How to invite candidates to book an interview

After a candidate passes the second assessment, a simple scheduling handoff is a booking link the recruiter already manages. The candidate receives that link, chooses an available time, and the booking provider handles confirmation and calendar details. Badal does not need to read the recruiter's calendar or create the event. Badal evaluates the application and exercise, then invites the candidate to book; the external provider manages the appointment.

The distinction is operationally important. Interview invited means the workflow reached the booking-link invitation. It does not by itself prove the email was delivered, that the candidate opened it, chose a slot, or attended an interview. Check the email job for delivery and the booking provider for an appointment; do not infer either from Badal's stage label.

Set up the booking page before publishing the job

Create an appointment page in a tool you already use, such as Calendly or Google Calendar appointment schedules. Configure its availability, timezone, duration, buffer, meeting location, and confirmation messages there. Then copy the public booking URL, not a private admin or edit URL. Test it in a signed-out browser window. A candidate should be able to reach available slots without needing your account.

Use one page per interview type if your tool supports it. For a 30-minute first interview, give the page a title such as “Content & Operations Intern — first conversation,” an interviewer name, and a short description of the agenda. If you use a generic personal booking page, explain in the candidate email which meeting type to choose. Check the page's own privacy settings before collecting extra candidate answers there.

Before entering the URL in Badal, ask:

• Does the page show an actual open slot during the next one or two weeks?
• Does the confirmation identify the interviewer and correct timezone?
• Is the video link or location added by the booking provider?
• Can the candidate reschedule or contact a person if the page fails?
• Does the URL point to a public page rather than an account dashboard?

These are settings in the booking provider. Badal stores and emails the link; it does not configure external availability for you.

Put the link into the role

Badal's role setup accepts a recruiter-provided booking_url. Use the Job posts flow or the current campaign API to set it. The URL may be a Calendly event page, a Google appointment schedule page, or another trusted booking page. If your organization uses several interviewers, pick the page that routes bookings to the right person or define a separate link for the role. Recheck the link after editing a live campaign.

An agent should ask for the booking URL one question at a time during setup and show it in the complete role draft before publishing. Do not invent a URL, derive one from an email address, or assume that Google sign-in created a booking page. Google sign-in and optional Google Sheets sync are separate from interview booking. Badal's campaign documentation and the OpenAPI schema describe the current field and validation.

Send an invitation, not a confirmation

When a candidate passes the assessment stage, Badal can email the booking URL and place the candidate in interview_invited. Candidate copy should say “Please choose a time” and identify the role, organization, interviewer or hiring team, expected duration, and a reply route. It should not say “Your interview is scheduled” or imply that a calendar event exists.

Subject: Choose a time to discuss the [role] at [organization]

Hi [first name],

Thank you for completing the [role] exercise. We'd like to meet you. Please choose a convenient [duration]-minute time using this booking page: [booking URL]. You'll receive the meeting details from the booking provider after you select a slot.

We'll discuss your work and answer questions about the role. If the link does not work or you need an accommodation, reply to [contact].

[recruiter name] · [organization]

In this template, the link is a candidate-facing page; it is not an API credential. Never put a Badal agent key or one-time account connection link in an email. The candidate email guide covers the other messages in the funnel.

Handle missing or broken links

Test the booking page as a candidate before turning on the role. A link may be syntactically valid but lead to a deleted event type or a page with no open slots. If the URL changes, update the campaign and review any already invited candidates. People who received an older email may still follow its old link; send them a corrected message if necessary.

If no booking_url is configured, an agent must surface the setup gap before promising an interview invitation. If the email job fails, inspect and retry delivery through Badal's job status rather than marking the candidate as contacted. If the booking provider has no slots, add availability there or contact the candidate manually. No Google Calendar OAuth scope in Badal is needed to solve a booking-page problem.

Badal does not currently receive a booking confirmation from an external provider. A recruiter can inspect that provider and continue the candidate's review or decision workflow as needed. Do not calculate a “confirmed interview” conversion from the interview_invited stage. The funnel analytics guide shows a more honest invitation metric.

Worked example: one intern role

Mira is hiring a product intern. She creates a 30-minute first-conversation page in her booking provider, leaves Wednesday and Friday afternoons open, adds a video meeting link there, and copies its public URL. She checks it in a private browser window. In Badal she sets that URL on the Product Intern campaign and submits one synthetic assessment that passes Stage 2. The test candidate receives an email asking them to choose a time. Badal reports interview_invited. Mira confirms the email delivery in Badal, then selects a slot through the external page and confirms that the provider, not Badal, sends the appointment details. She removes the test booking afterward.

This test catches three common mistakes: a private edit link, an empty appointment page, and candidate email that incorrectly says the meeting is already scheduled. Repeat it when switching booking tools.

Agent-ready setup instruction

Ask me which public booking page should be used for [role] and who owns it. Confirm that I tested it as a signed-out visitor and that the page has real availability. Save the URL on the campaign only after I approve the complete role draft. When a candidate passes the assessment, report interview_invited as a link invitation, not a confirmed appointment. Check the email job before claiming the invitation was delivered; ask me to verify actual bookings in the external provider.

Frequently asked questions

Does Google sign-in book interviews automatically?

No. Sign-in authenticates the recruiter. Optional Google Sheets access can create role spreadsheets. To invite candidates to interviews, the recruiter supplies a public booking URL; the external booking service handles the appointment.

Can I use Google Calendar appointment schedules?

Yes, if you create a public appointment page in Google Calendar and paste its booking URL into Badal. Badal does not ask for Calendar access to send that link. Check the page's availability and confirmation behavior in Google.

Does interview_invited mean the candidate booked?

No. It means the candidate reached the invitation stage. Use the booking provider to confirm that a slot was selected, and do not report a confirmed meeting from Badal's stage alone.