Candidate self-scheduling links
What a candidate sees when they open their scheduling link, every message they can hit, and how you send, cancel and replace links.
What a candidate sees when they open their scheduling link, every message they can hit, and how you send, cancel and replace links.
Candidates do not log in to book an interview. They open a personal link from an email (or a text message, with the SMS add-on), pick a time and get a confirmation. This article follows that page from start to finish and then covers what you do on your side. Building the events themselves, including invitations, bookings and cancellations, is covered in Creating and managing interview events, and the overview is in How interview scheduling works.
Which events send a link
Every invitation to an interview event carries a personal link, but the page behind it depends on the event type.
- Calendar availability and slot-based events open a booking page where the candidate chooses a time.
- Static events have one fixed date and time, so the candidate cannot choose. The page asks them to confirm or decline attendance instead.
Each link belongs to one candidate. A booking link is tied to one interview stage, and a static event link is tied to that one event, so a candidate invited to two static events holds two separate links. It cannot be used to book for someone else, and once it has been used to book, it cannot be used again.
How you send the link
Only System Admin and HR users can invite candidates. Open the job, go to the Events tab, open an event that is Open and use Invite candidates on its Invite Candidates tab. The candidate receives your event email with their link in it. Slot-based event emails must contain the Scheduling Link merge field, and a static event email has the confirm or decline link added even if the field is missing. Links to book (calendar availability and slot-based) work for seven days from sending. A static link works until the date and time of the event itself.
Candidates can also receive a link from a scheduled email or a stage automation that uses the scheduling link merge field. The steps for inviting, resending and the Already invited prompt are in Creating and managing interview events.
Booking an interview (calendar availability and slot-based events)
The page is headed Schedule Your Interview. Under it, a summary shows the Position, Interviewer, Duration and, if the event has one, the Location.
- Under Select a Date the candidate sees up to five days at a time, each showing the weekday, date, month and a count such as "6 slots". Only days that still have at least one bookable time appear. When there are more than five, arrows and a label such as Week 1 of 3 let them page forwards and back. The label counts pages of five bookable days, not calendar weeks.
- Selecting a day lists the Available times for it. Selecting a time shows it, with the duration, under Your Selection.
- They can enter a Mobile number (optional) to get a text reminder. It must start with the country code, for example +447700900000, otherwise they see "Please enter a number in international format". The number is saved on their candidate record.
- They select Confirm Booking. The button stays greyed out until a time is chosen.
Which times are offered
Times that have already passed are never shown, even if the candidate left the page open for hours. On a slot-based event the candidate sees the slots you added, minus any already booked, any that clash with another booking at the same stage and any where the interviewer's connected calendar shows them busy. On a calendar availability event there is no list of slots. Recruit builds back-to-back times of the event's duration inside each enabled day of your weekly schedule, for the next seven days only. It removes blocked periods, anything inside the minimum advance notice and any time when one of the hosts is busy in their connected calendar. Every host must be free. A host with no connected calendar is treated as free.
Timezones
Times are shown in the timezone of the candidate's browser. A panel below the booking area reads Showing times in followed by their timezone and, if it differs from the event's, "Converted from" the event timezone. Change opens a list of timezones. Picking one converts every time and returns the candidate to the first page with nothing selected.
After booking
The candidate sees Interview Confirmed! with the position, interviewer, location, date, time, duration and timezone. For an online interview the page shows Join the interview. If Recruit could not create a meeting link, it says "The meeting link will be emailed to you shortly." They also receive a confirmation email with a calendar invite attached, and a text confirmation if they gave a mobile number and your organisation has the SMS add-on. The interviewer gets an email as well, unless they have turned off interview scheduled notifications.
The booking appears on the event's Invite Candidates tab under Booked.
Messages a candidate can see instead of the calendar
| Heading | When it appears | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Link Expired | The link is past its expiry date. The message tells the candidate to contact the recruiter. | Send a new invitation with Resend invite. |
| Invalid Link | The link is mistyped, incomplete or does not exist. | Ask them to use the link from the original email. |
| Request Cancelled | You cancelled their booking or invitation, or the event was closed or cancelled. | Invite them again if they should still interview. |
| Already Scheduled | They have already booked. The message says to check their email for details. | Nothing, unless they need a different time: use Reschedule Interview. |
| No Interview Event | No event is attached to the invitation, or it was deleted. The candidate is told to check back later. | Check the event still exists and invite the candidate again. |
| No Time Slots Available | The event has no times to offer yet, for example no slots have been added or the weekly schedule has no enabled days. The candidate is told to check back later. | Add slots or fix the schedule. |
| Fully Booked | Times exist but every one is taken or unavailable. The candidate is asked to contact you. | Add more slots or free up diary time. |
| Scheduling Unavailable | Recruit could not read a connected calendar at that moment. The candidate is told to try again later or contact you. | If it keeps happening, ask the host to reconnect their calendar (see Connecting your calendar). |
| No Availability | A catch-all shown when there are no times and no more specific reason. | The candidate is asked to contact the recruiter. |
The messages for No Time Slots Available, Fully Booked, Scheduling Unavailable and No Availability include a Need help? box with the interviewer's email address, or the job's hiring lead if the interviewer has none. Candidates use it to contact you, so make sure that inbox is watched.
Errors while booking
- "This time slot was just taken by someone else. Please select a different time." Another candidate booked it first. The list refreshes without that time.
- "This time slot has already passed. Please select a different time."
- "Something went wrong. Please try again." A general failure. It also appears when a time has changed since the page loaded or the event's duration was edited. Reloading the page shows the current times.
If the link is cancelled or expires while the page is open, the candidate is taken to the Request Cancelled or Link Expired message when they try to book.
Static events: confirming attendance
The page is titled with the event title (or Interview invitation) and asks "Please confirm whether you can attend". It shows the position, the interviewer, the date and time, the duration and the location. For an online event there is a Join online meeting link, or "Join link will be sent before the interview" if none exists yet. If the meeting details changed after the invitation went out, a warning says the link may be out of date and to check the latest email. The same timezone panel as above converts the time.
The candidate selects Confirm attendance or Decline. They then see Attendance confirmed or Response recorded. The answer is final. Reopening the link shows the recorded response, and there is no button to change it, so a candidate who needs to change their answer has to tell you. If recording fails they see "Something went wrong recording your response, please try again." If the event has been cancelled or the link has expired, they see Request Cancelled or Link Expired.
The response shows as Confirmed, Declined or No response against the candidate on the event's Invite Candidates tab.
Cancelling and rebooking
Candidates cannot cancel or move a booking themselves. All changes go through System Admin and HR users on the event's Invite Candidates tab.
- Cancel Interview cancels the booking and frees the time. The candidate's old link then shows Request Cancelled, and they are emailed your Interview Cancellation template.
- Reschedule Interview cancels the booking, sends the cancellation email and issues a new seven-day link so the candidate can choose again. Their old link shows Request Cancelled.
- Resend invite replaces an unused link with a fresh one. Use it for Link Expired, and when a candidate says the email never arrived (the Communications tab on their profile shows a failed delivery).
If a candidate reports a page you do not recognise, ask for the heading they saw. It matches a row in the table above and tells you what to fix.