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Getting an interview scheduled is more than just making sure the candidate and interviewer’s schedules line up. It also involves the candidate taking a day off from their busy work schedule to speak with your team.
While recruiters certainly shouldn’t be expected to work outside of their normal hours (though many of them do), conducting interviews between candidate outreach and regular meetings can create a lot of context switching. This makes it difficult to properly focus on one task.
The Case for Weekend Interviews
Candidates are encouraged not to prioritize their current job in favor of their potential new one. However, this can put candidates in the awkward position of taking multiple days off.
With some interviews taking an entire day, the company with the pain-free interview process is the one that nabs candidates.
Opening up free time for candidates to interview on the weekends is a way for them to have a candidate-driven experience.
However, it shouldn’t come at the expense of a recruiter’s time.
Are Weekend Interviews Worth It?
There are more jobs in the US than workers. Because of this, candidate experience is a key differentiator. There are many ways to give candidates a great hiring experience, from conveying company mission and values in the interview process, to replying to candidates in a timely manner.
Are weekend interviews part of that equation?
Candidates (and some interviewers) with busy schedules will welcome the opportunity to have an additional interview slot that fits into their calendar, but it’s important to remember that the interview is a reflection of your company and your company’s culture. For many candidates, working weekends isn’t exactly what they’d like to picture.
How Can You Prioritize Busy Candidates?
If hosting weekend interviews isn’t something you see in your future, the initial question still remains: how can you interview busy candidates without disrupting their schedule?
A lot in the interview process has stayed the same since its inception, including the prioritization and scheduling of interviews. This is where technology and tools come in. With something as fast-paced as recruiting, introducing automation is one of the few ways that you can not only see every candidate, but also genuinely connect with each of them.
Some teams (like Box) utilize a Meeting Optimization Engine to assist with hiring. This makes scheduling not only easier, but, most importantly, candidate-driven.
On the most basic level, candidate-driven scheduling is putting the candidate in the driver’s seat to choose their interview. Candidates are busy. By enabling them to choose their interview slot based on their interviewer’s calendar, companies equally prioritize their candidates and interviewers.
At the end of the day, it’s the company with the shortest time-to-hire that succeeds, and you don’t need to open up additional interviewing days to do that.
Ready to Level up Your Candidate Experience?
Time’s up for interviews full of scheduling headaches. It’s time for candidate-centered, connection-driven interviews instead.
To read more about how to make that happen for your team, download 5 Steps to Hiring Top Talent at Scale.
