Automated Interview Scheduling Software

Automated Interview Scheduling Software Eliminates Scheduling Challenges

Recruitment is a complex time-consuming process. The process starts from the point a vacant job role is identified. It proceeds to sourcing where recruiters need to identify talents from a variety of channels, including internal recruitment.

This is followed by screening of candidates, setting up interview schedules, conducting interviews, and hiring and onboarding new employees. (Know more about end-to-end recruitment here.) 

Recruiters witness hundreds of job applications. Executing the entire recruitment process for a large volume of candidates manually is taxing at the least.

Statistics show 60% jobseekers leave the application process if they find the process complex or time-consuming. 83% jobseekers would consider clear communication about the hiring timeline part of an improved hiring experience.

Given these statistics, it becomes imperative for recruiters to shorten and simplify their recruitment process. Interview scheduling is a major challenge for recruiters looking to enhance their recruitment process for better candidate experience.

Here are some common challenges interview scheduling poses for recruiters:

Bringing Stakeholders Together

A major challenge facing recruiters is arranging flexible schedules convenient for candidates, interviewers and the recruiting team. Either the interviewer is not available when the candidate is, or the candidate is unavailable for a specific interviewer schedule.

Coordinating schedules results in numerous back-and-forth emails. These communications slow down an already lengthy hiring process. They form a bottleneck, preventing the speedy and smooth flow of the recruitment process. In addition, they frustrate candidates and diminish candidate experience.

A study showed 50% jobseekers refused a job offer owing to poor candidate experience with the company. Your 

scheduling woes could result in losing a top candidate.

Email Overload

When you are scheduling interviews for several candidates simultaneously, email overloading happens. There are numerous emails between candidates and recruiters, exchanging interview details.

But a manual process fails when voluminous emails and data are involved. This inefficiency renders the data useless rather than an invaluable asset. Also, you could lose track of crucial details regarding the interview.

With a voluminous email load to manage, you may also be distracted from communicating key messages to candidates. The efficiency of the process suffers as a result.

Without access to full information, candidates too, lose a chance to be best prepared for their interviews. This inefficiency in scheduling leads to an unfair hiring process and loss of valuable candidates. 

Process Slow Down Due to Lack of Flexibility

Last-minute changes and emergencies are common in a process as complex as recruitment. A manual scheduling process is not flexible enough to respond rapidly to unexpected developments, which add to scheduling woes.

For example, you may have scheduled an interview for a candidate with the hiring team. But a last-minute cancellation happens by one of the interviewing team members.

This development upsets the whole process. You have to reschedule the interview, which demands extensive coordination between teams and is therefore time-intensive. Rescheduling slows down the entire hiring pipeline, which can be frustrating for candidates.

Overcome Scheduling Challenges with an Automated Interview Scheduling Software

Scheduling tools for recruiters enable you to address key scheduling challenges and do more in less time. With a well-chosen scheduler, you can execute multiple tasks with ease, including:

• Developing interview schedules
• Monitoring interview progress
• Creating interview alerts and reminders

A candidate scheduling software features email capabilities, calendar and messaging functionalities, to enable efficient scheduling. Recruiters can coordinate schedules in accordance with different factors, including location, time zones and team/ candidate availability. 

When you automate interview scheduling with advanced schedulers such as X0PA, you add further value to the scheduling process:

·      Get access to a question library. Recruiters can build an interview questionnaire and share it with hiring managers for an early review. Interviewers can customize the questionnaire and have it ready for candidates, all within minutes!

·      Obtain a clear view of your recruitment process with Candidate Tracking feature. You can monitor candidates that have been interviewed and those waiting in the pipeline. 

This insight enables you to communicate with pending candidates with appropriate scheduling updates. You can identify and eliminate bottlenecks, speeding up the process for them. 

You can simultaneously ensure that candidates that have already been interviewed are progressing to the next stage.

·      Achieve omnichannel communication capability. X0PA allows communication with candidates on multiple channels, from a single platform. You can engage candidates through email, phone calls, WhatsApp and SMS without switching between interfaces.

X0PA’s VOIP integration capability helps you connect with candidates seamlessly through the platform. An easy SMS integration allows you to connect with candidates on WhatsApp and SMS. The platform can effortlessly integrate with third-party apps too.

Inadequate communication during a hiring process is a key complaint cited by 63% jobseekers. Good communication is emerging as a key element of candidate experience and employer branding factor.

Given these developments, a technology such as X0PA that allows for comprehensive scheduling in addition to automation gains significance.

So, how can interview scheduling tools help recruiters?

Benefits of an Automated Interview Scheduling Software

Scheduling tools for recruiters are designed to automate manual tasks. They allow for greater flexibility in scheduling and improve process efficiency.

Whether you are managing voluminous candidate scheduling or complex phone screen scheduling, a scheduler ensures a fair and easy process.

With the right scheduler, you can eliminate bulk email exchanges and ensure that all candidates get an equal chance. 

