Schedule interviews on Microsoft calendars
Scout can book human interviews for you. You list who interviews for a job and connect their Microsoft calendars; an Interview Scheduling agent then calls the candidate, offers only times when every connected interviewer is free, and books the one they choose.
Before you start
- A published Interview Scheduling agent. See Create an agent.
- That agent picked for the job’s interview stage in an active workflow (admins). See Create and activate a workflow.
- Interviewers with Outlook or Microsoft 365 calendars.
Connect your own calendar#
If you interview candidates yourself, connect your calendar once. It is personal: nobody can connect it for you.
Open the account menu and choose Account settings, then Calendar.
Click Connect Microsoft calendar and sign in with your work Microsoft account.
ResultYou come back to Scout with Connected beside Microsoft calendar.
Scout reads only when you are busy, never what your meetings are about, and adds interviews to your calendar as Teams meetings. Use Disconnect to stop at any time.
Add the job’s interviewers#
Open the job in Jobs and go to Job details.
In the Interviewers card, enter an Email and, if you like, a Name (optional), then click Add interviewer.
ResultThe interviewer is listed with Connected or Not connected. Changes save straight away.
Choose the Interview length (30, 45, 60 or 90 minutes).
Choose Book within: how far ahead Scout may book, from By tomorrow to Within 2 weeks. Set it short for an urgent role.
Ask interviewers to connect#
Interviewers don’t need a Scout account. Beside anyone who isn’t connected, click Send request. Scout emails them a link to connect their Microsoft calendar in one sign-in. The link works for 3 days; use Send again if it expires. If the interviewer is you, the button is Connect my calendar instead.
An interviewer who never connects is still invited to every interview, but Scout can’t check when they’re free.
How the booking happens#
- A candidate reaches the job’s interview stage and the Interview Scheduling agent calls them.
- The agent offers times when every connected interviewer is free: on weekdays between 10:00 and 18:00 in the workspace time zone, at least three hours ahead, within the Book within window, and with a short gap around other meetings.
- When the candidate picks a time, Scout puts the interview on the first connected interviewer’s calendar and invites the other interviewers and the candidate. If Teams is available, the invite includes the Teams link.
- If Scout has no email for the candidate, the agent asks for one on the call so the invite has somewhere to go.
See or cancel a booking#
Open the candidate on the job. The Decision tab shows an Interview box once a time is booked: when it is, With whom, and who the invite went to.
Click Open Teams meeting to join, when the booking has a Teams link.
To cancel, click Cancel interview, then Cancel for everyone.
ResultThe meeting is removed from everyone’s calendar and the box shows Cancelled. Keep it backs out.
If Scout shows Calendar Unreachable (“Scout can’t reach the calendar this interview is on - cancel it in Outlook, or ask the organizer to reconnect their calendar”), the organizing interviewer’s calendar needs reconnecting. Cancel it in Outlook in the meantime.
If connecting fails#
| What Scout says | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Your company's Microsoft admin needs to approve Scout before you can connect.” | Forward the page to your IT team so they can approve Scout in Microsoft. |
| “The Microsoft sign-in was cancelled, so nothing was connected.” | Start again and finish the Microsoft sign-in. |
| “That Microsoft account is not the one this link was sent to…” | Sign in with the address the request was sent to. |
| “This link has expired” | Ask the recruiter to use Send again. |
| Reconnect needed or Reconnect | Scout can no longer read that calendar. Connect it again. |