How to Reschedule or Cancel an Interview (As both an Interviewer and Interviewee)

When it comes to rescheduling an interview or possibly outright canceling an interview, there are plenty of legitimate reasons for doing so. As the job interviewer, sometimes your calendar gets cluttered, or something unexpected comes up. Working with the applicant to reschedule the interview, when possible, will help to preserve your company’s relationship with that candidate, who may apply for positions in the future.

If you’re applying for a job and need to reschedule or cancel your interview, letting the company know right away will go a long way to preserving your standing in the hiring process. Apologize for the situation and work with the recruiter to find a new time that works for both of you, or apologize for needing to cancel your interview altogether.

How to Reschedule an Interview as the Interviewer

As the job interviewer, sometimes things come up and you may need to reschedule an interview you have with a job applicant. The reason could be as simple as an unexpected event popping up, which doesn’t leave you enough time in the day to get to it all. Regardless of the reason, the first thing you should do is contact the job applicant as soon as possible to explain the situation. While you don’t necessarily have to disclose the specific reason you need to reschedule, let the interviewee know when you’re next available and work on setting a new time to meet.

Once you and the applicant agree on a new time to meet, confirm the details with them and share any other information that they may need for the interview (directions to the office, details on joining virtually, etc).

How to Cancel an Interview as the Interviewer

Sometimes you may need to cancel an interview with a candidate. This could be because your company decided to put the position on hold, hire internally, etc. Once you realize you have to cancel an interview with a candidate, let them know as soon as possible. Explain the reason behind the cancellation as well. If you know that the position is no longer available – because your company no longer wants to fill it or because there was an internal hire, for example – let the applicant know. They’ll appreciate the honesty and may be willing to interview at a later date for a new position that opens up.

If the position is on hold for the next three months, or until the next year, and you won’t be conducting interviews until that time, let the applicant know the timeframe and that you’ll be in touch when you’re interviewing for that position again.

No matter what the reason is behind having to cancel an interview, letting the applicant know as soon as possible and letting them know the reason behind the cancellation will go a long way to preserving the relationship. If the position is simply on hold for a certain amount of time, share that with the candidate and express your desire to reach back out when your company will be conducting interviews again.

How to Reschedule an Interview as the Interviewee

When applying for a position, sometimes you need to reschedule the interview. You could be sick that day, you might have car trouble, or there could be any other number of reasons. It’s not a bad thing to have to reschedule an interview, but be sure to handle it professionally if you want to land the job.

First, get in touch with the interviewer as soon as you can, both by phone and email. Try your best to reach them as quickly as possible. Once you connect with the interviewer, apologize for needing to reschedule and give them your availability for the next couple of days when you’re free to interview. Try to work with their schedule more so than your own schedule. They’re giving you a second chance, so try to make it as easy as possible for them to get a new interview scheduled.

How to Cancel an Interview as the Interviewee

When it comes to canceling your scheduled interview, it’s best practice and also polite to let the interviewer know as soon as you can.

There are plenty of reasons to outright cancel your interview. Perhaps your current employer gave you a raise or promotion, or you simply aren’t interested in the position you’re interviewing for any longer.

Again, try to be as professional as possible during this process. Depending on your industry and location, that hiring manager or recruiter may share your information with other companies in the area in the future. You’ll want to stay on good terms with the company you’re canceling the interview in case you decide to apply for another position down the road.

How To Manage Interviews Within CEIPAL

How do I schedule an interview for an applicant?

One of the major actions performed in recruitment is interviewing. With CEIPAL, you can easily schedule Interviews and do so much more. While scheduling an interview, you can also notify the candidate – either immediately or schedule the invitation for a later time.

To schedule an interview, the applicant profile should be submitted for the job.

Navigate to Jobs list page.
Search and find the applicant associated with the job for which you want to schedule an interview.
Click on + icon to expand the applicant list associated with the job.
Click on the applicant name.
You will see the applicant profile details.
Go to INTERVIEWS tab Click on ADD.
Fill the interview schedule form.
Click on Schedule

Note: the system will automatically send an email with an evaluation template and feedback form to interviewers after “schedule” is selected. This feedback will be displayed to the hiring manager.

Note: “Internal Interview” means you can add and select internal interviewers from the schedule interview page. “External Interview” means you can add multiple external interviewers by adding their email addresses.

How do I set up default reminder options for interviews?

To set default interview reminders:

Click on your profile icon > Admin Setup
Job Posting > General Settings
Specify default interview reminders
Click “Save”

How do I reschedule an interview in Talent Bench?

To reschedule an interview of a bench applicant:

Select “Talent Bench” from the top navigation menu
Search for and select the relevant bench applicant
Click the “+” icon to expand the list of associated submissions
Click on the “interview tab”
Click the “Reschedule Interview” icon
Fill in the interview reschedule form
Click “Reschedule”

Note: To cancel the interview click on the “cancel interview” tab. To edit feedback, click on the “edit feedback” tab. Users must have permission to schedule interviews. Privileges can be configured from Admin Setup > Access Control > Applicants > Action Permission > Schedule Interview.