Simple and efficient real-time interview scheduling with HiringThing

HiringThing was founded in 2012 by CEO Joshua Siler, with a mission to help Recruiters and HR teams speed up the hiring process and create a great experience for both the talent acquisition team and the candidate. They’re a 100% remote company and have been since their inception, so they appreciate first-hand the importance of technology and automation to improve processes . HiringThing has grown into an award-winning SaaS company and works with thousands of hiring teams worldwide.

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Recruiters can use the HiringThing platform to handle every stage of the hiring process, from posting the job ad to making the hire. The platform keeps the information about the candidate in one place, logging communication and storing all the relevant documentation so recruiters and hiring managers can see everything at a glance.

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The platform also saves recruiters time and effort by automating manual but essential recruitment tasks such as background checks and sending onboarding documents. HiringThing integrates with other HR systems, so once a hire has been made, they can be pushed from the ATS to the preferred HR platform for onboarding, creating a smooth experience for the user.

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The Challenge

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Scheduling interviews is an intrinsic part of the hiring process, with Recruiters typically scheduling interviews several times a day. Before using Cronofy, HiringThing had no scheduling capabilities – their users could only invite candidates to interviews via email, meaning the event had to be manually added to everyone's calendars. It meant that recruiters were losing a lot of time in needless email back-and-forth with candidates. The impact of this was threefold; reduced product engagement, poorer candidate experience, and recruiter time being wasted instead of spent on higher value tasks..

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HiringThing aimed to be the platform that encompassed the entire hiring process, so recruiters leaving the platform to use their email and calendaring applications was  problematic. They wanted to make it possible for interviews to be added automatically to the recruiter's and the candidate's calendars, along with all the event information. This results in the interview scheduling experience being as straightforward as possible for the candidate, helping talent acquisition professionals create a positive first impression and keep top talent engaged.

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The team also relied on customer feedback as they planned their new feature. Users complained how it was taking too long to find out when the hiring managers they needed for a given interview were all free. The back-and-forth emailing was wasting time and frustrating all parties.

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From this feedback, the team identified calendar and scheduling integration as a clear gap in their existing product.

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"Scheduling was quickly pinpointed as the missing piece that would ensure we covered the entire hiring process and kept users on our platform. We wanted to create a smoother experience for the Recruitment teams we work with."

‍ Alex Luke | CTO

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The team at HiringThing did not want to build this themselves. They rapidly favored working with a specialized scheduling platform to reduce costs and time required to launch their new interview scheduling feature.

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As is the case with many Cronofy’s customers, HiringThing recognized that scheduling wasn't a core competency for them, and that their time was better spent building the features that formed their HR product's core value proposition. That’s why they started to look for a specialized scheduling automation platform.

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Solution

HiringThing quickly identified Cronofy as the partner they wanted to work with. Cronofy’s developer-focused approach and range of features was a crucial deciding factor, as they wanted a scheduling specialist who could understand their use case and support their growth objectives .

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“We looked at other scheduling vendor options but couldn’t find anything as intuitive and easy to use as Cronofy. That, along with the variety of features available, made it an easy decision to partner with Cronofy for our scheduling automation needs.”

Alex Luke | CTO

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To begin with, HiringThing used the Calendar API, which served as the perfect solution to keep users within the platform. It allowed them to automatically add interviews to everyone’s calendar, no matter what calendar provider they were using. Knowing that clients had been actively requesting this feature, it was used as a USP to acquire new clients and retain existing customers. However, as the company grew and developed their product, they decided to take advantage of additional Cronofy capabilities.

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Product engagement is a key performance metric for any SaaS business, and Cronofy was happy to work with the team at HiringThing to fill any gaps that may have been leading users to leave the platform.

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Several Cronofy products are now integrated in the platform including the Scheduling API, Conferencing Services, Smart Invites, and UI elements.

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A key example of Cronofy’s agility was in response to the pandemic; there was a natural shift to virtual interviewing and HiringThing needed to adapt quickly. Video conferencing tools like Zoom and Google Meet weren’t integrated to the  platform, meaning users had to manually add the joining information to emails and calendars, creating a clunky user experience. Cronofy provided HiringThing with its Conferencing Services feature to ensure users could set up virtual interviews within the platform, which made the scheduling experience smoother and faster for recruiters and acted as an important sales and retention tool during the pandemic.

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The HiringThing team chose Availability Rules to solve any double-booking issues their customers had, allowing them to automatically manage hiring managers’ real-time availability and see at a glance when they were free for interviews. This ensured userscould quickly and easily find the best interview slot for everyone, saving time and effort.

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With the Scheduling API, Recruiters can equip candidates with the power to schedule meetings on their terms using a real-time scheduling link. This offering improves the candidate experience and their perception of the employer, helping to retain top talent in the hiring process.

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The Results

By partnering with Cronofy, HiringThing has provided Recruiters and hiring teams with everything they need for the entire hiring process, giving them no reason to leave the platform. Product engagement within the Hiringthing platform has increased dramatically as a result.

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There has been quick and widespread adoption throughout HiringThing's client base; Cronofy is now connected to the calendars of almost 3,000 HiringThing users and has been used to schedule nearly 250,000 interviews. The scheduling automation tools have saved HiringThing's clients hundreds of hours previously spent scheduling interviews, speeding up their time-to-hire while not compromising the quality of hire.

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In terms of the benefits for HiringThing's team, Cronofy has saved the considerable time and resources it would have taken to build scheduling automation themselves. They've been able to focus on the core features of their product and trust Cronofy with their scheduling capabilities, alleviating the pressure of updating and maintaining the chosen APIs.

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Cronofy's features have also been used by the HiringThing sales team as a USP, helping grow their customer base while keeping their existing customers happy.

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The level of support provided by Cronofy has impressed the HiringThing team and created a strong relationship.

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"We've been really impressed with how fast Cronofy's support turnaround time has been; our requests have generally been responded to within the day of submitting a ticket. Not only the speed but the quality of the support has been amazing, the team has been able to solve some real technical headaches for us."

Ali Fetanat | Software Engineer

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HiringThing is aware of Cronofy's commitment to privacy and security, a hugely important factor for any SaaS company. They need to share both candidate and Recruiter data for the APIs to work, so a high level of trust is crucial. Cronofy consistently updates security accreditations and undergoes regular audits, giving HiringThing peace of mind.

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What's next?

HiringThing plans to add more capabilities to their product, including rescheduling. Cronofy will continue to provide the capabilities HiringThing needs as it continues to expand its customer base.

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