Interview Scheduling

• Do I have to use the Extern Match Portal to schedule interviews?

  Yes. Prior to the release of the matching process resulrs, sites should schedule all their interviews using the Extern Match Portal.

• Can we practice creating interview events within the system before sending any invitations? Is there a learning environment we can play with?

  Yes. While there is no separate testing or learning environment available to sites, you can practice setting up your interview schedule and adding candidates in the system, without sending invitations to any candidates. You can even Preview the Booking Page that is made available to applicants.

  If you then decide you want to start over, you can delete all your interview data from the Interview Settings page. This will allow you to start fresh with an empty schedule and candidate list.

• Can we see what candidates see on their end?

  Yes. A sample of the invitation email sent to candidates is available here. You can also Preview the Booking Page that is made available to applicants. You can watch the video below and consult the Applicant User Guide to see what it is like to book and manage interviews from the candidate's perspective.

Scheduling Setup - Interview Types

• Should I create and schedule interview days or individual meetings?

  The system is designed to allow candidates to book themselves into events. The events set up by the site may be individual meetings or a full interview day. The only difference in the system between setting up an individual meeting event and an interview day event is the name, likely the duration, and how many candidates can book themselves into the event. Each site must decide for themselves whether they want candidates to book individual meetings or an interview day.

  Interview day:

  If your interviews involve multiple events on the same day where candidates are occupied for most of the day, or if there is a specific sequence or rotational set of interviews that must take place on the same day, booking an interview day is an easy way to block the necessary time with the candidate that is needed to complete the different meetings. Creating an interview day may be simpler for the site to setup and for the candidates to schedule.

  However, your site would still need to put in the effort to manually assign the candidates booked on each day to their individual meetings, and send an itinerary to each candidate. Furthermore, this approach may reduce the flexibility for candidates to exercise control over their schedules.

  Individual meetings:

  If your interviews are structured around a discrete set of individual events that can be booked independently, either on the same day or potentially on different days (e.g., interview and virtual open house), then creating different interview types and a set of individual events for each type may be more efficient for both the site and the candidate. Using this approach, candidates would schedule themselves into specific meeting times, and the interview schedule would be finalized within the system.

  This approach may be somewhat more complex to set up. However, it can significantly reduce the effort required by the site to schedule individual meetings and communicate itineraries to candidates. It also provides the most flexibility for candidates to control their own schedules.

• We prefer to do 3 individual interviews simultaneously (in different virtual spaces). Is there a way to set that up?

  Yes. You can create multiple events of the same type, at the same time, each with a link to a different virtual space. When applicants receive the invitation to book their interview, they will see three events available at each time. You might also consider adding the interviewer name the title of each event to make it easier to manage and filter your itinerary.

  Related Links:

  • NMS Interview User Guide - Add Interview Events

Managing Events

• Can I book candidates into interviews directly, without giving them a choice of dates?

  Yes. Use the following procedures:

  1. Create an interview type (e.g., Interview). If your site has multiple tracks, you might create a separate type for each track.
  2. Create your interview events.
  3. Add your candidates.
  4. On your Calendar or Event List, select View for an event.
  5. Use the Force Schedule feature to assign a candidate to the interview.
  6. Repeat for all events in your schedule.

  
  

  When a candidate logs in to the Extern Match Portal, they will see the scheduled interview on their calendar.

  Related Links:

  • NMS Interview User Guide - Manually Schedule a Candidate

• Can I add a different PDF for each interviewee or is it only the same PDF for everyone interviewing in that slot?

  You can create and upload a PDF of instructions that you would like to provide to candidates for each event. The PDFs are attached to individual events and are available to all candidates scheduled for that event. If only one applicant is scheduled for the event, the PDF is available only to that applicant. If 5 applicants are scheduled for the event, the PDF is available to all 5 applicants.

  If you have an event with multiple scheduled candidates and you want to provide each candidate with their own unique information for the event, you should email the information to each candidate directly.

  Related Links:

  • Edit or Change an Interview Event

• What should I do if a candidate is not available for any of the available slots?

  Sites should try to accommodate the needs of candidates when possible. If a candidate notifies you that they cannot attend any of the available spots, you have a few options:

  1. Create a new event and use the Force Schedule option to assign the candidate to the event. If the candidate is currently scheduled into an event that they cannot attend, you must cancel their scheduled interview before you can Force Schedule them into a different event.
  2. If you can make an additional slot available at an existing event, Force Schedule the candidate into the event. If you Force Schedule a candidate into a timeslot that is currently full, the system will automatically increase the number of slots to make room for the force-scheduled candidate.
  3. Contact one or more of your scheduled candidates and ask if they would be willing to change their interview to another available time. The candidate(s) can either reschedule themselves, which will free up a spot for the candidate that needs to be accommodated, or you can cancel the interview with a scheduled candidate and Force Schedule both candidates into their new interview times.

  
  

  Related Links:

  • Manually Schedule a Candidate
  • Edit or Change an Interview Event
  • Cancel an Interview

Sending Invitations

• Can we customize the invitation or rejection emails?

  No, you cannot customize the invitation or rejection emails in the Extern Match Portal. Those emails are transactional notification messages. Samples of those emails are available in the Interview Scheduling User Guide.

  If you'd like to send your applicants more detailed or personal communications, you can use the Email function on your Candidate List to select and populate candidates' email addresses directly into your email client, then send the communications using your email client.

  Sites must send interview invitations from the system to enable applicants to schedule their interviews. Rejection emails do not need to be sent through the system. Some sites use the rejection email to notify applicants they are no longer under consideration after the interview, but that is not required.

  Related Links:

  • Invite a Candidate
  • Reject a Candidate

• Is the Invite linked to Teams/Outlook calendar for any changes?

  All candidates and sites have real-time access to the most current information on their interview schedule in the Extern Match Portal.

  When candidates receive an interview invitation, the invitation includes a calendar file that can be used to add the event to a personal calendar (e.g., Outlook, Google Calendar), but the candidate must explicitly add (i.e., accept) the event file to add it to their calendar.

  Similarly, a site's interview schedule is not directly synced with Teams, Outlook, or Google Calendar. Sites can download a CSV file of their scheduled events from the Interview Itinerary, which can then be imported into their personal calendar. Any updates to events must be manually edited in their personal calendar.

• Are we able to set a specific time to send out the invites to the candidates and the invitations will be sent automatically at that time?

  No. Scheduled sending of interview invitations is a feature on our product roadmap, but it is not available at this time. Invitation emails are sent as soon as you press the Invite button.

Managing Candidates

• Is there a way for an applicant to request 'waitlist' for a specific interview date, so if that slot becomes open the applicant is notified and can book that event?

  The Extern Match Portal does not have a waitlist feature at this time. However, candidates can sign in to the Extern Match Portal to get a real-time view of interview availability. If a candidate sees an available timeslot that they prefer, they can reschedule themselves into that time.

How To Videos

NMS Interview is a module of the Extern Match Portal that allows sites to streamline and automate interview scheduling. The following videos provide an overview of how NMS Interview works: