Interview Schedule Templates You Can Use in Your Hiring Process

Interviews reveal a job candidate’s skills, background, and cultural fit. However, knowing what to say and do when meeting applicants can be tough. A comprehensive interview schedule can help guide you through this process.

Interview schedules are documents that include a series of questions and reminders, helping you gather valuable information about candidates and improve efficiency. A good interview schedule can also optimize candidate experiences, creating a good impression of your company. 

To get the most out of these documents, create an interview schedule template. This framework can make it easier to format your interview schedules across roles and departments, improving communication with your team and your potential hires.

Here, you’ll discover the benefits of using an interview schedule template and get some free ones to use, while gaining insight from hiring experts across sectors.

Benefits of using an interview schedule template

Instead of creating an interview schedule from scratch, you can use a template to speed up the process, improve coordination, and enhance candidate experiences.

Time-saving

By using an interview schedule template, you can spend less time creating interview schedules for different candidates. A good template outlines the overall structure of your interviews, helping you stay organized and focused.

Improve coordination

These templates ensure everyone on your team knows the structure of an interview and how it will flow, resulting in a well-coordinated interview process.

Better candidate experience

Sudatta Gautham, Director of Engineering at Intuit, says “Providing an excellent interview experience for a candidate is very important as it reflects on your company and your personal brand as well.” In fact, 66% of candidates say that a positive candidate experience increases their chances of referring others to a company from their professional networks. Interview schedule templates can help you create more standardized interviews, which make it easier to offer that kind of excellence to every candidate.

66% of candidates say that a positive candidate experience increases their chances of referring others to a company from their professional networks.

Examples of interview schedules

A standard interview schedule format might include the following:

• The name of the candidate
• The name and role of the interviewer/interviewers
• An opening statement (what you will say to the candidate at the beginning of the interview)
• Questions to ask candidates
• Time slots (how long each section on the schedule will take to ensure the interview runs smoothly)
• Spaces for notes
• A closing statement (what you will say to the candidate at the end of the interview)

Here are some basic interview schedule examples for different interview formats that you might use in your talent acquisition strategy.

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One-on-one interviews

Opening statement: Hi, I’m the hiring manager for this position. Thanks for agreeing to this interview. I’m going to ask a few questions and take notes.

Question 1: Why do you want to work for our company?

[Room for notes]

Question 2: What skills do you think you can bring to this role?

[Room for notes]

Question 3: Tell me about a challenge you encountered in your last role and how you overcame it.

[Room for notes]

Closing statement: Thank you so much! Someone on our hiring team will be in touch in the next seven days.

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This is just a basic example of an interview schedule that you might want to incorporate into your hiring funnel. However, it gives you an idea of how to structure interview questions and communicate with candidates in a one-on-one setting.

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Panel interviews

Opening statement: Hi, I’m the hiring manager for this position. I’m joined by our head of HR and our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officer. We’re going to ask you a few questions.

Question 1 (hiring manager): Can you tell me about yourself and your work experience?

[Room for notes]

Question 2 (head of HR): Why are you leaving your current employer?

[Room for notes]

Question 3 (DEI officer): Can you explain why diversity, equity, and inclusion is important in the workplace?

[Room for notes]

Closing statement: I think that’s all we need for now! We’d all like to thank you for your time today. You’ll receive an email from our company in the next seven days.

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Multi-day interviews

Day 1

Opening statement: Hi, I’m the hiring manager for this position, and I’m going to ask you a couple of questions today.

Question 1: What are your salary expectations?

[Room for notes]

Question 2: What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

[Room for notes]

Closing statement: Thank you! Tomorrow, you’ll meet the head of the department, who will ask you a few more questions.

Question 3: What is your ideal work environment?

[Room for notes]

Day 2

Opening statement: Hi, thank you for meeting our hiring manager yesterday. As the head of the department, I’ve got a couple more questions for you.

Question 1: What is your greatest accomplishment in your career?

[Room for notes]

Question 2: What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses?

[Room for notes]

Question 3: Tell me about a time you had to overcome adversity in your job role.

[Room for notes]

Closing statement: I really appreciate your time today. Our HR team will be in touch with more information.

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Free interview schedule templates you can use

Here are some templates you can use to create interview schedules:

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Interview itinerary template example 1:

Name of candidate:

Name of interviewer:

Date/time of interview:

Opening statement:

Question 1:

Possible follow-up question:

Notes:

Question 2:

Possible follow-up question:

Notes:

Question 3:

Possible follow-up question:

Notes:

Question 4:

Possible follow-up question:

Notes:

Closing statement:

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Template 2:

Name of candidate:

Name of interviewer:

Date/time of interview:

Opening statement:

Questions about background/experience

Question 1:

Question 2:

Follow-up questions:

Notes:

Questions about skills

Question 1:

Question 2:

Follow-up questions:

Notes:

Questions about cultural fit

Question 1:

Question 2:

Follow-up questions:

Notes:

Closing statement:

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Customizing interview schedule templates

You can adapt the interview schedule templates above for different roles and interview types. For example, add a section for leadership questions if you’re interviewing a candidate for a management or C-level role.

Here are some other ways to customize your interview schedule template:

• Create a section in your template for candidates to ask you questions.
• Tailor your template based on whether an interview is taking place virtually or in person.
• Include back-up questions to ask candidates if they can’t provide answers or their responses aren’t detailed enough.

The most important thing is that your template facilitates a better interview experience, both for candidates and your hiring team.

Managing and adjusting interview schedules

Interview schedules shouldn’t be set in stone. You can tweak these documents before and even during an interview if last-minute changes happen or you need to reschedule a meeting with a candidate.

Last-minute changes

Adjusting your interview schedule might be necessary after meeting a candidate or finding out more information about them. For example, you can change or add questions to your schedule if you notice something on an applicant’s resume before an interview you had previously overlooked.

Rescheduling

You might need to change your schedule after rearranging an interview with a candidate. For example, questions about current developments in your industry might no longer be relevant if you reschedule an interview for the future. Be sure to review your schedule right before a rescheduled meeting to make sure all the planned questions are still useful.

Automation tools

AI-powered automation tools can help you come up with questions for interview schedules and ensure you ask the right questions. Some AI platforms will create interview schedule templates for you based on your particular hiring needs.

Also, consider tools that make it easier to arrange interviews with applicants. The best ones allow candidates to book their own interviews, reducing strain on your hiring team. According to our 2024 Hiring Insights Report, talent acquisition leaders say their recruitment teams spend 35% of their time scheduling interviews. Automating this task could give them back more than a day every week to concentrate on higher-value jobs.

“Automated interview scheduling software offers numerous features and benefits that can significantly improve the recruitment process for both recruiters and candidates,” says Jack Whatley, an AI recruitment strategist and Forbes speaker. “By leveraging advanced technology and AI algorithms, these systems can streamline interview scheduling and overcome common challenges faced by recruiters, resulting in a more efficient and productive hiring process.”

Optimize your interview scheduling

A good interview schedule template helps you structure your interviews and ask the right questions to applicants, boosting your overall efficiency and improving the candidate experience/

You can further streamline interviews with AI-powered interview scheduling automation software. GoodTime, for example, lets you coordinate single-day, multi-day, and Superday interviews for different roles. Candidates can also schedule interviews at a time that suits them, reducing workloads for your team. Our tool sends applicants automated reminders and follow-up messages to keep the recruitment process moving.

We believe AI should support HR professionals, not replace them. Our human-centric AI software lets you maintain the human touch throughout the interview process, leading to better outcomes for both candidates and your colleagues. Get a demo of GoodTime now.