Interview availability email template

An interview availability email asks the candidate when they can talk, and there are only two sensible ways to write it. You can propose a small number of times and let them pick one, which works when you have a handful of candidates and a calm calendar. Or you can send a single link that shows your free slots and let the candidate choose, which is what interview self-scheduling means in practice. Both are below, with the subject lines that get opened.

The templates

Subject Interview for [Role] · three times to choose from

Hi [Candidate first name],

Thank you for applying for [Role] at [Company]. We would like to set up a video call with [Interviewer name], about [Duration] long.

Three times that work on our side: [Date and time], [Date and time], or [Date and time]. Reply with the one that suits you and I will send the invitation with the [Meet link].

If none of them fit, tell me two or three windows that do and we will work around them.

[Your name] [Company]

Subject Interview for [Role] · pick a time that suits you

Hi [Candidate first name],

Thank you for applying for [Role] at [Company]. The next step is a video call with [Interviewer name], about [Duration].

Rather than trade messages about calendars, here is a link with the times we are free: [Booking link]. Choose whichever suits you. There is nothing to sign up for, and the interview goes straight into the calendar with the [Meet link].

If your week changes, use the same link to pick another time or to cancel.

[Your name] [Company]

When to send it

• As soon as a candidate clears the screen, before the shortlist goes cold.
• When you have more than three people at the same stage and the back and forth would eat the week.
• When the candidate is in another time zone and guessing at their working hours would cost you a round trip.
• When the interviewer's calendar moves during the day and a fixed proposal will not survive until the afternoon.
• After a candidate has already replied late once, when a link is kinder than another exchange.

What to change

• The number of slots you propose. Three is enough. Six reads like a dump of your calendar.
• The hours you offer. Early mornings and evenings matter to candidates who are already working and cannot take a call at eleven.
• The link. In Bestpeople, [Booking link] is personal to the candidate and shows only genuinely free slots, with Google Calendar busy times excluded. They pick one with no account and no form.
• The three [Date and time] placeholders in the first email. Fill each one with a different day and time, and write the time zone into all three, because a candidate a few zones away will otherwise read them as their own.
• Who the candidate will meet. Naming [Interviewer name] and their job title makes the email read as a person writing rather than a stage in a process.