Interview Scheduling Strategy: Step-by-Step Guide
Interview scheduling might seem like a relatively small part of the recruitment process. However, it’s more important than you’d think. In fact, up to 78% of companies say they’ve lost a candidate because they couldn’t schedule an interview fast enough.
At ModernLoop, we understand the importance of timely and efficient interview scheduling for attracting and securing top talent. That’s why we offer companies automated interview scheduling tools and efficient enterprise solutions to simplify the scheduling process.
Here, we’re going to show you how you can make the most of automated interview scheduling tools. We discuss best practices to help you improve the candidate experience and reduce pressure on your hiring team.
How to Build an Interview Scheduling Strategy: Step by Step
Having a process for scheduling interviews contributes to a successful hiring journey. It lays the foundations for a smooth initial interaction between employers and candidates. It also minimizes the risk of losing top talent to your competitors.
Plus, the right interview scheduling process reduces admin work (so your teams can focus on what really matters). You can then boost your employer brand and show potential candidates that you value and respect their time.
Here’s your step-by-step guide to developing the right interview scheduling strategy for your team.
Step 1: Define Your Scheduling Workflow
Start by mapping out each stage of your interview scheduling strategy. Define how you’ll coordinate with candidates and interviewers. This includes the initial contact, sending out your interview invite, and confirming hiring decisions. A clear, repeatable process helps everyone in your recruitment process stay aligned.
Set expectations for internal coordination too. Assign specific roles to members of your team. For instance:
- Who will be responsible for sending the interview invite to a candidate?
- Who needs to deal with choosing the interview format?
- Who will handle rescheduling requests?
Ideally, you’ll have a comprehensive enterprise-ready solution, like ModernLoop to help with this. ModernLoop helps recruitment teams automate interview scheduling, sync calendars, plan interview questions, and even train interviewers before an interview.
Step 2: Use Interview Scheduling Software
Automated interview scheduling tools will turn your entire process around. Tools like ModernLoop take the hassle out of coordinating interviews with end-to-end automation.
Our platform combines scheduling software, interview coordination tools, training solutions, and reports. With this all-in-one platform, you can simplify every task. No more endless email chains or playing calendar Tetris. ModernLoop uses features like auto-synced calendars, real-time availability tracking, and automated rescheduling for an easy scheduling experience.
To make the most of your interview scheduling software, integrate it with your existing tools. The best tools (like ModernLoop) should work seamlessly with your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and calendars like Google Calendar and Outlook.
Once you’ve set up integrations, customize your software to match your specific needs. Tweak settings for scheduling preferences like work hours and company days off. It also helps to train your team members on how to use its features throughout the hiring process.
Step 3: Offer Candidates Flexible Scheduling Options
Giving candidates flexible scheduling options can reduce the risk of scheduling conflicts.
Use your interview scheduling software to implement self-scheduling options. For instance, ModernLoop allows candidates to select a specific interview time based on their specific needs and your hiring team’s availability. The great thing about this software is it only shows times that are suitable for the candidate. It tracks the available slots of various members of a hiring team in real-time.
Remember to accommodate different time zones too. This is particularly important if you’re conducting virtual interviews with global or remote candidates. A strong interview scheduling tool should automatically adjust to different time zones to avoid confusion for everyone involved.
Step 4: Establish Clear Communication with Candidates
A lack of consistent communication is one of the most significant pain points candidates complain about when they’re searching for a role.
So, be transparent and clear with your candidates from day one. When a candidate selects an interview slot, automatically send them a confirmation message. It’s best to send it on their preferred channel like email or text. Your message should be complete with all the details they need, including:
- Date, time, location
- Virtual meeting link (if applicable),
- The interviewer’s name and title
- Any materials the candidate should prepare.
Your interview scheduling software can help with this. You can set up automated email and SMS notifications to candidates as soon as they book an interview date. The tool can also send updates when any changes occur.
Throughout the hiring process, stay in touch. Sending a reminder message the day before an interview can significantly reduce no-show rates (and minimize wasted time for your hiring manager). After the interview, follow up with a thank-you message. This shows you appreciate the candidate’s time, and lets them know what happens next. Doing this also maintains engagement so your company can build a stronger relationship with top talent.
5. Implement an Interviewer Scheduling Queue
Depending on your company size and available roles you may have numerous interviews to handle all at once. Implementing an interviewer scheduling queue can help you simplify interview coordination and avoid overworking your hiring team.
With a queue, you can distribute interviews fairly among team members. You can take it further by using insights from real-time reports and dashboards in your interview scheduling tool.
