According to recruiters, interview scheduling is the most time-consuming aspect of the recruiting process. In fact, 2 in 3 recruiters say it can take up to two hours to schedule just one interview. Jumping between calendars, emails, spreadsheets, resumes and post-it notes can make for a lengthy — and inefficient — hiring process.

That’s why leveraging interview scheduling software to automate this manual process is so important. Read on for the top 5 time-saving benefits of implementing an interview scheduling solution at your organization.

5 Ways Interview Scheduling
Software Saves Time

1. Goodbye to Back-and-Forth Emails

Every recruiter and recruiting coordinator has been there. You ask the candidate when they’re available to interview, they take a day to respond. By that time, the times you suggested are full, and you have to send more. Before you know it, it’s been a full week and you haven’t even had a phone interview.

Interview scheduling software eliminates the endless back-and-forth recruiters are used to. Instead, you can send candidates a link to self-schedule the time that works best for them. It’s integrated with each recruiter’s calendar availability — and it saves time for the candidate and recruiter.

2. Find Out Everyone’s Availability in One Click

Most final-round interviews consist of multiple, back-to-back sessions with different team members. This is a great way to get feedback on a hire from a wide group, but it can be a time-consuming nightmare for recruiters and coordinators to schedule.

In fact, recruiters say that it can take as much as two hours to schedule just one interview. Rather than trying to solve the availability puzzle with everyone’s calendars, an automated interview scheduling solution can help you find availability and schedule the interview in seconds.

3. AI Predicts the Best Time

Traditional interview scheduling takes a lot of logic: maybe you just need 2 out of 3 interviewers for one session, or the last interview slot needs to be the hiring manager, or you have to allow for breaks in the schedule. Even if you find a chunk of time that works for everyone, these requirements may limit availability even further — making a recruiter’s job even harder.

Some innovative companies are using AI (artificial intelligence) to help recruiters make these complex decisions faster. All participant calendars can be scanned to automatically predict optimal interview times in seconds — rather than the hours it would take a recruiter to schedule by hand. Learn more about Yello’s AI-powered interview scheduling tool.

And the best part? Recruiters and coordinators still have final say before scheduling the interview. They can review the proposed schedule and make adjustments based on hiring manager preferences.

4. Simplify Rescheduling Craziness

One of the most frustrating parts of interview scheduling is inevitably having to reschedule. It happens — calendars change, interview plans change. But after taking hours to schedule the original interview, recruiters essentially have to start from scratch.

Interview scheduling tools can help you reschedule smarter. Rather than re-building the interview from the beginning, recruiters can see exactly which sessions need to be rescheduled, and best alternative times based on calendar availability. It means interviews can be rescheduled in clicks, instead of hours of manual work or days of back-and-forth emails.

5. Decrease Candidate Dropoff

When companies think about saving time with software, they usually think about where it will save time for their internal teams. But interview scheduling software is different — it helps save time for candidates too.

We all know that a quick hiring process is the best way to secure candidates before the competition. Having the tools to ensure that interviews get scheduled as quickly as possible helps your team keep candidates engaged and reduce dropoff due to a lengthy process. This means your team won’t have to spend as much time taking candidates through the process, only for them to accept another offer and go back to the drawing board.

The bottom line is this: You don’t have time to be going around and around in circles to schedule your interviews. Automated interview scheduling simplifies the process and frees up your recruiters up to do more of what matters most — building relationships with candidates. That helps you build a better experience, meet recruiting goals, and hire the talent you need to drive your organization forward.