In order to schedule candidates in Gem Scheduling, you must first configure the job that they've applied to. In this article, we'll walk through how to do this.
1. Enable a stage for scheduling.
Many stages, such as Application Review or Take Home Test, might not need scheduling. So we let you decide which ones you want to use Gem Scheduling for! If you use Greenhouse, we automatically enable any stages with interviews that need scheduling.
First, navigate to the job you want to configure. Then, click on a stage that you want to schedule candidates for. Click on the Edit button in the Scheduling section.
Check the "Enable scheduling for this stage" box and select the Default Workflow for this stage.
- The Schedule Now workflow means that the coordinator will book the interviews and availability is collected outside Gem Scheduling, like in an email. In this workflow, Gem Scheduling will generate and rank schedule options and the coordinator can choose the best one. This is recommended for any stage that has multiple back-to-back interviews, multiple interviewers, or any stage where you want the coordinator to have full control over scheduling and re-scheduling.
- You can also use this workflow to place holds on interviewers' calendars before confirming the schedule with the candidate.
- RECOMMENDED: The Request Availability & Schedule workflow means that the coordinator will first request availability and then book the interviews. This is just like the Schedule Now workflow, but for stages where you want to collect candidate availability first.
- The Self-Schedule workflow is useful for one-on-one interviews, like recruiter phone screens or hiring manager chats. In this workflow, the coordinator will send the candidate a link where they can book their own interview.
This will unlock the settings to configure the stage for scheduling.
2. Configure default preferences.
Click the Edit button in the Preferences section.
2a. Scheduling windows
For virtual interviews, you typically don't need to fill these out. For onsite interviews, these should be the same as your office's business hours (e.g. M-F 10AM – 5PM).
There may be other reasons you set scheduling windows. For example, if there are certain stages you always schedule in the mornings, you can use the scheduling windows to reflect that. Click Save when you're finished.
By filling out the scheduling windows here, you save a step when scheduling a candidate, as we will pre-fill the scheduling windows with the defaults you provide here. However, you can modify the scheduling windows for any individual candidate if needed.
2b. Interview rooms
Here, you can select all the potential rooms that this interview can be held in. For example, you may have certain designated 'interview' rooms in your company. Or, if the stage is a Phone Screen, you may want to only select rooms that have phones in them. When we generate schedules, we will always find schedules in one of these rooms.
2c. Video conferencing
Check this box if this stage usually has video conferencing attached to it. When we schedule a candidate, we will automatically create a video conferencing link and attach it to both interviewer and candidate calendar invites.
Click Save when finished. At the time of scheduling, you can modify all of these settings for a specific candidate if needed.
3. Write your candidate calendar invite.
Click on the Edit button in the Candidate calendar event section. This is where you can edit the calendar event that will be sent to a candidate when you schedule them for this stage.
3a. Title
This is the title of the calendar invite that will be sent to the candidate. By default, we set the event title to the name of the stage. You may want to edit this to include your company name (e.g. "Onsite with Gem Scheduling").
3b. (Optional) Location
If this is a phone screen or a stage with video conferencing, you may just want to leave this blank. However, if this is an onsite where the candidate will be traveling to your office, we recommend setting this to your office's address.
3c. (Optional but recommended) Description
Here, you can put in all the information you want to send the candidate about preparing for their interview with your company! This will be the description of their calendar invite, which means it will be sent to them in the email that goes out when you create the event. This is a candidate-facing description, so make sure you don't include any information that you don't want your candidate to see!
If you plan to send your candidates a separate email with all of this information, you don't need to fill in a description for this step.
Click Save when finished. At the time of scheduling, you can modify all of these settings for a specific candidate if needed.
4. Attach a confirmation email template.
Click on the Edit button in the Confirmation email section. The email template that you set here will be sent to the candidate along with their calendar invite once you create their schedule. This is completely optional, but it can provide an extra candidate touchpoint to send them attachments, the agenda, or any other prep materials.
If this is your first time setting up a job and you haven't created any email templates yet, we recommend reading this article first to better understand email templates.
4a. Attach a reused email template.
If you haven't created any email templates yet, skip this step!
For most stages, you'll probably be able to reuse email templates. You can use tokens to mention the job, stage, and candidate names, so it should be fairly reusable. If there is an existing email template you want to use, select the email template you would like to attach from the dropdown. Click Save when you're done.
4b. Create a new email template.
You can also create a new email template right from this stage. The article mentioned above explains all of the different settings and how to configure them.
5. (only for Self-Schedule stages) Set up self-scheduling preferences.
Click on the Edit button in the Self-scheduling preferences section.
5a. Allow candidate to reschedule and cancel.
If these are enabled, the candidate will be able to reschedule and cancel their own interview as they wish. You can also set up buffer periods to prevent last-minute reschedules and cancellations.
5b. Configure automatic follow-up emails.
If these are enabled, the candidate will automatically receive an email if they do not book their interview within a desired number of weekdays. The email content looks like this, and it will be in the same thread as the first email that was sent:
5c. Set an advanced notice window.
This value determines how many hours (at a minimum) are required in between when the candidate books their interview and when the interview starts. Many interviewers appreciate this setting so that they don't have to worry about interviews appearing at the last minute for them.
The default is 24 hours, but you can change that to be whatever works best for you and your company.
5d. Attach an email template.
The email template that you set here will be sent to the candidate when you send them a self-scheduling link. It must include the SelfSchedulingRequest.Link token. This is optional; you may choose to send the candidate their self-scheduling link some other way, like through text message, WhatsApp, etc.
If this is your first time setting up a job and you haven't created any email templates yet, we recommend reading this article first to better understand email templates.
6. Attach interview templates to interviews.
Click on the Interviews tab.
Here, you can see all the interviews that are part of the stage. We sync these from your ATS. Click the Edit button to start attaching interview templates.
An interview template contains information about an interview's duration, interviewers, and position in the schedule. For the interviewers, we recommend using tags to create flexible interviewer pools. Alternatively, you can just select specific people to be the interviewers. For example, if it's always the same person who conducts the interview, like the VP of Sales, it may be easier to directly select them instead of creating a tag for them.
If this is your first time setting up a job and you haven't created any interview templates yet, we recommend reading these articles first to better understand interview templates and interviewer pools.
- What is an interview template?
- What are advanced settings?
- How do I create an interviewer pool?
- How do I manage my interviewer spreadsheet?
Now, let's get started attaching interview templates!
6a. Attach reused interview templates.
If you haven't created any interview templates yet, skip this step!
For most stages, there will likely be some interviews that can use interview templates you've already created. For example, for a Wrap Up interview or a Lunch interview, you likely have a reusable template that's already created.
For each of these interviews, select the interview template you would like to attach from the dropdown. Click Save when you're done.
6b. Create new interview templates.
Next, you'll need to create new interview templates.
If you're following our best practices of using interview eligibilities and tags to manage interviewer pools, this is a good time to switch over to the Interviewers page and add the interviewer eligibilities for your new interview templates. Here's the article on how to manage your interviewer spreadsheet again for reference.
Once you've done that and are back on the Interviews tab, click the Edit button. For each interview that requires a new template, select the New Interview Template option from the dropdown.
Fill in the details of the interview template. Click Save when you're done.
7. Repeat for any other stages.
If you have more stages that you need to set up for scheduling, repeat steps 1-7.
You're done! Now you can start scheduling candidates for this job. You can quickly see which candidates are in your scheduling pipeline by clicking on this link at the top of the page.