Interview start times & buffer times
Updated at August 26th, 2026
Table of Contents
Users can set the preferred Interview start time control for themselves, by user role, or per location basis based on a designated increment of time or the amount of time that should be blocked off between interviews. This allows users more control over their open interview times (OITs).
Use cases
- Users who want to set the intervals for their interview availability displayed to candidates in order to prevent sporadic gaps in their work day.
- Users with high-volume hiring need to optimize their recruiters’ calendars to fill them entirely with interviews.
Set interview start times or buffer times
Interview start times and buffer times can be set on an individual and per user role or location basis.
Update individually
Your Interview start time control setting within a calendar allows you to set the increments that interview times are displayed to a candidate or the period of time that should be blocked off between interviews. This can be updated by following the steps below.
- Select the All Apps button in the top left corner of the header and then the Calendars or My Calendar app from its drop-down.
- In your preferred My Calendar or location calendar, select the action menu, or ellipses, in the top right corner above the calendar.
- In its dropdown menu, select Calendar Settings.
- In the Interview Settings section, scroll down to Availability Controls.
- The Interview start time control selector will display within this section. Choose one of the following options:
Start Time
This will determine the increment of time that interview times will be presented to the candidate. Options include:
- Any available time (15/20 minute cadence of times presented, starting whenever the first availability is)
- Every hour (hour increments; e.g. 8 am, 9 am, etc.)
- Every 30 minutes (30 minute increments; e.g. 8 am, 8:30 am, etc.)
- Every 15 minutes (15 minute increments; e.g. 8 am, 8:15 am, etc.)
Buffer Time
This will determine the amount of time blocked off between interviews in order to debrief or take action after an interview. Options include:
- Schedule interviews consecutively (the times in your calendar are prioritized to always schedule interviews back to back)
- 5 minutes
- 10 minutes
- 15 minutes
- 20 minutes
- 25 minutes
- 30 minutes
- Select Save.
Update per user role or location
Users with access to Roles and Permissions or Location Management can update interview start times on a per user role or location basis, respectively. Click here to learn more.
Scheduling settings prioritization
By default, the system will prioritize interview start times in the following order:
- User
- User role
- Location
This will ensure that if multiple start times are set on an account, the system will pull the most relevant times for the user.
Override logic
When updating interview start time settings on a per user role or location basis, Company/Account Admin users can choose between Override All Existing, which applies the new value to all users/roles/locations, regardless of previous customizations, or Only Where Not Configured, which only updates interview start times that have not been individually customized.
Additional logic
Start time logic
Sequential Interviews: Due to the unexpected problems of applying interview start times to sequential interviews, system logic will verify only the first slot in a sequence to minimize the impact on the current slots logic.
Buffer time logic
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Sequential Interviews:
- Same Interviewer. Buffer times will not take place between the sub-interviews of an In Order sequential interview. Sequential interviews should be considered as back to back interviews.
-
Different Interviewers. Buffer times between In Order sequential interviews will be dependent on the next interviewer’s buffer times.
- For example, if User A has a buffer time of 5 minutes and User B has a buffer time of 15 minutes saved on their calendars, then when Interview #1 is scheduled with User A, Interview #2 with User B will include a buffer time of 15 minutes from the end of the scheduled Interview #1 time.
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Round Robin Groups:
- Interview scheduled with User A and User B who have different buffer times/interview start times. Your AI Assistant will check the availability of each user according to their buffer/start times and present times to the candidate where they align.
- Optional Attendees: Your AI Assistant will take into consideration the attendee’s buffer/start times, but ultimately, they can still be scheduled even if it breaks their set Interview start time control setting.
- Updating an Interview: An error will display when an interviewer is updated on an interview and the scheduled interview time conflicts with the buffer/start times set on their calendar.