Managing Your Availability

Why It Matters

Your availability schedule controls when candidates can book interviews with you. Set it once, and Kit automatically shows candidates only the times you’re free. Update it anytime — changes apply instantly to all future bookings.

Creating Your First Schedule

Navigate to Your Account > Availability and click New Schedule.

Name and Time Zone

Give your schedule a descriptive name like “Standard Hours” or “Interview Availability”. If you create multiple schedules, clear names help you switch between them later.

Your time zone determines how Kit interprets your hours. If you set 9:00 AM in Pacific Time, candidates in New York will see 12:00 PM. Kit handles the conversion automatically.

Default Schedule

Your first schedule is automatically marked as default. If you create additional schedules, you can designate a different one as default. The default schedule is used when you’re added to an interview stage unless you explicitly select a different schedule.

Weekly Hours

Weekly hours define your regular availability pattern. Click Add Hours for each block of time you’re available.

Setting Hours

For each day of the week:

1. Select the day (Monday, Tuesday, etc.)
2. Set start time (e.g., 9:00 AM)
3. Set end time (e.g., 5:00 PM)
4. Click Add

You can add multiple blocks per day. For example, if you take lunch from 12:00-1:00 PM, create two blocks:

• 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
• 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Overlapping Blocks

Kit merges overlapping or adjacent blocks automatically. If you add 9:00-12:00 and 12:00-5:00, Kit combines them into a single 9:00-5:00 block.

Copying Across Days

Use the Copy from dropdown to duplicate another day’s hours. Common pattern: set Monday’s hours, then copy to Tuesday through Friday.

Disabling Days

To make yourself unavailable on a specific day, don’t add any hours for that day. Candidates won’t see any slots on days where you have no hours configured.

Do This	Don’t Do This
Leave Saturday/Sunday blank if you don’t interview on weekends	Add 9-5 hours and then manually block every weekend with date overrides
Create one 9-5 block for full-day availability	Create hourly blocks (9-10, 10-11, 11-12…) — unnecessarily complex
Add lunch break as a gap between two blocks	Expect candidates to “know” not to book during lunch

Date Overrides

Date overrides let you block out specific dates or add custom availability that differs from your weekly pattern.

Blocking Time Off

To mark a date as unavailable:

1. Click Add Override
2. Select the date
3. Choose Unavailable
4. Optionally add a note (not shown to candidates)

Use this for:

• Vacations and holidays
• Conference attendance
• Days when you’re overbooked with other commitments

Custom Hours for Specific Dates

To set different hours for a specific date:

1. Click Add Override
2. Select the date
3. Choose Custom Hours
4. Add time blocks (same process as weekly hours)

Use this for:

• Extended availability on critical hiring days
• Shortened hours on half-days
• One-off availability outside your normal schedule

Override Priority

Date overrides always take precedence over weekly hours. If your weekly hours say 9-5 but you add an override for December 25 marking it unavailable, no slots appear on December 25 regardless of your weekly pattern.

Meeting Limits

Meeting limits cap the number of interviews you’ll accept per day. This prevents candidates from filling your entire calendar with back-to-back interviews.

Setting Limits

1. Click Add Limit
2. Select days of the week (multiple allowed)
3. Set maximum interviews per day
4. Click Add

For example, to limit yourself to 3 interviews on weekdays:

• Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
• Max interviews: 3

Once you hit your limit for a day, Kit stops showing slots to candidates even if your calendar still has open time.

Multiple Limits

You can create different limits for different days. Common pattern:

• Monday-Thursday: 4 interviews max
• Friday: 2 interviews max (preserve focus time for other work)

If you set overlapping limits (e.g., one rule for “All Days” and another for “Friday”), the most restrictive limit applies.

Do This	Don’t Do This
Set realistic limits based on your energy level	Set limits so high they’re meaningless (e.g., 20 per day)
Account for non-interview work in your daily cap	Assume you can do 8 hours of interviews back-to-back

Buffers

Buffers add padding before and/or after interviews. Use them to account for travel time, meeting prep, or context-switching.

Before Buffer

Time to block before each interview. If you set a 15-minute before buffer and a candidate books 2:00-3:00 PM, Kit also blocks 1:45-2:00 PM in your calendar.

After Buffer

Time to block after each interview. If you set a 15-minute after buffer and a candidate books 2:00-3:00 PM, Kit also blocks 3:00-3:15 PM.

Common Values

Buffer	Use Case
0 minutes	Back-to-back video calls with no prep needed
10-15 minutes	Brief context-switching time
30 minutes	In-person interviews requiring travel or extensive prep

Buffers reduce the number of available slots since Kit needs to reserve extra time around each interview. Balance your need for breathing room against making enough slots available to candidates.

Scheduling Windows

Scheduling windows control how far in advance candidates can book and how much notice you require before an interview.

Minimum Notice Hours

The shortest time between when a candidate books and when the interview starts. Default is 24 hours.

If a candidate tries to book for “today at 3 PM” and your minimum notice is 24 hours, Kit won’t show any slots earlier than tomorrow at 3 PM.

Max Days in Advance

The furthest future date candidates can book. Default is 30 days.

If a candidate looks at availability on January 1st and your max is 30 days, they can’t book anything past January 31st.

Why Set These

• Minimum notice prevents last-minute scrambles and gives you time to prepare
• Max days in advance keeps your calendar flexible — you’re not locked into interviews months away when priorities might shift

Do This	Don’t Do This
Set minimum notice to at least your typical meeting prep time	Allow same-day bookings unless you genuinely don’t need prep
Use 30-60 days for max advance to balance candidate flexibility with your planning needs	Set max to 365 days — too much uncertainty that far out

Multiple Schedules

If you work across multiple accounts or have drastically different availability patterns, create multiple schedules.

When to Use Multiple Schedules

• You consult for multiple companies and have different hours for each
• You have a “standard” schedule and an “extended hours” schedule for urgent hiring
• You want to experiment with different settings without losing your current configuration

Switching Schedules

Each schedule is automatically linked to all accounts you belong to. When configuring an interview stage, you can select which schedule to use for that stage.

Only one schedule per account can be marked as default. The default is used when you’re added to a stage without explicitly choosing a schedule.

Duplicating Schedules

To create a variation of an existing schedule:

1. Open the schedule you want to copy
2. Click Duplicate
3. Give it a new name
4. Modify as needed

Duplication copies all weekly hours, date overrides, and meeting limits. Use this to create seasonal variations or test new settings.

Quick Checklist

• Create your first availability schedule with a clear name
• Set weekly hours for each day you’re available for interviews
• Add date overrides for upcoming vacations or holidays
• Set meeting limits to prevent over-scheduling
• Configure buffers if you need prep time between interviews
• Set minimum notice hours (recommend at least 24)
• Connect Google Calendar to prevent double-booking
• Test by viewing the candidate booking flow on a job posting