8 simple steps to improve your interview scheduling process

Determining the perfect time for scheduling an interview schedule can be challenging. Both interviewers and candidates have tightly packed schedules and their availability might differ. On the other hand, piles of competitive offers coming to your prospective candidates might make you lose out on a great hire. Then how do interviewers find a mutually available time? You will need to step up your game in terms of increasing the efficiency of your interview scheduling process. It will help you to save time and promise positive experiences for you and your candidates.

Here are 8 simple steps in which recruiters and hiring managers can efficiently schedule job interviews:

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1.    Train your interviewers

It is common to assume that having one interviewer is problematic because they might not be available all the time. As a hiring manager, you will need to accelerate the hiring process by training multiple people in your office as interviewers. It is also advantageous for the candidate as it lessens the possibility of rescheduling interviews for the unavailability of the interview. Hand in the codes of instructions to the interviewers during the training. Ensure a good interview experience for the candidates by preparing interview questions, proficiency tests and interview feedback forms beforehand.

2.    Coordinate with the hiring team for dates

Arrange a short meeting with your hiring team to ask them for suitable slots for conducting the interview process. Allow the interviewers to share their calendars with you. Communicate with the interviewers to ensure that the interview dates do not collide with their scheduled meetings. When you know the interview schedule that will work best for your team, hold that time on their calendars. You may block off an entire day for your hiring team to conduct onsite interviews or fix convenient time slots once a week for online interviews. Be flexible to the needs of experienced candidates with full-time jobs who might be unavailable during your interviewer’s preferred hours.

3.    Opt for online appointment scheduling software

Make your interview scheduling process easier by accessing a free online appointment scheduling software like Picktime. You can schedule interviews and automatically notify the candidates about them through email and SMS. Picktime integrates with popular external calendars like Google, Outlook and iCloud Calendar; use it to block off dates of unavailability. Add your hiring team on Picktime and mention their real-time availability. You can also allocate resources such as the conference room to the interviewers for specific time slots. Increase your flexibility by letting candidates self-schedule interviews via your online booking page.

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4.    Send all necessary information to the candidates

The hiring manager is responsible for ensuring a good interview experience for candidates. The hiring manager must compose a detailed email that clarifies the job role for which they have scheduled the interview. Most importantly, highlight the date, time and venue of the interview. If it is an online interview, make sure to send the correct meeting link. Add information about the documents needed for the interview process and provide the contact number of the point of contact. Inform the candidates about the format and length of the interview. Do not forget to mention the name and designation of the hiring manager at the end of the email.

5.    Have a structured interview process

Structured interviews are more objective because they focus on a candidate’s talent and other abilities like teamwork, coordination, leadership, versatility and ability to embrace change and diversity. These types of interview processes are more effective for predicting job performance. An interview must prepare standardized questions for the candidates that will help them judge their interpersonal skills instead of just hiring someone based on their knowledge. It also helps to reduce bias and ensures a fair comparison between each candidate.

6.    Leave a buffer period between successive interviews

Interviewers generally meet numerous candidates per day for the recruiting process. But, there must be a buffer period between two consecutive interviews. For instance, if your interviewer has a 20-minute interview at 11 a.m., ask them to schedule the second interview after 11:45 a.m. It will give adequate time to the interviewer for submitting feedback to the authorities. Meanwhile, the interviewer can relax and prepare for the second interview with a fresh mind. It also permits proper time management without shortening a candidate’s time.

7.    Do not delay the follow-up interviews

While it is true that good things take time, it is also foolish to waste too much time and resources for the hiring process because businesses need to concentrate on multiple things simultaneously. But do not lose the right candidate. Right after the authorities give a nod to some candidates for the next round, schedule the follow-up interviews and notify the candidates with necessary details for the next round of interviews.

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8.    Collect feedback from the interviewer

Whenever an interview concludes, collect feedback on each candidate from your interviewers to speed up the recruitment process. It is also highly inconvenient to run after the interviewers for compiling their comments and observations on each candidate. Try to automate the process for collecting feedback from interviewers. There are numerous web-based applications available that automatically notifies you after your interviewer has sent the feedback. These tools also compile the feedback and generate reports based on that.

Organizing an interview is a surprisingly complex process. It requires constant experimentation to hit the right note. Your hiring team needs to adapt to the changing hiring needs. Instead of stepping back, keep modifying the process to increase its efficiency. Every business is unique and there is no shortcut to success. So, acknowledge these tips, but try to alter them according to the needs of your business.