Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide an interview scheduling process performed in the Events module.

Audience

This document is intended to be used by schedulers and coordinators.

Introduction

Imagine you're an event coordinator using the Events module to manage a job fair. You want to streamline the process of scheduling interviews for job applicants during the event. The interview scheduling module is designed to make it easier to schedule interviews within the Events module and also allows parallel interviewing of panels. You now have a dedicated page within the Events to handle interview scheduling, via this feature, users can send invites to candidates independent of interviewer calendar/availability by just defining time slots and also have the option to add interviewers later post sending candidate invites.

User Roles and Permissions

Your event team members, recruiters, schedulers, coordinators, interviewers, and applicants are the main users of this module. The interviewers and candidates have access to view and confirm interview times while others can create and manage interview slots.

Feature details

Using Event Scheduling, users can:

1. Create interview slots: Define the number of interviews and interview session times through the Schedules tab.
2. Schedule interviews: Schedule interviews for candidates from the Candidates tab using the predefined slots created in Step 1.

   Note: By default, you can set up 1000 interviews within a single event schedule. To increase this limit to 2000, update the following config: planned_event_config > event_schedule_preferences > max_calendar_events_per_schedule.
   Eightfold recommends splitting the event schedules if you need to set up more than 2000 interviews.

Consider this in the form of a table with a number of interviews defined on the horizontal axis and durations defined on the vertical axis. And then the table is filled with candidate interview schedules.

1. If interview round durations are same - interviews can happen back to back but in any order
2. If interview round durations are different - interviews can happen back to back but in fixed order

Example 1

Example 2

Key Terminologies

1. Schedule - Schedule refers to the complete plan.
2. Session - Session is defined by interview start and end time (for example, 9 AM -12 PM).
3. Slot - Slot represents an individual time option that a candidate can choose from the available options.

Steps to create interview slots through Events

The process of creating interview slots is a two step process:

Step 1: Define the number of interviews

1. Open the Eightfold TA application and go to Engage > Events.
2. Create a new event or open an upcoming or live event and make sure that you have candidates added to the event on the Candidates tab.
3. Go to the Schedules tab and click Create Schedule. The Interview Details screen appears.
4. Here you can define the number of interviews with dates and basic details of interviews (except the interview session times):
   1. Select the start and end interview date and template.
      Note: Your custom event template (if any) has to be selected at this step. Unlike standard scheduling, event templates cannot be selected at the time of sending candidate invites.
   2. Enter the interview title, video conferencing link, duration
   3. Add feedback form.
   4. Add more interviews using the Add Interview option.
      Note that in case of multi-round, only back-to-back interviews (which will be considered as one group of interviews) are supported.
   5. Delete the interview using the delete icon.

5. Click Next to proceed. Else click Save as draft to complete it later.

Step 2: Define the interview session times

1. The Interview times screen appears. Here you can define the range of time for all the interviews.
2. Add an interview session time from the left pane. Add the start time and the end time of the interview. Each interview session created now shows the interview / interview group assigned under it.
   1. The session time duration selected must be at least as per total duration of the interview / interview group.
      For example, if we have 2 interviews back to back of 30 mins each, then a slot time duration of at least 1 hr should be selected. However, the session time can also be longer for example 10 AM - 4 PM if needed.
   2. The slot preview icon (beside Interview time header) indicates the slots that will be available to candidates to choose from. It will also indicate if interviews cannot be accommodated at a particular time.
   3. Panel number can be individually defined for each session. Click on + to increase the number of panels, click - to decrease the number of panels.
      Note: Panels will take interviews in parallel.
   4. Below the session time there is an indicator of the number of candidates that can be scheduled in that particular session.

3. Assign panel interviewers, room and/or location to each session (if available).
   Note that all 3 fields (interviewer, room and location) can be left blank and assigned later post scheduling the interview with the candidate(s).

4. Add more sessions using the Add Time option. You can also duplicate a previous session using the clone icon on top-right to retain panel and logistics (room, location) details.

5. Click Save to save this finalized schedule. Else click Save as draft to complete it later.
   Note: After saving the schedule, you can only change the interviewers, rooms & location information. You will not be able to change other previously entered details such as interview dates, interview round details and session times.

Set interview breaks

Recruiters can effectively configure breaks between interviews in event scheduling. This improves the experience for both candidates and interviewers while adhering to accessibility requirements.