With efficient challenge addressal, the right candidates are not lost in a flood of scheduling emails and delays.

Facilitates Excellent Coordination 

In a manual scheduling system, getting interviewers, recruiters and candidates, together can be a nightmare. Last-minute changes and rescheduling slow down the entire process, which affects candidate experience as well as brand reputation.

With an automated scheduler, you can facilitate excellent coordination between multiple stakeholders. A scheduler allows recruiters to set their preferred timeslots for interviews. As a recruiter, you can set your timeslots on the platform. Candidates can choose timeslots that are convenient for them and self-schedule the interview.

A scheduler gives each stakeholder what he/ she wants – better control over their time. The process is more convenient, informed and organized. Process bottlenecks such as schedule clashes, rescheduling, and numerous emails and phone calls, are eliminated.

Candidates experience a flexible process that allows them to be well-prepared. Recruiters achieve hassle-free scheduling. Interviewers are more in tune with the process; they have more time to engage with candidates and get to know them better.

Improved Communication with Candidates

A corporate job attracts 250 resumes on an average. As a recruiter, you may have to communicate with 50+ candidates, which can be overwhelming. Keeping each candidate informed with phone calls and emails is stressful and ineffective. 

Such manual process is also prone to information delay, errors and inaccuracies.

With communication becoming a key factor in the recruiter-candidate equation, compromising it through inefficient scheduling can lower your hire quality.

When you automate interview scheduling, communications to candidates are fast, automatic and error-free. All candidates receive information simultaneously through their preferred channels.

Such instant and accurate communication improves your hiring process and delivers enhanced candidate experience.

Speeds up Hiring and Prevents Talent Misses

Often, a speedy hire reduces the quality of a hire. You discover you lost a top candidate while you were dealing with the never-ending scheduling logistics.

With a reliable candidate scheduling software, you can speed up your hiring process AND improve hire quality.

Automated scheduling reduces your workload. You need not deal with scheduling hassles for a voluminous candidate count. You do not have to send/ receive emails, manage cancelling candidates, or handle hiring managers that delay scheduling.

There is no need to make numerous phone calls or spend hours setting up schedules that work out for all stakeholders.

With an automated scheduler, you can come up with the most convenient interview schedule for everyone involved, within seconds. Everyone in the process is kept well-informed. As a result, the hiring queue moves faster up the pipeline, leading to quicker offer and onboarding.

Makes Hiring More Transparent

In a manual process, interview scheduling and the various aspects surrounding it, are often vague. The exact bottleneck causing delays and inefficiencies within the process is not immediately evident. As a result, delays keep happening and hiring remains inefficient.

With well-designed scheduling tools for recruiters, every aspect, from communications to final scheduling, is open to view, analysis and improvement.

Frees Up Time for Recruiters to Nurture their Talent Pipeline

An automated interview scheduler eliminates heavy recruiter workload and communication gaps in scheduling, and speeds up hiring. A recruiter achieves more time to focus on a key recruitment aspect – talent acquisition. 

Talent acquisition is a complementary to recruitment. It involves not only attracting the right candidates but also nurturing the talent pipeline. (Know more about talent acquisition here.)

With an automated scheduler, recruiters can invest their freed time in sourcing and engaging candidates, and building relationships with talents.

The X0PA Advantage – Build a Stronger Employer Brand 

Technology helps, but it is the right technology that enables you to achieve your hiring and brand goals.

With X0PA, automating your interview schedules is only a start. This is an end-to-end recruitment solution that automates key workflows throughout the process.

From providing access to a wider sourcing network to executing intelligent candidate screening and easy onboarding, X0PA does more.

As an automated scheduler, X0PA improves the quality of your hire. Elaborate and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and NLP (Natural Language Processing)-based algorithms screen candidates before scheduling.

X0PA employs predictive analysis to estimate the stability and performance of a candidate, and selects the best talent.

Automate interview scheduling, empower your screening with maximized objectivity, and meet aggressive talent acquisition goals with X0PA.

Conclusion

With candidate experience becoming a key talent attraction factor, it becomes imperative for recruiters to build in candidate-centric recruitment process. Investing in a comprehensive automated interview scheduling software accelerates your recruitment drive and creates a sharp employer brand leverage.

FAQs

What are the different types of video interview software?

Video interview software applications can be:

• One-Way Video Interview Software – The candidate sends a pre-recorded video to the hiring manager. The candidate answers preset interview questions in this video.
• Live Video Interview Software – The recruiter and the candidate have a face-to-face interview on these software platforms.

How do you automate a video interview?

Use an advanced software such as X0PA to run automated video interviews as part of your recruitment process. Prepare your questionnaire. You can even add videos and images to your questionnaire to make them more interactive. Leave X0PA to run the interview without your presence. Candidates answer questions as they appear on their screens. Your team can evaluate candidates based on the answers sent in the form of recorded videos.

Do recruiters use Calendly?

Calendly is an automated interview scheduling tool for recruiters. Calendly is useful for all types of interview scheduling.