Written by Agnieszka Szczerba • 2021/11/10 • Recruiting | Recruitment Agencies

How can you automate interview scheduling in 5 minutes?

In recruitment, you can automate much of your work. You have quite a few solutions to choose from, and decision what to use will depend on what positions you are recruiting for, what budget you have and how processes in your organisation are set up.

But what if you don't have the budget and the ability to work with a sophisticated and expensive ATS or other tools? You are a freelance recruiter or you work for a small company - and still want to make your job easier?

There's a quite big selection of tools on the market, from applicant tracking systems to platforms for publishing ads and social media posts, chatbots, and video-interview platforms used to automate pre-screening.

But what if you don't have the budget and the ability to work with a sophisticated and expensive ATS or other tools? You a freelance recruiter or you work for a small company - and still want to make your job easier?

If there is one area that you can automate by yourself, without any additional costs and ... in 5 minutes, it is interview scheduling.

I have prepared a short step-by-step guide on how to do it using the free version of Calendly. This is not a sponsored post, I recommend this tool because I have been using it for years. :) In a free version you can do the following things:

set an unlimited number of appointments
define the time you are available, the breaks between meetings and how far in advance it can be scheduled
have one type of meeting and set up one meeting length
integrate Calendly with your calendar (iCloud, Google, Office 365, Outlook). This way Calendly will automatically adjust time slots according to how your availability changes in your calendar. Appointments scheduled through Calendly will automatically be visible in your calendar.
Calendly sends automatic emails with confirmations and cancellations

In the paid versions, Calendly offers additional features: those mentioned above plus:

unlimited number of meeting types
possibility of making group appointments
sending automatic and customised reminders, follow-ups and thank you notes (automated workflows)
reminders sent as text messages
statistics and reports

Ready? Let's get started!

1. Firstly, you need to create an account on the platform. Once your account has been set up, log in and you can start creating your meetings.

2. Choose an event type you want to use

3. Set up details (length of the meeting, location (phone, video or in-person meeting), slots when you are available, invitee questions

4. My pro tip - use the „description” box to personalize your message to an invitee. It works great and makes an awesome impression on your invitees. I recommend also submitting a link to the privacy policy of your company.

5. Connect your Calendly account with your calendar, Zoom / Google Meet account and other tools.

6. This is how an invitee sees the confirmation page after confirming an appointment.

7. Ready! You can make appointments with candidates in a very easy and comfortable way for everyone. Candidates love this way of setting up first calls with them.

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Resources:

www.calendly.com

www.canva.com