The Jobvite ATS Request Candidate Availability (RCA) option allows you to quickly send a set of proposed interview times to candidates, allowing them to respond with their preferred times. You can then use the Smart or Standard Scheduler in Jobvite ATS to find the best match and invite all relevant parties. The Request Candidate Availability option enables the automated scheduling of an interview (or interview block) when a candidate responds with availability that matches the availability of the interview team and the proposed meeting room(s).
Audience
Admins, Recruiters, Hiring Managers, and Schedulers
Requesting Candidate Availability
This section describes how to request the candidate's availability for a particular interview State.
Navigate to the Workflow tab on the candidate profile page, then expand the interview workflow step for which you want to Request Candidate Availability for. Click Request Candidate Availability to proceed to the next section, where you can select the time blocks available for the candidate.
Specify the duration of the interview and the minimum number of available slots the candidate would need to select. Select the checkbox for Conference Link if applicable.
Use + Add Interviewer to add interviewer(s) and view the interviewer's availability while selecting time blocks for the candidate. Select specific blocks of time on the calendar across different dates for the candidate to choose from.
Choose a time zone of your preference to ensure optimal calendar visualization and interviewer availability. The candidate can adjust this time zone for their convenience, specifying their availability accordingly.
You can also indicate whether you want the system to automatically schedule the interview after the candidate provides their availability. This can be done by clicking the Auto-schedule interview after the candidate has provided their availability toggle.
NOTE: If you enable Auto-schedule, you must add at least one interviewer before sending the request.
NOTE: The Minimum number of slots requested setting determines how many time slots will be shown to the candidate, not how many they are expected to select. You won’t be able to send the scheduling request until you’ve chosen a time that meets the minimum requirement. For example, if the minimum is set to 3 slots for a 30-minute interview, the Send Request button will only be enabled after you’ve selected at least 1.5 hours of availability.
Click Send Request. Then, you can review the time blocks, minimum slots required, and the time zone in which the time blocks have been selected.
The Request Availability Invitation will be populated with the default template content. You can use this screen to make manual changes to the template and add attachments to the invitation to this candidate. If auto-scheduling is enabled, you can manually change the interview invitations that will be automatically sent to interviewers when the interview is scheduled, within the Interview Invitation(s) to Interviewer(s) section.
Within the 'Interview Invitation to Candidate' section, you can select whether you want the candidate to be automatically invited to the interview when it is scheduled.
You conclude the process of requesting availability by sending the notification to the candidate. The following section will discuss how the candidate can provide availability for this interview.
Candidate Providing Availability
Upon receiving the email invite from the scheduler, the candidate can click the link provided within the email to select from the available slots. The section below provides a detailed description of the slot selection process. The design is intuitive, and candidates should be able to follow the on-screen instructions to respond to your request easily.
After clicking the link to provide availability, the candidate is taken to a portal with available time slots. Jobvite divides the time block into slots of the candidate's interview duration (e.g., 30-minute slots). While doing this, Jobvite also ensures the times are shown in the candidate's time zone. The candidate can then select one or more time slots convenient to them and proceed to Submit Availability.
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If auto-schedule was enabled when requesting availability, once the candidate submits their availability, the system will attempt to schedule an interview. The system will look for the first available time when both the candidate and the interviewers are available. If a match is found, the interview will be scheduled in the system, and interviewers will be invited. The scheduler will also receive an email informing them that the interview was automatically scheduled. The candidate will then receive an email with the interview details.
- The template for the email that will be sent to the scheduler when an interview is auto-scheduled can be found under Admin > Communications > Interview > Auto-Schedule Confirmation Notification.
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If auto-schedule cannot find a match or if auto-schedule was not used, once the candidate submits their availability, a notification is sent to the scheduler indicating the availability. This notification will remind the scheduler to complete the interview scheduling and send the interview invites to the candidate, interviewers, and associated meeting rooms (if any). Additionally, the Workflow tab will also indicate the date and time at which the candidate requested availability and provision. Please see the scheduler process below for Smart Scheduler and Manual (Standard) Scheduler.
