Stop the Scheduling Ping-Pong: How One Client Cut Days Off Their Hiring Process
Sharing a free/busy calendar view gave our client scheduling superpowers—cutting down emails, reducing delays, and speeding up every stage of hiring.
TJ Kastning
Let’s talk about a simple change that saved one of our clients hours of back-and-forth emails and helped them accelerate their interview momentum without sacrificing flexibility or confidentiality.
The Old Way: Death by Scheduling
You know the drill. You’re ready to move forward with a candidate—but first, the dreaded calendar shuffle.
“What about Tuesday at 2?”
“Actually, that’s our safety meeting—what about Wednesday at 10?”
“Candidate’s out. Maybe next week?”
That back-and-forth can easily add 3–5 unnecessary days to every interview stage. Multiply that by 3–4 interview rounds, and you’ve added weeks of delay to your hiring process.
The Shift: Calendar Transparency with Boundaries
This client decided to try something different.
They shared their free/busy calendar view with us—no personal details, just availability—and gave us a few simple guidelines:
- Never book back-to-back meetings
- Always preserve Fridays for deep work
- Avoid 12–1pm (lunch is sacred)
That’s it.
Now, instead of playing email ping-pong, we match the candidate’s availability to the client’s open slots, propose times, and the client just replies:
“Confirmed.”
If something important comes up (like a site walk or a last-minute owner call), no problem—we flex. But those moments are rare because the calendar gives us a real-time view into what’s already open.
The Result: Less Noise, More Momentum
The impact?
📅 Fewer emails
⚡ Faster scheduling
🚀 Stronger interview momentum
By removing the bottleneck of coordination, this client now moves candidates through the process faster—and gets to a confident hire sooner.
How to Share Your Free/Busy Calendar (Without Revealing Anything Private)
Here’s how to give us visibility into your availability only, without sharing any meeting details.
Share your calendar with: [email protected]
🟦 Microsoft Outlook (Office 365)
- Open Outlook Calendar.
- Click “Share Calendar” (found in the Home ribbon).
- Choose your default calendar.
- In the sharing settings, add
[email protected]. - Set permission level to “Can view when I’m busy.”
- Click Send.
✅ Olivia will only see blocked vs. open time—your meeting titles and details stay private.
🟥 Google Calendar (Gmail/Workspace)
- Go to Google Calendar on your browser.
- On the left under “My Calendars,” hover over your calendar, click the three dots, then Settings and sharing.
- Scroll to “Share with specific people.”
- Click “Add people” and enter
[email protected]. - Under permissions, choose “See only free/busy (hide details).”
- Click Send.
✅ We’ll only see when you’re free—not what you’re doing.
🍎 Apple Calendar (iCloud/Mac)
- Open the Calendar app on your Mac.
- In the left sidebar, find your calendar (typically named after your account).
- Right-click the calendar name and choose “Share Calendar.”
- Enter
[email protected]. - Set permissions to “View only availability.”
- Click Done.
✅ This shares only your availability—not event names or details.
Pro Tip: Add Guidelines Once
Email us a few simple rules like:
- “No meetings before 10am”
- “Keep 12–1 open for lunch”
- “Avoid back-to-back scheduling”
We’ll respect those guidelines every time we propose a time.
Take the next step
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