A sequential interview is a complex interview type where you can manually send multiple interviews to the candidate to be scheduled at one time.

Configuration

Company/Account Admins with full access to Client Setup or your CS Representative can assist you with enabling Sequential Interviews for your account.

Only users with full access to Client Setup can complete this step. If needed, contact your Company/Account Admin or CS Representative for assistance.

1. Select the All Apps menu in the top left corner of the header and then Settings in its drop-down menu.
2. When the Settings page opens, select Client Setup under the Paradox Tools section.
3. Client Setup will then open. Scroll down to and open the Job Management section from the left panel.
4. Toggle on Job Posting Types. 
5. Select Save to apply changes. 

Add interviews

When a user adds additional interviews into the interview builder, all previously created interviews will automatically collapse to allow the user to focus on the interview that they are actively building. For better organization, the interviews can be named which helps make potential edits in the future easier.

When there is at least one sequential interview type enabled on your account, users will be able to see an option in all interviews to + Add Interview underneath the first interview listed in the scheduling drawer. Select this to add an additional interview and its details. 

Adding one or more interviews will automatically make this a sequential interview.

When two or more interviewers are added to an interview, then a Required pill will display next to their name. Select this pill to mark them as Optional, meaning that your AI Assistant will not check their OIT when scheduling the interview but will still send them the interview invitation. Click here to learn more about optional attendees.

At least one interviewer is required for each interview. The last required interviewer cannot be marked as Optional. It is not possible to have zero interviews for a sub-interview, aside from breaks.

Manage different sequential interview types

If there is more than one sequential interview configured on the account, you will be able to select the type of sequential interview that should be scheduled for the candidate. This selection will update the communication that is sent to the candidates/interviewers in place of the #interview-type token in the assistant's message.

• Note: When there are 4 or more sequential interview types enabled on the account, this option will become a dropdown.

View or collapse interview sessions

Interviews in a sequential interview will automatically collapse when a new interview session is added to the list of interviews. In order to view or edit the full interview details again, users will be able to expand the section by clicking the expand icon next to the interview's title to view details about the interview. In the open state, this same icon placement will allow users to collapse an interview’s information.

Breaks in interviews 

When scheduling sequential interviews, users can select an interview type called Break from the Type dropdown menu. This allows the interviewer to schedule a break between multiple interview sessions. The user can schedule the break for a specific duration of time. Scheduling the break blocks the interviewer’s calendar, preventing that duration of time from being booked by candidates.  

Interview debriefs

If Debriefs is enabled in the account, you can select + Add Debrief to add a debrief. This adds a debrief immediately after the last sequential interview.

You can select from the following debrief types using the Type dropdown menu:

• In-Person
• Phone
• Virtual
  • Note: To maintain internal privacy for virtual debriefs, Paradox generated a unique virtual meeting link for the debrief.

You can also select your desired duration or set your custom duration using the Duration dropdown menu. The default is 15 minutes. To make the debrief optional, select the Debrief is optional to attend checkbox.

Reorganize or remove interview sessions

Once there is more than one interview added to the builder, individual interviews will be able to be moved or deleted via the action menu, or three dot icon, within the interview builder.

• Move Interview – This will either move the interview up or down the list of interviews when the corresponding selection is made. The movement options available depend on the placement of the interview in the sequence. For example, interviews listed first in the sequential interview can only be moved down since they are the first in the sequence.
• Delete Interview – This will delete the interview from the interview session list.

All changes made via movement or deletion will be represented in the communication to the candidate, so only the final configuration of the interview sessions will be used to communicate with the candidate.

Sequential scheduling methods

When an interview is sequential, an additional advanced setting option will be shown in the settings section of the builder. This section will allow users to identify how the interview availability should be identified and presented to the candidate. These options include:

• Consecutive In-Order – This functionality will look for interview availability in a consecutive block in the exact order listed in the interview builder.
• Consecutive Any Order – This selection will have Olivia look for interview availability in a consecutive block in any order of the listed interviews. When this option is selected, times will be prioritized in order but additional times will be presented to the candidate that is in any order of the listed interviews.
• Schedule Over Multiple Days – This selection will utilize our Multiple Day scheduling functionality which will present the interviews individually to the candidate for selection of times individually.

