Scheduling interviews

Relevant for: Recruiters

How do I schedule an interview in Recruiting?

Open the candidate's application and click 'Schedule'. Choose the interview type and interviewers, then set the time manually, find a time from the panel's availability, share a self-booking link, or ask the candidate for their availability. To schedule automatically, add a 'Schedule interview' step to a stage.

You schedule every interview for an application in one place, with the hiring team already selected as interviewers. Self-booking links and availability requests save you the back-and-forth of finding a time, and automations make sure no candidate waits in a stage without an interview being arranged.

• Set date and time manually: You've already agreed on a time, or you want to record an interview that already happened.
• Find a time from availability: You want a slot where the whole panel is free.
• Self-booking link: You want the candidate to choose from the panel's live availability.
• Request candidate availability: You want the candidate to share time windows first, or your company hasn't connected calendars.

Table of Contents:

• What do I need to set up first?
• How do I schedule an interview from an application?
• How do candidates book their own interview?
• How do I ask a candidate for their availability?
• How do I schedule interviews automatically?
• How do I reschedule or cancel an interview?
• What do interviewers and candidates receive?
• Who can schedule interviews?

What do I need to set up first?

Finding a time from availability and self-booking links need the Recruiting calendar integration. Setting the time manually and requesting the candidate's availability work without it.

• Calendars: An admin connects calendars once in 'Settings' > 'Recruiting' > 'Candidate communications' > 'Interview scheduling'. A Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 administrator authorizes access for the whole organization, so interviewers don't need to connect their own calendars. Leapsome only reads free / busy times.
• Video conferencing (optional): Connect 'Zoom', 'Google Meet', or 'Microsoft Teams' so invitations include a video link.
• Interview hours (optional): Interviewers can set their hours under 'Interview availability' in their personal settings (click your name in the top right > 'Personal settings'). Otherwise, weekdays from 9:00 to 18:00 are used. To learn more, see Interviewers in Recruiting: finding and preparing for your interviews.

Note: Recruiting uses its own calendar integration. It's separate from the one Leapsome uses for absences or meetings, so connect it even if that one is already set up.

To learn more, see Connecting calendars and email.

How do I schedule an interview from an application?

1. Open the candidate's application and click 'Schedule'.
2. Under 'Interview type', choose the interview. Leapsome suggests the interviews set up for the current stage, or all active interview templates if none are set up.
3. Check the 'Interviewers'. The active hiring team is preselected, and you can add or remove people.
4. Under 'How do you want to schedule?', choose an option:
   • 'Find a time from availability': Set a date range and duration, then pick a free slot. Leapsome sends invitations to the interviewers and the candidate.
   • 'Set date and time manually': Enter the 'Date and time'. Leapsome doesn't check this time against anyone's availability. You can enter a past time to record an interview that already happened. This doesn't create calendar events.
5. Click 'Schedule interview'.

Note: Without the calendar integration, you only see 'Set date and time manually' and 'Request candidate availability', plus a note to ask an admin to connect calendars. Times in this window use your browser's time zone.

How do candidates book their own interview?

With a self-booking link, candidates choose a slot from the interviewers' live availability. You can share the link yourself or send it automatically.

Share a link yourself

1. In the 'Schedule interview' window, choose 'Find a time from availability'.
2. Set the interviewers, date range, and duration.
3. Click 'Copy scheduling link' instead of picking a slot, and send the link to the candidate.

Leapsome doesn't email this link for you. Until the candidate books, the interview shows 'Awaiting candidate booking'. You can copy the link again from the application's 'Interviews' tab.

Send the link automatically

In a 'Schedule interview' step on a stage, choose 'Let the candidate self-book', set the interviewers, duration, and bookable period, and turn on 'Email the booking link to the candidate'. You can also send the link in a later 'Email candidate' step.

• Self-booking needs the calendar integration, a candidate email address, and interviewers with connected calendars.
• Candidates can move or cancel a self-booked interview until 6 hours before it starts. The interviewers are notified.

For what candidates see, see Booking an interview or sharing your availability.

How do I ask a candidate for their availability?

Ask candidates to share the time windows that work for them, then book the interview within those windows. This doesn't need the calendar integration.

1. In the 'Schedule interview' window, choose 'Request candidate availability'.
2. Set 'Available from' and 'Available until', the 'Time zone', 'Daily hours from' and 'Daily hours until', and the 'Interview duration'. Optional: clear 'Exclude weekends'.
3. Under 'Who schedules the interview?', choose who books the interview once the candidate replies.
4. Click 'Create availability link' and share the link with the candidate.

Candidates see the times in their own time zone. When they reply, the interview shows 'Availability received', and the people who schedule it get a notification. Click 'Schedule' to pick a time within the candidate's windows.

To send this request automatically, choose 'Ask the candidate for their availability' in a 'Schedule interview' step. You can also email the link to the candidate automatically.

How do I schedule interviews automatically?

Add a 'Schedule interview' step to a stage, so the right people get a task as soon as a candidate enters that stage.

1. On a stage of the job's evaluation process, click 'Add activities' and add a 'Schedule interview' step.
2. Choose the interview and 'Create a scheduling task'.
3. Choose who should schedule it, e.g., hiring team roles or specific people. Optional: preselect interviewers.
4. Save.

When an application enters the stage, each task owner gets a task called "Schedule '[interview]' interview" in 'Your checklist' > 'Tasks' on the Home page. The task opens the 'Schedule interview' window. It's completed once the interview is scheduled, and it reopens if the interview is canceled.

To learn more, see Setting up evaluation processes and interview templates and Setting up automations on stages and jobs.

How do I reschedule or cancel an interview?

On the application's 'Interviews' tab, open the row menu of the interview, or use the '...' menu in the interview guide. Choose 'Reschedule' or 'Cancel interview'.

Canceling applies to all interviewers and can't be undone. Feedback that was already submitted is kept.

What do interviewers and candidates receive?

• Interviewers get a to-do for the upcoming interview with a link to the interview guide. With the calendar integration, they also get a calendar event.
• Candidates get a calendar invitation email with the date, time, recruiter contact, and a video link if available. Rescheduling sends an update, and canceling removes the event from their calendar.

The recruiter contact is the job's recruiter. If the job has no recruiter, it's the person who scheduled the interview.

On the application, each interview shows the candidate's response: 'Accepted', 'Tentatively accepted', 'Declined', or 'Awaiting response'. If the candidate declines, the recruiter contact and interviewers are notified. If an invitation can't be delivered, the interview shows a warning. Reschedule the interview to try again.

Interviews have one of these statuses: 'Awaiting booking', 'Awaiting candidate availability', 'Availability received', 'Scheduled', 'Completed', or 'Canceled'.

Who can schedule interviews?

• Scheduling, rescheduling, canceling, and creating links require permission to manage the candidate's application, e.g., as a hiring manager, recruiter, or coordinator on the job, or company-wide. Confidential jobs follow their own access rules.
• Setting up 'Schedule interview' steps requires permission to manage recruiting automations.
• Connecting calendars and video conferencing requires the Recruiting integrations admin permission.

For details, see Hiring team roles and permissions.

Note: Anyone with a booking or availability link can use it. Only share it with the candidate. You can't schedule interviews for anonymized candidates.