ModernLoop’s interviewer assignment feature supports this process by automatically assigning interviews based on availability and predefined criteria.
While you’re building your queues, consider backup options. Having backup interviewers pre-assigned to a meeting can help minimize the delays caused by last-minute cancellations and schedule changes. With ModernLoop, you can assign newly hired employees to be trained as interviewers through shadow and reverse shadow requirements. This way, you can continuously grow your pool of hiring team members.
Step 6: Avoid Scheduling Conflicts and Double Bookings
A single scheduling conflict or double booking can cause issues for your hiring team and recruitment process. The best cure for these problems is prevention. Start by taking full advantage of digital calendar tools.
Integrating tools like Google Calendar or Outlook with an interview scheduling tool like ModernLoop keeps all interviewer schedules accessible and up-to-date. This integration automatically detects scheduling overlaps and reduces the risk of double bookings. Real-time availability tracking also allows coordinators to see open time slots instantly.
Another great strategy is to set “buffers” between interviews. Add around 5-10 minutes in between each interview. This buffer time will allow interviewers to take notes and prepare for the next meeting.
Step 7. Prepare for Last-Minute Changes
Small disruptions shouldn’t derail your hiring process. That’s why being prepared with a rescheduling strategy is important.
ModernLoop’s interview scheduling software can help here by allowing recruiters and candidates to adjust interview times. An interviewer or candidate can quickly access the system. They can request a change to an interview time and view new, available time slots in just seconds.
For situations where choosing another time isn’t a possibility for a candidate, backup interviewers should be available. You can assign pre-designated backup interviewers within ModernLoop and automatically notify them when they need to handle a meeting.
Step 8: Gather Feedback on the Scheduling Experience
The only way to constantly improve the hiring process (and your approach to scheduling) is to gather insights. Collect feedback on how smooth, simple, or problematic the scheduling experience might be. This helps you make proactive improvements over time.
Take advantage of post-interview surveys delivered automatically to your candidates at a specific time. These surveys can ask candidates about their experience and encourage them to share opinions on things like:
- How simple it was to find an interview timeslot
- How informative your interview invitation message was
Even asking candidates to rate their level of satisfaction with the interview scheduling tool or interview process can help you pinpoint bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Once you gather data from your candidates, discuss it with your team members to collaborate and troubleshoot potential issues.
Step 9: Optimize for Speed and Efficiency
The faster you schedule interviews and make hiring decisions, the less likely you are to miss out on top talent. With that in mind, you can search for ways to reduce “time-to-schedule” rates. Monitor KPIs like:
- Average Time-to-Schedule (TTS): Calculate this by adding the total scheduling times for all interviews and dividing by the number of interviews scheduled.
- Number of Scheduling Attempts per Candidate: Track how many interactions are needed to finalize an interview time.
- Cancellation and Rescheduling Rates: High rates may indicate inefficiencies in your scheduling process.
To overcome inefficiencies in the recruitment process, turn to automation. Go beyond automating the scheduling process for candidates and recruiters. Look for ways to automate follow-ups and next steps too. The more you automate, the more repetitive tasks you remove from your hiring team.
Step 10: Standardize Interview Structures and Panel Assignments
Standardizing your interview format can significantly improve your interview strategy. This means taking a thoughtful approach to assigning hiring team members to panels. A structured approach minimizes the risk of delays.
Start by deciding on standardized formats for various interview stages. These include screening calls, technical assessments, and panel discussions. This will help you implement a uniform, fair evaluation process for all of your candidates, while also simplifying scheduling.
Pre-determined interview formats and lengths give you a better idea of how much time you need to dedicate to each interview slot. It also helps you distribute resources accordingly. Once you’ve developed the right interview structure, focus on your panel assignment strategy.
You should be assigning interviewers to panels based on their availability and their areas of expertise. This way, they can effectively evaluate candidates. ModernLoop’s intelligent interviewer matching feature facilitates this by automatically pairing candidates with suitable interviewers.
Assembling structured and diverse interview panels also helps reduce bias and promotes consistent evaluations.
Streamline Hiring with a Smart Interview Scheduling Strategy
An effective interview scheduling strategy is the backbone of a smooth, efficient hiring process. When you define clear workflows and leverage scheduling software, you can reduce inefficiencies and create better experiences for both candidates and interviewers.
ModernLoop makes it easy to upgrade your interview scheduling strategy. The platform offers a wide range of tools for automating interview scheduling, rescheduling, notifications, and more.
If you’re ready to optimize your hiring process, minimize scheduling inefficiencies, and deliver a candidate experience that sets you apart from the crowd, contact ModernLoop today.