The problem:

Up to 400 applications a role, and scheduling ran from a personal phone

Hiring in the skilled trades moves fast. A single open role at Thornton & Grooms can attract up to 400 applications, and the strongest candidates are often self-employed technicians who pick up contract work at short notice. They don't want to fill in long forms or sit on a video call, and the fastest recruiter wins the hire.

Scheduling was the bottleneck. Justin Williamson, the company's Employee Experience Specialist, ran the process by hand. He compared his own calendar against the hiring manager's, tried to line both up with the candidate's, and sent times by text from his personal phone. Nothing was recorded. There was no single source of truth for what had been booked, and no metrics to report to the executive team.

Coming from a structured retail leadership background, Justin was surprised by how much of the process lived in his head and his phone. Every interview meant another round of manual coordination, and rescheduling meant starting the back-and-forth over again.

It was all manual. We were forever comparing calendars, trying to line them up with the candidates', and I was texting from my personal phone. Nothing was tracked, so we had no real picture of how hiring was performing.

The solution:

Self-scheduling links sent by text, from inside Paycor

Thornton & Grooms runs its entire recruitment pipeline in Paycor Recruiting, so the answer needed to live where the team already worked. Cronofy's interview scheduling is embedded inside Paycor, which meant Justin didn't have to add another tool or switch context.

The process is now simple. Justin picks a scheduling template, sends the link, and the candidate books themselves from the team's real-time availability. Because the link can be sent by text directly from within Paycor, it reaches candidates where they actually respond. Every booking, reschedule, and message writes back to the candidate's Paycor profile automatically.

The ability to send the link by text within Paycor is the game changer. It's so simple, and our candidates are glued to their phones. They rarely use email.

Phone screens run back to back, and further interviews book straight onto the hiring manager's calendar with no coordination on Justin's side. Candidates who need to move a session can reschedule themselves, which matters in a market where people take last-minute work. For the first time, the team also has data it can report on.

The results:

Two to four hours saved per interview, with no chasing

The measured saving is two to four hours per interview, and the bigger shift is that scheduling now runs without chasing. Justin sends a link and the candidate does the rest. Setting availability windows in advance also gives the team control over when interviews land, which makes the week easier to plan.

The candidate experience improved at the same time. Self-service booking and rescheduling work even for candidates who aren't tech-savvy, and the team still connects with every applicant. A candidate never has to choose between a short-notice contract job and keeping their interview.

We save two to four hours per interview. Even better, it's fire and forget. We send the link, they book in, and there's no chasing on our end. We have full control over when they can schedule, which makes planning our week easy.

I wouldn't enjoy going back to manual scheduling. Cronofy delivers a best-in-class experience for our candidates. It's an incredible first impression, and it helps us secure the best talent in the area. Before Cronofy I didn't fully appreciate how much time I was spending juggling availability.

Justin Williamson, Employee Experience Specialist, Thornton & Grooms

See it inside your own Paycor account

Cronofy puts interview scheduling where your team already hires, so there's nothing new to learn and no context switching. Book a call and we'll show you how it works with your setup.