- The template for the email that will be sent to the scheduler when an interview is unable to be auto-scheduled can be found under Admin > Communications > Interview > Candidate Picked Slots.
Scheduling without Auto-Scheduler
Smart Scheduler
When using Request Candidate Availability and Smart Scheduler, the candidate's availability information is displayed alongside the availability of interviewers and meeting rooms within the scheduler.
NOTE: This is true only if Jobvite ATS is integrated with Exchange/Office365 or Google Apps for Work. The Smart Scheduler, by default, selects the dates when the candidate has provided availability for the interview schedule. Upon adding the interviewers and the meeting rooms, the scheduling logic will automatically prioritize slots with the candidates and interviewers available
Manual (Standard) Scheduler
When using Request Candidate Availability and Manual Scheduler, the candidate availability is displayed on the left-hand side panel of the screen, allowing you to view a summary of candidate availability. For increased convenience, the candidate availability slots are also highlighted in green on the calendar on the respective dates. The manual scheduler process can be completed by adding interviewers and the Location, and then sending out the interview invitations.
Candidate Self-Scheduling FAQ's
Q. Is there an admin setting to turn on Candidate Self-Scheduling?
A. No, there is no admin setting to turn this feature on/off. Candidate Self-Scheduling is available for all interview types, with scheduling set to schedule.
Q. Is requesting the candidate's availability in the Jobvite ATS scheduling tool mandatory?
A. No, it is optional. We believe that involving the candidate in the interview slot selection process leads to a better candidate experience; therefore, it is recommended as a best practice. Jobvite ATS will continue to allow you to schedule interviews without requesting candidate availability.
Q. Why am I not seeing a request availability button near the workflow dropdown?
A. The button is automatically made available for new Interview Types created within your workflow, i.e., after enabling self-scheduling.
Q. Can I request the candidate's availability multiple times for the same interview?
A. Yes. It is worth noting that multiple requests for availability will cause all the previous ones to be marked as invalid.
Q. When does an availability request link expire?
A. The availability request link expires:
- If the candidate has already provided availability using the link.
- Seven days after the request email was sent.
- If all the time slots specified in the availability request are now in the past.
- If a new availability request link has been sent.
Q. Can the candidate see the interviewers' calendars?
A. No. At this point, Jobvite ATS does not expose any information about the interviewers' availability to the candidate. The candidate selects slots from the time blocks chosen by the scheduler.
Q. Is it mandatory for the candidate to select a minimum number of slots?
A. No, the candidate can proceed by providing one slot. However, Jobvite ATS warns the candidate to provide the minimum number of slots for an optimal scheduling experience.
Q. Does the candidate have to sign in to Jobvite to provide availability?
A. No, the availability link is unique per interview and can be provided anonymously.
Q. How can the candidate get in touch with the scheduler?
A. Candidates can reply to the availability request email, and the scheduler will be notified. This is particularly useful if none of the provided slots work for the candidate or if the candidate has any questions about the interview or the duration.
Q. Will Jobvite automatically schedule an interview if the interviewer and candidate are available?
A. Yes, if the option to auto-schedule was selected when sending the availability request. This option is only available if Jobvite has been connected to Outlook or G Suite calendars.
Q. Why are interviews getting double-booked when auto-scheduler is enabled?
A. Microsoft APIs can take a few minutes to block the interviewer’s calendar. So, suppose you are testing or using multiple tabs to send availability to various candidates at the same time, and the candidates are all clicking submit within seconds of each other. In that case, it’s possible that Microsoft APIs haven’t updated the interviewer’s calendar yet.
A possible alternative to this could be to use "Send candidate availability request via SMS (Text Message)" when requesting candidate availability. By sending the RCA via SMS instead of email, there is a potential that the candidate could respond sooner. Therefore, the possibility of candidates submitting at nearly the same time is reduced.