Introducing the Accept/Decline Interview feature!

With links in emails to candidates, they can easily accept or decline interview invitations, enhancing their experience and improving visibility for recruiters and interviewers. It also results in a reduction in manual follow-up and allows for better tracking of candidates’ responses, ultimately decreasing interview no-shows and improving the recruitment process.

This feature is enabled for all manual interview bookings, excluding those using the MS Teams feature as acceptance/declining would be handled by your email browser / MS Teams invite process.

What's included in this guide

• Inviting a candidate to interview
  • Editing emails
• The candidate experience
  • Accepting an interview invite
  • Declining an interview invite
• Visibility of accepted and declined interviews
  • Accepted interviews
  • Declined interviews
• Amending and rescheduling interviews 
  • Rescheduling or updating interviews
  • Cancelling interviews
  • Homepage: interview calendar
• Email Templates
  • Candidate – Invite to interview email
  • Candidate – Candidate Cancellation email
  • Interviewer - Confirmation email
  • Interviewer - Cancellation email
• FAQs

Inviting a candidate to interview

On the candidate listing page, either:

• Tick the box against the candidate and select Book an Interview from the left-hand menu, or
• Click on the Interview icon against the candidate’s record.

You’ll then see the page below to add the details of the interview:

• Interview Date: Add the interview date, in the format shown (DD/MM/YYYY)
• Interview Time: Select from the dropdown options the start time of the interview 
• Interview Duration: Select the duration of the interview e.g., 1 hour 30 mins 
• Interviewer(s): Choose the interviewer(s) that you would like to receive an email advising of the interview slot from your list of users 
• Email to Candidate: Turn this on to automatically send the selected invitation email and attachments when you select 'Send Invite'.
  • Once an email template has been selected a Preview Template button will appear allowing you to preview the email selected.
• Add document from Library: Attach documents from the document library to the email invite.
• Add Calendar Meeting File (VCS):  If enabled this will add a calendar attachment to the candidate’s invitation email.
• Email to Interviewers:Turn this on to send the selected interviewer(s) an email notification of the interview booking.
  • Once an email template has been selected a Preview Template button will appear allowing you to preview the email selected.
  • Choose if you would like the interviewer to receive the CV, Pre-Assessment Form or Application Form as an attachment to their interview notification email by toggling the relevant item on.
• Add Calendar Meeting File (VCS):  If enabled this will add a calendar attachment to the notification email selected.
  
  

Press Send Invite.

Editing emails

If you are a superuser, the platform will allow you to edit the email sent on a status change - after clicking Send invite on the previous step you will see the edit box as below and can update the wording as required prior to sending.

Please note: The merge field below must be included in the invite email to the candidate to allow them to accept or decline the interview.

Merge field: {AcceptDecline}

After clicking Send Invite, this sends an email to the candidate and/or the selected interviewers.

These emails are logged in the candidate’s sent emails and the content can be viewed from there.

The candidate’s application status will also automatically update to Invited to Interview.

Exit to return to the candidate’s record/candidates listing page. The date and time of the interview will now be displayed in the Interview column.

The calendar icon in the candidate listing page/candidate profile page will be amber. This indicates the interview is unconfirmed as the candidate hasn’t yet accepted or declined the interview. 

The candidate experience

The candidate will receive the interview email invitation and they can click the accept or decline link in the email. This will open a browser window with the interview details with two buttons to accept or decline the interview. Candidates aren’t required to log in to accept or decline the interview, helping to ensure a seamless candidate experience. 

Accepting an interview invite

If the candidate accepts the interview invitation, they will see a confirmation message on screen reconfirming the interview date and time.  

Declining an interview invite

If the candidate declines the interview, they will see the page below where they can provide a reason for their decision. Please note that stating a reason for declining is optional.

The candidate will only be seen as having declined the interview once they click Decline Interview on the page above. They’ll then see a final confirmation page that the interview has been cancelled.

Visibility of accepted and declined interviews

Once a candidate has accepted or declined the interview, this will be updated in real time in the candidate listing page/candidate’s record.

Accepted interviews

When a candidate has accepted the interview, the calendar icon in the candidate listing page/candidate’s profile page will change to green with a check mark, to indicate they have accepted. 

The candidate’s status will automatically update to Interview Accepted as set in System Customisation. The candidate’s history will also be updated to indicate that they’ve accepted the interview.

Declined interviews

If an interview is declined, the calendar icon in the candidate listing page / candidate’s profile page will change to red with a cross. The interview date/time is also removed.

The candidate’s status will automatically update to the Interview Declined status as set in System Customisation.

If you opted to send the interview confirmation to an interviewer, the default Interview cancellation email will also be sent to the interviewer at this stage.

If a .VCS file was sent on the interview confirmation, the cancellation email will include a further .VCS to remove the interview from their calendar.

Any comments added by the candidate when declining the interview will be included in the cancellation email (for more information on email templates, click here).

The candidate’s history will also be updated, including the status change and reason why they declined - clicking on the declined interview history entry allows you to see the candidate’s reason for declining. 

Link expiry

The accept and decline links in the email will expire once the interview time has passed.

After the interview date and time has passed, if the candidate hasn't responded, the icon and candidate’s status will remain unchanged until manually updated by a system user or until the candidate withdraws or deletes their application.

