Nov 02 2023
What would it look like to automate interview scheduling? And what are the benefits?
It’s the classic sequence of events: apply for a job, interview for the job, and (hopefully) get the job. But in the world of frontline hiring, the interview stage can look a little different, or it might not even exist at all.
For hiring processes that do include interviews, however, the goal for recruiters is the same as for any other stage of the high volume hiring process: get candidates to the “hired” stage as quickly as possible.
To do this, recruiters lean on technology to automate steps that tend to slow them down, like application processing, document verification, and even messaging. Scheduling interviews is a task that historically has required both participants to manually find and agree upon a day and time to connect. Until now.
When an interview is a requirement for a certain job opening, applying automation to the actual interview can be tricky; recruiters are needed to thoughtfully analyze a candidate’s responses and general potential for the job. But as for interview scheduling? That’s a different story.
In this post, we explore what it looks like to automate interview scheduling, how you can accomplish it with the right tools, and the benefits it will bring to your high volume hiring process.
Let’s dive in.
You can automate interview scheduling…with the right tools
What if we told you that you can automate interview scheduling? All you need is the right equipment.
The center point of that equipment is your applicant tracking system (ATS), a staple for any high volume hiring practice. Today’s ATSes integrate with other tools like background check providers and assessment software to help you build a hiring process that’s tailored to your needs. Among these integrations is calendar synchronization.
A built-in calendar integration lets your recruiting team manage their availability and allows applicants to book interview time slots and orientation sessions based on their free time. Applicants can easily schedule in-person or virtual interviews with the hiring manager when it’s convenient for them. They also can select whether to set up an in-person interview, a one-to-one video interview, or a prerecorded video interview.
How does automation improve the interview process?
The ability to automate interview scheduling is a transformative step for recruiters who want to save time and streamline their hiring process. Recruiting teams that have to manage hundreds of applications and candidates can easily find themselves swimming in scheduling tasks. But automation takes this task off their list and frees up their time to focus on other areas of the hiring funnel. With an ATS that schedules interview slots for you, both you and your candidates can enjoy swift movement through the funnel and a drastically shorter time-to-hire.
Even better news? It doesn’t have to be a chore to implement interview scheduling software into your existing hiring practices. Once you’re up and running, you’ll start noticing benefits, like the ones listed below.
Lower drop-off rates
With an automated interview process, you can watch as drop-off rates plummet. Letting candidates schedule their own interviews helps them feel empowered to take control of the process and can improve their overall engagement.
Reduced hiring costs
The faster you can get candidates through the hiring funnel, the faster you can fill positions and get staff on board to help you keep your business running. Hiring can be costly, but a rapid process means you can stretch your hiring budget further.
Lighter workload for recruiters
Automation doesn’t replace recruiters—it makes their jobs easier and helps them become more efficient. With interview scheduling duties off their plates, recruiters have more time to devote to tasks that need their keen attention to detail, their human touch, or their critical and analytical input. In this way, automation helps turn your recruiters into hiring strategists.
Improved candidate quality
Candidates who feel empowered to take the interview scheduling assignment into their own hands might show more initiative once on the job. By scheduling their own interviews, they passively exhibit technological savvy and proficiency, which can translate to certain soft skills you may be looking for.
Intelligent tools that improve the entire scheduling process
To automate interview scheduling, hiring teams can use the following ATS functionalities to help them meet the efficiency goals mentioned above.
Conversational AI-assisted calendar
Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay, and for recruiters, that can mean hiring faster with a few clicks of a button. For example, a calendar integration supported by conversational AI can communicate with candidates by providing them with potential interview dates and times based on the availability you set in your calendar.
Benefit: By choosing times that work best for their schedules, candidates are more likely to show up for their interview, resulting in a decrease in no-show rates.
Self-service scheduling
Based on available timeslots set by recruiters, candidates can self-schedule their interviews, which reduces the need for back-and-forth communication that can drag on for weeks, or even months.
Benefit: Not only does this prevent the headache of multiple emails and texts, but it also gives candidates autonomy and enhances the candidate experience.
Virtual interviews
Not all candidates have the time for onsite, in-person interviews, so offering virtual interviews gives candidates even more options to fit their schedules.
Benefit: The ability to schedule virtual interviews can lead to fewer scheduling conflicts and, once again, can result in fewer candidate no-shows.
Automated interview alerts and reminders
Interview scheduling software can deliver automated reminders to both candidates and recruiters to keep them informed of upcoming appointments.
Benefits: When both parties are reminded of their commitments, they’re more likely to show up, and to show up with purpose.
Fountain’s approach to automated interview scheduling
At Fountain, automated interview scheduling is just one feature that improves the entire interview process for both recruiters and candidates. Fountain’s comprehensive hiring platform uses automation and customization to move candidates to the final stages quickly, ensuring recruiters are able to fill open positions fast while also providing a supreme candidate experience.
Conversational AI lets candidates schedule an interview in a matter of minutes, right from their phone. On the recruiter side, they can open their calendar each day to see a slew of appointments from candidates who are ready to talk to them and ready to work.
Recruiters also can set custom interview types depending on what style works best for their industry. Interview types include in-person, virtual, or recorded video interviews.
