It’s an all-too-familiar scenario: A qualified candidate eagerly awaits a call from a recruiter after submitting their application, only for both parties to face frustrating delays in the interview scheduling process.
Tedious interview scheduling processes can hinder achievement of recruiting goals. Yet, unfortunately, time spent scheduling is on the rise.
According to GoodTime’s Hiring Insights Report, recruiting teams spent 42% of their time scheduling interviews in 2022, a 5% increase from the previous year’s report.
Optimizing your scheduling process for faster coordination is the way forward. Plus, with advanced technology, fast-tracking your interview scheduling has never been easier.
These tools automate the entire process, allowing TA pros to focus on work that truly matters.
The importance of fast interview scheduling
In the fast-paced world of recruitment, time is of the essence.
By embracing speedy scheduling practices, hiring teams reap many benefits, including winning top talent, maintaining a competitive edge, and freeing up valuable time for strategic tasks.
- Improved time to hire: Decreases the time it takes to complete the hiring process, giving companies the speed that they need to stay ahead of competitors.
- Minimized candidate drop-off: Reduces the risk of candidate disengagement or candidates accepting offers from other companies.
- Time savings for important initiatives: Frees up valuable time for hiring teams to focus on strategic, high-value initiatives.
- Better employer branding: Enhances your employer branding efforts by showcasing respect for candidates’ time with a positive candidate experience.
When it comes to the candidate experience side of recruiting, every interaction matters.
Fast scheduling demonstrates a commitment to providing a smooth and efficient process for candidates, making them feel valued and respected throughout their hiring journey.
- Enhanced engagement: Shows candidates that your organization values their time and boosts their enthusiasm for the hiring process.
- Reduced stress and uncertainty: Alleviates candidates’ anxieties by providing timely clarity on the next steps of the process.
- Elevated communication: Enables prompt communication between candidates and hiring teams, fostering a positive candidate experience.
- Better preparation: Allows candidates to allocate sufficient time for interview preparation, leading to more confident and well-prepared candidates.
Tips to better coordinate interview scheduling
Eliminating delays in the interview scheduling process is a worthwhile initiative for all hiring teams. Fortunately, there are numerous strategies you can use to speed up your scheduling, enhance a candidate’s hiring experience, and allocate more time for high-impact tasks.
Leverage an interview scheduling tool
An advanced scheduling solution is one of the most worthwhile investments your hiring team can make. With GoodTime Hire’s interview scheduling software, teams schedule interviews faster, hire more efficiently, and boost productivity.
Hire’s recruitment automation functionality allows talent acquisition professionals like you to easily schedule single and multi-day interviews, no matter the complexity.
The tool automates the process of sending out calendar invites, agendas, and reminders, taking into account different time zones for easy coordination.
By utilizing the right technology, you can eliminate tedious manual scheduling, reduce the chances of double-booking, and expedite the overall scheduling process.
As a result, recruiters on your talent team can invest more energy into the human aspect of hiring, all while ensuring a smooth and efficient interview process.
Standardize scheduling procedures
If you haven’t already, it’s important to get back to the basics and establish standardized procedures. Start by creating a structured timeline for each stage of the interview process.
This timeline should outline the expected turnaround time for reviewing applications, conducting initial screenings, and scheduling interviews.
By setting clear expectations and adhering to a defined timeline, you can ensure consistency, minimize miscommunication, and facilitate smoother interview coordination between candidates and interviewers.
Standardized procedures not only foster a more professional and organized hiring process but also establish a sense of transparency for candidates. It ensures that all parties involved are on the same page, promoting a cohesive and streamlined interview experience.
Promptly review job applications
Taking swift action to review applications is a crucial part of expediting scheduling. So, make it a priority to regularly check your recruitment platforms and respond to candidate inquiries.
By staying on top of submitted job applications, you can quickly identify top candidates and initiate scheduling without delays.
To speed up the screening process and kickstart the scheduling process faster, Lever’s Fast Resume Review is the ideal solution. This feature allows recruiters to quickly screen inbound applications and resumes and either advance, archive, or skip opportunities.
As a result, recruiters get hours upon hours back in their day.
By promptly reviewing applications, recruiters can demonstrate professionalism and respect for candidates’ time and enable an efficient interview scheduling process. This proactive approach sets a positive tone, maintaining momentum throughout the recruitment journey.
Offer self-scheduling to candidates
Empowering candidates with self-scheduling accelerates your interview scheduling.
By integrating a user-friendly scheduling tool, you can provide candidates with the flexibility to choose interview slots based on their availability — and all without unnecessary back-and-forth communication that can waste their and your time.
GoodTime Hire puts candidates in the driver’s seat with convenient candidate-driven availability selection. If needed, candidates also can automatically self-reschedule their interview to a more suitable time.
Self-scheduling is a win-win for both candidates and hiring teams. Candidates enjoy greater control in selecting interview slots that align with their calendars. Meanwhile, recruiters benefit from a streamlined process that cuts down their time to hire.
Communicate clear expectations
To streamline scheduling, it’s vital to communicate clear expectations with candidates. As an added benefit, transparency is one of the key pillars of a healthy candidate relationship.
Transparent communication helps manage expectations, reduces uncertainty, and ensures a smoother scheduling experience.
Provide candidates with a clear outline of the interview process, such as the number of interview stages, the types of interviews, and the interviewers they’ll encounter.
Additionally, communicate any pre-interview requirements, such as submitting additional documents or completing assessments, so candidates come prepared.
With clearly defined expectations, each of your job candidates will feel more informed, reducing the chances of scheduling conflicts or misunderstandings.
Optimize internal communication
Efficient internal communication is an important — yet often overlooked — part of the scheduling process. It ensures that all relevant stakeholders, including hiring managers and interviewers, are informed about upcoming interviews and their availability.
Start by establishing systems to facilitate seamless coordination and clear communication.
For instance, GoodTime Hire syncs with your calendar and automatically syncs meeting details so candidates and interviewers have all the info they need.
If you want an added layer of communication, Hire also allows you to tag colleagues in notes to instantly alert them via email about important updates in the interview process. This increased information sharing reduces the risk of mishaps and increases your hiring efficiency.
Elevate the way you schedule interviews
Don’t let a delayed scheduling process block you from your hiring goals.
By embracing streamlined practices, you can secure top talent faster than ever and cultivate a high-performing workforce.
But sometimes, you need some extra firepower in your corner. GoodTime Hire helps you schedule 78% faster, hire 50% more efficiently, and 5x team productivity.
Learn how GoodTime Hire can transform your interview scheduling and how a unified talent acquisition suite like LeverTRM can help you conduct more structured interviews.