Amending and rescheduling interviews 

Rescheduling or updating interviews

To reschedule or amend an interview, click on the interview icon displayed (regardless of which icon it is) to update the date, time or other information. 

Changing the date and/or time and selecting Send Invite will effectively reset the process and the following will happen:

• The interview invite emails will be sent
• The candidate’s application status will automatically update to the Invite Sent status configured in System Customisation
• The calendar icon will revert to the orange unconfirmed interview icon

This is useful in circumstances where a candidate has declined because they are unable to attend an interview and a new date has been agreed. The candidate is then required to confirm the new interview date.

If a new interview is sent, the accept and decline links in the previous invite email will be invalidated.

Cancelling interviews

To cancel a candidate’s interview, follow these steps:

• From the candidate’s record/candidate listing page, click on the interview date and time
• Select Cancel Interview and then press Yes 

Once the interview is cancelled:

• A standard cancellation email is sent to both the candidate and interviewer, including any VCS cancellation files if previously selected when inviting the candidate
• The accept and decline links in the candidate’s email become invalid
• The date and time are removed from the candidate list/candidate’s record and the calendar icon reverts to the default colour
• An entry is added to the candidate’s history confirming the interview deletion, along with the name of the user who cancelled it
• The interview will be removed from the interview calendar on the homepage

Homepage: interview calendar

The interview calendar on the homepage will reflect the booking status of interviews, allowing users to easily review any upcoming interviews that are confirmed/unconfirmed.

The colour of the interview slot will be displayed as follows:  

• Green = accepted interviews
• Yellow = unconfirmed interviews (where the candidate has not accepted or declined)

Declined interviews will not appear here because the interview is cancelled when the candidate declined the invite. 

Email Templates

The platform includes all the templates required to ensure this functionality works as expected – the content of each is outlined below.

To amend the content of any of these, go to Settings > Communications > Email Templates and update as required.

Some of these emails have specific merge fields included to allow the functionality to work properly. These are highlighted with guidance on what they are used for against each template.

Candidate – Invite to interview email

To allow candidates to Accept/Decline the interview, the hyperlink merge field must be included in any invite to interview email templates in your platform.

Merge field - {AcceptDecline}

Candidate – Candidate Cancellation email

This template works well with the addition below so candidates can get in contact with you directly. You might want to include a phone number.

If you would like to rebook this appointment, please contact the recruitment team on Insert email here

Interviewer - Confirmation email

Interviewer - Cancellation email

When a candidate declines an interview, a cancellation email is sent to interviewers and will also include the candidate's reason (if given).

The reason for declining merge field below should always be included in any interview cancellation email templates in your platform.

{InterviewDeclineReason}

FAQs

Is it possible to reschedule interviews once an invite has been sent?
 

Yes, you can reschedule and amend the interview details and resend the invite. Please click here for more information. This process is useful for candidates who declined due to scheduling conflicts and need a new interview date and/or time. 

This will restart the process and the candidate can confirm the updated interview by clicking the email links.

Can I still use standard merge fields to pull in Interview details captured on job access? 

Yes, candidate and job-related merge fields will work in these emails so information such as Interview Details captured on the Job Access page of the job. 

Once a candidate accepts or declines an email, is a further confirmation email sent advising of their acceptance or declination? 

No, additional confirmation emails for candidates aren't required since the original invite email can include a .VCS file and interview details.  

If you want candidates to receive an email after declining, we recommend attaching an email to the candidate decline status, as specified in System Customisation.

How can I track/report on declined interviews?  

When a candidate declines the interview, the following actions occur:

• The interview is cancelled and interview cancellation emails to interviewers are triggered 
• The calendar icon changes to a red icon and the date and time are removed 
• The candidate’s status updates to the ‘Interview Declined’ status configured in System Customisation 
• An entry is added in the candidate’s history detailing that the interview date/time was declined. 

Declined interviews typically occur when candidates withdraw, delete or need to reschedule, resulting in an immediate new booking. Therefore, no additional declined date/time details are kept and declined interviews won't be shown on the homepage calendar or interview details report.

Instead, you can manage reporting, searching and filtering on candidates who declined interviews using the status change or candidate status history record.

What happens if a candidate clicks the button after already accepting or declining?

If a new interview is sent, the old link is invalidated. Once a candidate has agreed or declined, the link in the email is then invalidated, preventing the candidate from changing their selected choice. 

Instead, they will be presented with an onscreen message advising the invite is no longer valid, requesting they get in contact with the user who sent the invite directly.
 

How long are the accept and decline links valid for? 

The accept and decline links in the email will expire once the interview time has passed. The candidate will see a ‘Invite no longer valid’ message onscreen prompting them to get in touch.
  

What happens if the candidate doesn’t accept or decline their interview using the links in the email? 

After the interview date and time has passed, if the candidate hasn't responded, the calendar icon and candidate status will remain unchanged until manually updated by a system user or until the candidate withdraws or deletes their application.

Can candidates accept or decline interviews from their candidate homepage?

No, the candidate must follow the link in the Invite to Interview email to accept or decline the interview.

Can system users accept or decline interviews on behalf of a candidate? 

Yes, simply go to the candidate’s sent emails, click on the invite to interview email and click the accept or decline link.

Does this work with MS Teams?
No, this feature is not compatible with the MS Teams integration, as acceptance / declination is handled by the client’s email browser.