Scheduling Overview

Why It Matters

Most hiring tools force you to bolt on Calendly, SavvyCal, or another booking tool. That means managing separate logins, paying extra per-seat fees, and context-switching between systems. Kit includes interview scheduling as a first-class feature — candidates book directly through their magic link portal, your calendar stays up-to-date, and your AI assistant can check availability and schedule interviews for you.

How It Works

Kit’s scheduling system has three layers:

1. Personal availability — Define your weekly hours, date overrides, and daily meeting limits
2. Calendar integration — Connect Google Calendar to automatically block out conflicts
3. Team coordination — Combine multiple interviewers’ availability using your account’s scheduling strategy

When a candidate reaches an interview stage, they see the available time slots based on your account’s scheduling strategy. They pick a slot, confirm, and the assigned interviewer gets a calendar invite. No back-and-forth emails.

Key Concepts

Availability Schedules

Each team member creates one or more availability schedules that define when they’re open for interviews. A schedule includes:

• Weekly hours — Your regular working hours by day of week
• Date overrides — Block out specific dates (vacations, holidays) or add custom hours for one-off availability
• Meeting limits — Cap the number of interviews per day to prevent burnout
• Buffers — Add padding before/after meetings for travel or prep time
• Scheduling windows — Limit how far in advance candidates can book

You can create multiple schedules (e.g., “Standard Hours” and “Extended Hours”) and switch between them on different accounts.

Scheduling Strategy

When multiple interviewers are required for a stage, Kit combines their availability using one of two scheduling strategies. The strategy is set account-wide in your hiring settings — it applies to every stage, not per-stage:

Strategy	Behavior	Use Case
Maximize Availability (any interviewer hosts)	Show every slot where any interviewer is free, so one of them can host	Maximize bookable times when any single interviewer can take the interview
Balanced Workload (rotate interviewers)	Show slots from the least-loaded interviewers	Distribute interview load evenly across the team

You choose the strategy once in your hiring settings. See Interview Scheduling for setup details.

Conflict Detection

When you connect Google Calendar, Kit reads your events (titles hidden — only start/end times) and automatically removes conflicting slots from the candidate’s booking page. If you add a new meeting to your calendar, that time becomes unavailable instantly.

Kit checks for conflicts across all calendars you’ve enabled in your Availability Settings. Personal calendars, work calendars, shared calendars — as long as they’re connected, Kit accounts for them.

What Makes It Different

Unlike standalone booking tools, Kit’s scheduling is integrated into the hiring workflow:

• Candidate portal integration — Candidates book through the same magic link they use for applications and submissions. No separate account required.
• AI assistant access — Claude or other MCP clients can check your availability and schedule interviews on your behalf. No copy-pasting calendar links.
• Stage-specific configuration — Different interview stages can use different durations and interviewer pools. (The scheduling strategy itself is set account-wide and applies to every stage.)
• Automatic notifications — Slack notifications, email reminders, and calendar invites are generated automatically when interviews are scheduled, confirmed, or cancelled.
• No per-seat fees — Scheduling is included with your Kit subscription. Unlimited interviews, unlimited interviewers.

Common Workflows

Solo Interviewer

1. Create your availability schedule with weekly hours
2. Connect Google Calendar to prevent double-booking
3. Configure your interview stage with yourself as the only interviewer
4. Candidate sees your available slots and books directly

Multiple Interviewers

1. All interviewers create their availability schedules
2. Configure the interview stage with multiple interviewers
3. Set your account’s scheduling strategy to Maximize Availability (any interviewer hosts)
4. Candidates see every slot where any one interviewer is free, maximizing the times available to book

Balanced Workload Distribution

1. Build a pool of interviewers who handle first-round screens
2. Configure the interview stage with the full pool
3. Set your account’s scheduling strategy to Balanced Workload (rotate interviewers)
4. Kit shows slots from the least-loaded interviewers to balance workload

Quick Checklist

• Read Managing Your Availability to set up your schedule
• Connect Google Calendar to prevent conflicts
• Choose the scheduling strategy that matches your workflow
• Test the candidate experience by viewing a staging or published job