Outlook Interview Scheduler overview

Understand more about the Interview Scheduler in Sage.

• You can use Outlook Interview Scheduler if your organization uses Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook. The feature integrates with Teams and Outlook using APIs to book appointments in your Microsoft calendar

• If you create an interview using the legacy interview feature but without interviewers, edit the interview. Doing this in Outlook Interview Scheduler creates a new interview

• We haven't created any objects to support Outlook Interview Scheduler. Continue to record interview details on the Application, with one interview per application active at one time

• We added a new Scheduled Event panel to the Application page for the existing interview scheduler and the Outlook Interview Scheduler. This replaces the existing New Interview and Assign Interviewers buttons. If the panel doesn't display, you can add it. Follow the steps in Configure Outlook Interview Scheduler

• We made profile changes to grant access to the new feature automatically as part of the package upgrade. Check you've correctly applied the configuration changes to your org

• Recruiters must manually maintain interview status in Recruit

Feature Comparison

Outlook Interview Scheduler provides a more integrated solution for recruiters than legacy Recruit functionality.

Feature	Legacy Recruit	Outlook Interview Scheduler
Outlook integration	Not available	Yes
Salesforce Calendar	Yes	Yes
Cancel	Not available	Yes
Create	Yes. You need to request interviewer assessments separately	Yes, with integrated interviewer assessments
Edit	Yes	Yes
Template based emails	Yes, predefined	Yes, chosen by the recruiter
Recruiter controlled	Yes, but fragmented	Yes, with clear process flows
Assessment events	Yes	Not yet available
Interviewer assignment	Yes, but requires separate actions	Yes, integrated in the creation process
External interviewers	Yes	Not yet available
Interviewer/candidate journey	Fragmented	Fully aligned

Feature summary

Framework

• Feature toggle

  Displays as a checkbox on the Sage People Recruit Configure page, Overall tab. Select to enable or disable the feature. Unchecked by default.

  Enabling Outlook Interview Scheduler replaces and disables the existing internal interview scheduling. You can continue to use the existing functionality for external interviews and assessment event scheduling. Actions related to an internal interview use Outlook Interview Scheduler when the feature toggle is on. They revert to the existing functionality when the feature toggle is off

• Scheduled Events displayed on the Application page

  Displays as a dedicated panel showing scheduled event details. Lets you create, edit, and cancel interviews

• Delegated access to Microsoft Calendar controlled by administrator

  Enables recruiters to create interviews with Microsoft Calendar by confirming their password. Administrators setup users who need access. Users only need password confirmation once per session. As long as the user stays logged in to Sage People, access tokens refresh automatically

Interview creation

• Recruiter controlled interview scheduling

  The system sends responses to interview invitations to the recruiter. This lets them update the status and reschedule if necessary

• Book interviews for current and future dates

• New interview selectable option

  Visible on the Vacancy page, Active Applications, and on the Application page, Scheduled Event panel. Available if you haven't configured any assessment events for the current recruitment stage. And you haven't scheduled an interview with a date in the past. Select the option to create a new interview

• Create, edit, and cancel interview

  Creating a new interview adds a record to the Interview Assessment object. The system modifies the record if you edit the interview details. This is unless you change the interviewer, in which case the system deletes the original record and creates a new one. The system retains the record if you cancel the interview

• Integration with Microsoft Outlook

  The system sends Outlook invitations direct to the interviewer and the candidate. It sends supporting information about the interview by Salesforce email. We didn't design the Interview scheduler to respect the Contact via Agency flag. So it won't send invitations via the agency, even if you select this option

• Automatic links to candidate resumes

  Emails to interviewers contain links to the candidate's resume/CV

• Add a single attachment for candidate emails

  Include an attachment of up to 2MB with the candidate email. You can zip the file to compress larger files. Recruiters can remove and replace an attachment before the email sends. Later attachments automatically replace the earlier one

Date and time selection

• Integration with Microsoft Calendar

  The system identifies available interview slots automatically. When a user selects it, the system books it directly in participants calendars

• Manual calendar entry

  An option to allow the recruiter to override Calendar API suggestions and book interview dates and times manually

Interviewer support

• Support for internal interviewers

  An interview by an interviewer who's a member of your organization with a valid federation ID. This enables full calendar integration

• Select interviewers from all active Team Members

  Expands access to enable interviewer selection from across your organization. The system adds chosen interviewers automatically to the Hiring Team for the vacancy

• Support for multiple interviewers

  Create events with a single interviewer or when interviewers share responsibility, such as panel interviews

• Interviewer assessment record support

  The system creates, edits, and deletes interviewer assessment records automatically depending on the outcome of the interview

Email support

• Interviewer email template selection

  An option on the Create Interview dialog enabling you to select a pre-defined template for the email you want to send. This goes to interviewers with the details of the interview to support the Outlook invitation. You can edit the email content. You can select an alternative template as part of the edit interview dialog

• Candidate email template selection

  An option on the Create Interview dialog enabling you to select a pre-defined template for the email you want to send. This goes to candidates with the details of the interview to support the Outlook invitation. You can edit the email content. You can select an alternative template as part of the edit interview dialog

• Use merge fields to include vacancy information

  Emails to interviewers use merge fields to include key responsibilities and description fields from the vacancy record

Timezone support

• Interviewer timezone display

  When creating an interview, the screen displays timezones for all interviewers. This lets the recruiter select a realistic time for all

• Local timezones respected

  The system sends Outlook invitations in the local timezone for interviewers and candidates