To include interview breaks within Event scheduling, follow these steps:

1. Go to My Account > Scheduling Templates and select the Event Scheduling template.
2. In the Interviews section, click on the coffee mug icon and select break duration.
3. Go to the Schedules tab in the required event.
4. Select the right event scheduling template. The interview break time configured in the template shall appear.
5. You can also edit the break duration. In the Interviews section, click the ‘coffee mug’ icon.
6. From the Interview break dropdown, select the duration of the break. This time is automatically added after each interview.
7. Click Next and complete the scheduling.

Once the Event is scheduled,

• Candidates and interviewers see the interview time clearly in the meeting invites, emails, and the interview center.
• The break duration is included in the total event duration visible to the candidate. For example, a 30-minute interview with a 5-minute break appears as 9:00 - 9:35.

Important considerations

• Break durations in the dropdown are in multiples of five mins.
• Candidates can see the break time on the candidate microsite and meeting details in the email notification.
• The interviewer can see the break time on the interviewer microsite and the meeting details in the email notification.
• The calendar invite doesn't include the break time.
• A break is also added after the last interview to maintain consistency and ensure the total slot time rounds to a whole number. For example, if each interview lasts 25 minutes with a 5-minute break, two interviews total 25 + 5 + 25 + 5 = 60 minutes (1 hour). Without the final break, the total would be 55 minutes.
• This final break is only visible to schedulers within the platform's scheduling flows (For example, the Scheduling Wizard and Event Schedule page). It isn't displayed to candidates or interviewers in email notifications or on their respective microsites.

  Schedule interviews

  This module supports functionality where we send interview invites to the candidates and allow them to choose the interview slots.

  1. Go to the Candidates tab
  2. Select the candidate and click Schedule.
  3. Choose a position to associate the selected candidate with.
     Note: You can also define target positions for the event under Positions tab.
  4. The next screen displays all the interview slots available for the candidate interview.
     Note that, recruiters cannot select any interview slot for the candidate since in this module we allow only candidates to choose the interview slots.
  5. Click Next to proceed.
  6. Under Scheduling Communication, you can preview the email, SMS and WhatsApp content.
  7. Under Calendar Invite Notes, you can add notes to candidates and/or interviewers.
  8. Send interview invites to the candidate by clicking on Send Invites.
  9. Email invitation is sent to the candidate. Candidates can now select the time slot as per their convenience and slot availability, on the Candidate Experience site.

     Note that as soon as the candidate selects a slot, the event schedule status gets updated to Live.

  Event template

  The template named Event Scheduling supports this functionality.

  Go to the Account > Scheduling Template screen, search for the Event Scheduling template having template type as Event and use this template in the event scheduling module.

  Create your own event scheduling template by making a copy and add your interview process details (such as number of rounds, duration, title, conferencing link and feedback form) as well as customize the Message Templates (Email and Calendar Invites)

  Event scheduling functionality on Scheduling Center

  The actions performed for interviews on the Scheduling Center remain the same for standard and event scheduling both. However there are few differences highlighted below in case of meetings schedules using event scheduling:

  1. The Edit Interviewers and Cancel Meeting functionalities are disabled.
     1. For schedulers: It's possible to update the interviewers from the Schedules screen.
  2. Following changes apply for Rescheduling functionality:
     1. For schedulers: On rescheduling, the meetings are converted to standard meeting and the selected slot becomes available for other candidates to choose.
     2. For candidates: They can reschedule without any issue (if enabled) and the interview does not get converted to a standard meeting.

  Configuration

  Prerequisites

  • [IX Feature] Events pipeline refresh
  • [IX Feature] Talent Acquisition Pipeline 3.0
  • Scheduling 2.0
  • Talent Acquisition user interface (UI) refresh

  FMT configs

  Below gate must be enabled to turn on event scheduling:

  • Interview Scheduling in Events

  Conclusion

  The Interview Scheduling Module within the Events Module simplifies the process of scheduling interviews for events like job fairs. It's a valuable addition that streamlines coordination and communication.

  FAQs

  Q1: Does the new event scheduling require calendar scheduling to be enabled?

  Ans: As the scheduler/coordinator you would still need to connect your calendar to be able to send invites and place calendar events on interviewers calendar through delegated access, to book rooms, and so on.

  We don't pull interviewer calendar availability in event scheduling (unlike regular scheduling) as you can define an inventory of time slots for candidates to choose from.