Switching interview scheduling tools? Here’s what you need to know

As your recruitment needs evolve, the tools that support your process must keep pace. One of your most critical platforms - your interview scheduling software - may no longer meet your requirements. This can impact your ability to attract and hire top talent. But how do you know when’s the right time to make a switch?

These are signs you might need a change:

• Increasing inefficiencies: Your team spends more time coordinating interviews than engaging with candidates.
• Negative Candidate Experience: Feedback indicates that candidates are frustrated with the scheduling process.
• Unhappy recruiters and hiring managers: Your team expresses dissatisfaction with the current tool’s functionality and its impact on their productivity
• Inadequate tool support: Your current software doesn’t fully align with your workflows.
• Push for automation and scalability: There’s internal pressure to adopt more automated solutions to support future growth.

If you recognize any of these signs, consider a switch. I advise conducting this evaluation during a quieter hiring period, allowing your team to focus on implementation with the necessary time and resources.

Auditing Your Existing Scheduling Process

Once you’ve identified the need for change, it’s essential to audit your current scheduling process thoroughly. This will help you identify where the current system is failing and what your needs are moving forward. Start by mapping out the candidate journey and analyzing how your team handles scheduling.

Key areas to focus on:

• Track key metrics: Measure how long your team spends on different tasks. Monitor metrics such as time-to-schedule and time-to-hire. Delays here can indicate inefficiencies that may cost you top talent.
• Candidate Experience feedback: Collect feedback from candidates to understand their experience with your scheduling process. Cronofy’s Candidate Expectations Report provides extensive data on their experiences and opinions on interview scheduling, highlighting key areas where many organizations may fall short. Use this as a benchmark to assess your process.
• Satisfaction of recruiters and hiring managers: Gauge the satisfaction levels of your internal stakeholders to identify areas for streamlining.

Choosing the Right Vendor

Selecting the right tool is no easy feat. I’ve outlined some key factors to consider, questions to ask during your evaluation, and insights from one of our customers, Wise.

• Integration capabilities: Does the solution easily integrate with our existing tech stack, including conferencing, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), calendar provider, and reporting tools? What’s the potential impact on our current workflows?
• Vendor support: What kind of support does the vendor provide, both initially and ongoing? Can they share examples of how they’ve helped other companies navigate similar challenges?

Cronofy's dedicated support was a stand-out qualifier to Wise during their vendor selection process.

From day one, what stood out after we selected Cronofy was the strong support. It has been one of the best we've experienced in terms of understanding our complex scheduling needs. The support is exceptional.

Mark Harman, Global Head of Recruitment Operations and Transformation at Wise

• Scalability: How well can this technology scale as our organization grows? Is it flexible enough to meet future requirements?
• Feature Requirements: Does this platform offer all the essential features we need? Are there any key functionalities we would be compromising on?
• Implementation complexity: What is the expected timeline for full implementation, and what resources will be needed? How does the vendor support the implementation process? How much training will our team need to start using this system effectively?
• Testing and trial period: Does the vendor offer a trial period? How can we test the tool’s functionality and integration with our existing processes before fully committing?

Do not underestimate that deeper level of testing and planning on how it's going to integrate with your other tools.

Mark Harman, Global Head of Recruitment Operations and Transformation at Wise

• Reporting Capabilities: What reporting capabilities does the vendor offer? How can it help us gain new insights into our scheduling process?
• Privacy and security: Does the company meet our privacy and security requirements? How do they ensure compliance with relevant regulations?

Choosing the right vendor means looking beyond the bells and whistles. It’s about finding the partner that will support your team’s growth and success.

Future-Proofing your Scheduling Process with the Right Tool

Future-proofing your scheduling process means investing in solutions that are not only effective today but will continue to support your organization’s growth and changing needs. A crucial first step is ensuring strong calendar hygiene — disorganized calendars can lead to scheduling conflicts, missed opportunities, and delays. Addressing this issue upfront can significantly improve your overall process efficiency.

This is standard for any type of scheduling tool, but to set yourself up for success, it’s vital to consider the change management of diary cleanliness, and to dedicate enough time to really managing that process before going live.

Mark Harman, Global Head of Recruitment Operations and Transformation at Wise

From there, it’s about choosing systems that integrate seamlessly with your existing systems, provide robust support, and offer the flexibility to scale as your team expands. That's why Cronofy is built with this future in mind. Designed to help organizations empower recruiters to take full ownership of the interview scheduling process without negatively impacting the candidate experience, it also allows coordinators to focus on higher-value tasks like sourcing, recruiter enablement, and employer branding.

Ready to take your first step to better scheduling?