedule an Interview With a Candidate

Step 1: Plan Your Interview Process

It’s highly recommended you plan the hiring process for the job position before scheduling interviews. It’s hard to know where you’re going without a roadmap, especially when you’re trying to answer questions and communicate details with candidates.

​​Ideally, the process is structured so that every candidate has the same experience before, during, and after interviews. Structured interviewing requires some work to get set up. Still, once you’ve got a process in place, it is easier to bring in new or different interviewers because they can simply follow an interview guide or interview scorecard. These structured elements don’t replace training (or a training guide), but they can improve compliance by providing something to follow.

A predetermined structure is also beneficial for interview scheduling because uniformity and predictability allow you to focus on optimizing every task instead of wondering what comes next.

If you don’t intend on planning a structured process, focus on planning the most important details:

• The number of interview rounds
• How long each interview should be
• What interview types are involved (in-person, phone, or video interview)
• Who is attending or rating, and what stage(s) they are involved in (panel interview, one-on-one interview, etc.)
• What candidates need to know or come prepared with

Step 2: Coordinate Times

How will you keep track of all your interviewers’ schedules so you can easily book interviews? Get clear on availability and any blackout periods you should be aware of to make coordinating schedules and booking time as easy as possible. This step of interview scheduling is where time to hire can take a hit, so it’s a good place to focus your energy on optimizing.

Here are some manual interview scheduling systems to consider:

Manual systems work, but if you want to drive efficiency, your best bet is to introduce scheduling automation using software. Interviewers can connect their calendars to the software which allows the scheduler to show only available time slots. Candidates then self-schedule based on what’s available. This software also allows candidates to cancel or rebook up to a certain point beforehand without contacting a recruiter or HR representative.

Step 3: Send a Clear Interview Invitation Email in Advance

No matter what the details are, there are some core components all scheduling emails should contain.

Email template for scheduling an interview:

• Salutation
• The candidate’s name
• Company name
• Job title
• Type of interview and what to expect
• Rough length of the interview
• Details about the interview itself
• Directions to the location and information about parking (for in-person or hybrid)
• Link to the video interview with time and date boldly listed (for a recruiter-booked interview)
• Link to the scheduling page (for self-schedule)
• Details about canceling or rescheduling
• Sign off
• Your name and role

Instead of calling candidates, or sending a mass email, automate emails using personalized fields to reduce manual labor, while maintaining a personal feel to the communication.

Step 4: Lock in Interview Logistics

When some participants are in-person, and some are remote, scheduling interviews can pose a different challenge due to technical logistics and maintaining a consistent experience. If you’re using a hybrid arrangement, communicate the details or send the link to the candidate in advance, and troubleshoot your AV setup before the first interview.

There are a few different interview arrangements for hybrid interviewing:

If you conduct structured interviews, determine how to maintain consistency around the arrangement (who is calling in from where), rating, and recording interviews.

An interview management system can save you time on interview scheduling by bringing everything together in one platform — interview guides, rating guides, interviewing software, and more.

Based on pre-determined availability, some software can even automatically send panel participants materials like profiles, resumes, interview guides, and directions. Everyone gets exactly what they need when they need it, so they can come prepared!

Interview Scheduling Best Practices

Set yourself up for success with these scheduling best practices.

Best Time to Schedule an Interview

Consider interviewer focus and energy levels when it comes to time of day, especially since these two things can significantly impact interview outcomes.

So, when is the best time for an interview? Mid-morning hiring slots are ideal because they allow people to settle into their workday and avoid being lethargic after lunch. Of the CFOs surveyed by Accountemps, 61% agreed the optimal time to conduct interviews is between 9:00 and 11:00 AM.

When is the worst time to schedule? Avoid booking meetings in the last hour of the day, when mental sharpness is at its lowest.

Best Day To Schedule Interviews

Yes, along with the time of day, days of the week should be considered. Even if you allow candidates to self-schedule, limit what days they can select if possible. Avoid Mondays and Fridays if possible, and stick to interviewing Tuesday through Thursday. That way, interviewers and interviewees have achieved momentum in the week, and everyone is more well-adjusted to perform.

How To Handle a No-Show

The only best practice to keep in mind regarding candidate no-shows is to keep your cool. It’s not personal.

Being stood up can be frustrating, but it’s important to allow candidates to explain themselves. Let some time pass (create a cutoff between 8-24 working hours after the scheduled time) and see if they reach out to explain or rebook. If they don’t, the ball is in your court.

Once the candidate has missed the time, there are a couple of options. You can follow up to ask if they are okay and offer them the opportunity to rebook, or send a rejection email and let them know you’re moving forward without them.

If they genuinely were a good candidate, and you are disappointed to reject them, you can always ask if they want you to keep their resume on file for future opportunities. Unfortunately, eliminating someone because they’ve ghosted isn’t uncommon — move on swiftly and focus on the candidates that did show up.

How To Postpone a Scheduled Interview

In a structured process, all candidates must interview with the same people, which means rescheduling a time might be required if the interviewer gets sick or gets held up with something else.

You don’t need to be specific, but let the candidate know that something came up so they remain interested. Explain that the same person interviews every candidate to keep things fair, and they are now unavailable to interview at the original time.

The rest of the message should focus on rebooking.

How Many Interviews To Schedule in One Day

Because most hiring managers are involved in hiring in addition to their regular duties, they can easily get overscheduled. Recruiters are also notoriously overscheduled. While it may keep the process moving, overscheduling can have serious drawbacks.

So, how many should you schedule in a day? There is no hard and fast answer because it depends. While there isn’t a specific number to keep in mind, it’s a bad idea to book a bunch of interviews back to back (especially if they are conducted by video).

Microsoft’s groundbreaking 2021 study about brain wave activity proved that back-to-back live virtual meetings are stressful. The antidote? Short breaks.

The best way to tackle this issue is by making short breaks between meetings mandatory.

How To Follow Up After a Scheduled Interview

The best practice is to follow up right away with a concise message. Thank the candidate for attending and set expectations around the next steps (for example, roughly when they can expect to find out if they are moving forward). The interviewer potentially mentioned these details in the meeting, but reiterating them never hurts.

Regardless of your decision on the candidate, closing the loop and sending every candidate a message is imperative.