Challenges

Managing hundreds of candidates with a small team

Muck Rack, a fast-growing Public Relations Management (PRM) software platform, hired 135 new employees last year, which translated to hundreds of interviews with potential candidates.

Muck Rack’s small-but-mighty recruiting team was struggling to manage the volume of candidates in their funnel. Erica Raphael, Vice President of People, says, “Our team is small and lean on the recruiting side. We only have three recruiters.” 

One of those team members is Odlenika Joseph, Talent Operations Specialist. When Odlenika started with Muck Rack, 80% of her time was spent scheduling and rescheduling interviews with candidates. 

“Interview coordination involves collaborating with internal team members and candidates,” says Odlenika. “Organizing an interview was a five-step process.” 

Erica wanted Odlenika and the rest of the team to have time for more strategic projects.

A better scheduling system would not only free up the recruiting team, but also reduce the inefficiencies causing hiring delays. Steps like rescheduling candidate interviews and trying to find free time on a hiring manager’s calendar added length to the recruiting process. 

The team decided they were ready to introduce a scheduling tool — that’s when they found Calendly.

Solution

Freeing up recruiters from manual work 

Thanks to Calendly, scheduling an interview with a candidate is no longer a five-step process. Now, candidates can book interviews directly with the right person’s calendar. “We now have landing pages that allow scheduling to happen seamlessly,” says Odlenika. 

Easier scheduling enables the team to provide a better candidate experience and hire faster. Most importantly, the free time has allowed the recruiting team to take on more impactful projects like creating a hiring manager scorecard, delivering video training for interviewers, and creating a better candidate journey.

Improving the candidate experience with simplified scheduling 

Candidates are now directed to landing pages where they can schedule one-on-one events with recruiters and hiring managers. Parameters are set so availability is only shown for the next seven days, a small change that’s helped speed up the hiring process significantly. 

After a candidate books an interview, they’re automatically redirected to custom content tailored to their journey. Candidates booking screening calls are sent to a blog post about Muck Rack’s values, and those booking second-round interviews with hiring managers are directed to a slide deck detailing the rest of the recruiting process. 

The result? Better informed and happier candidates. 

“People have really enjoyed our custom redirects because not a lot of folks go back to the original job posting where information is listed,” says Odlenika. “I love the fact I can automate this kind of personalization for candidates.” 

Reducing no-shows with Workflows 

Calendly Workflows enable automated email and text reminders to help reduce no-shows and last-minute reschedules and cancellations. Candidates now receive automatic reminders both one hour and 15 minutes before an interview. 

Workflows also help Odlenika automate post-interview check-ins, another improvement enhancing the Muck Rack candidate experience. 

Creating consistency using advanced features

The Muck Rack team uses integrations and advanced admin features to create a consistent experience for candidates and hiring managers. 

Calendly integrates with Greenhouse applicant tracking software, so candidates automatically move through recruiting stages. Odlenika uses Calendly’s Managed Events to standardize meeting templates and ensure each stage of the hiring process contains pre-planned meeting workflows, custom redirects and follow-up events. 

With more than 30 hiring managers in the organization, creating systems to maintain consistency has been a great relief. “I know that no matter who is the one in the driver’s seat, each candidate is going to receive the information they need,” says Odlenika.

“With Calendly, I am doing round-the-clock work without actually having to do anything manually.”

Odlenika Joseph

Talent Operations Specialist at Muck Rack

Results

Reducing hiring time by 8 days 

By implementing Calendly, Muck Rack has reduced time to hire by eight days, saved 406 hours (and counting), and achieved an ROI of 32%. 

More important, the recruiting team is no longer bogged down by manual scheduling tasks and can now focus on more impactful work, like improving the candidate experience and working more collaboratively with hiring managers.

“It’s about efficiency and making more out of less. Leveraging Calendly has enabled everyone on my team to take on a ton of projects that are really impactful to the recruiting team and the organization at large.”

Erica Raphael

VP of People at Muck Rack

A huge win for the team has been improving the recruiting experience for candidates and hiring managers.  

Internal managers have also expressed their appreciation: "I need to give props for implementing Calendly,” said the Associate Director of Revenue Operations. “Our personal setup call was quick and easy and the demos were informative and actionable. I was able to leverage the meeting poll feature for an internal sync with six incredibly busy colleagues within 30 minutes, which is a near miracle.” 

All in all, Erica says, “I’m super grateful because Calendly has empowered my team to work so much smarter and be more effective and efficient.”

Ready to explore what Calendly can do for your bottom line? Sign up for a free, 14-day trial today!