There is a hover state to show the user a brief summary of each selection and the availability identification that will be used. Your AI Assistant does not automate that functionality for sequential interviews today. The candidate will be moved into No Availability if one of the interviewers doesn’t have availability and will require human interactions to update the interview.

Scheduling method logic

• If the scheduling method is selected as Consecutive In-Order, and there is something wrong with a second or third sub-interview, such as no OITs or the interviewer was removed, then this setting will be automatically updated to Consecutive Any Order. If we are not able to schedule sequential interviews for candidate with this new method, then it will be automatically updated to Schedule Over Multiple Days so that the interviews can be scheduled.
• If Consecutive Any Order is selected but the condition for Consecutive In-Order can be met, then the scheduling method will be automatically updated to Consecutive In-Order.
• Generally, Consecutive In-Order is the highest priority when selecting sequential interview, and it will be replaced only when we cannot meet all conditions to schedule the sequential interview.
• For Consecutive In Order or Consecutive Any Order sequential interviews, the minimum timeline is the interview type's greater minimum within the minimum timeline and the maximum timeline is the interview type’s smaller maximum with the maximum timeline.
  • For example:
    • Sub 1: virtual interview type: 0 hour (s) - 1 week s)
    • Sub 2: in-person interview type: 1 day (s) - 3 week (s)
    • Result: timeline for sequential interview in-a-row (in-order/any-order) will be 1 day - 1 week
• Scheduling via API. If a Sequential Interview is scheduled via API and interview_team is used, then only one of the interview segments can utilize it. If interview_team is added to multiple segments, it will always take the interview_team in the last segment and apply it to all segments. 
  • Note: This enhancement is being worked on in order to expand this logic.
• Schedule Over Multiple Days – Updated Candidate Journey Status Logic. A candidate’s Candidate Journey status will update to the following based on the below scenarios:
  • When a scheduled sub-interview is canceled (1 Pending & 1 Scheduled) → Candidate will move to an Interview Pending status.
  • When an in-progress sub-interview is canceled (1 Pending & 1 In-Progress) → Candidate will move to an Interview Pending status.
  • When an in-progress sub-interview is canceled (1 Scheduled & 1 In-Progress) → Candidate will move to an Interview Scheduled status.
  • When an in-progress sub-interview is rescheduled (1 Scheduled & 1 In-Progress) → Candidate will move to an Interview Scheduled status.
• Sequential Interview Timeline Prioritization Logic. Each interview type (Phone, Virtual, In-Person) within a sequential interview has its own maximum scheduling timeline. Because of this, the system will enforce the lower value between the sequential interview maximum and the individual interview type maximum.

Sequential interview receipt

As the interview sessions are added, the user will be able to see a readout of the session order and times in the receipt of the Interview Builder. This will automatically update as changes are made to the interview.

Sequential interview calendar invites

When a sequential interview is scheduled, candidates and interviewers receive confirmation communications and calendar invites. Session names display across all communications.

Confirmation email

Interviewers receive one confirmation email per session they are attending. The email always includes the full interview details for all sessions, with each session identified by name.

Calendar invites

Interviewers receive a calendar invite for each session they are attending. For Google Calendar users, each session's calendar block shows only the details and video link for that session (if added), along with a note that the session is part of a larger sequential interview. 

All session notifications

Users added to the sequential interview receive notifications for every session in the sequential, even sessions they are not attending as an interviewer. The communication they receive depends on their role in each sequential interview session:

• If they are an attendee on the session, they receive the attendee communication.
• If they are not an attendee on the session, they receive the audience communication.

FAQs