I took ownership of interview scheduling in Alva’s T-Rex squad, from research and problem definition to product direction and design. With no PM support, I also set the MVP scope and success measures. I designed the scheduling workspace we released and explored an agentic experience through in-app chat.
I investigated what recruiters kept in sync, where it cost them time, and whether moving that work into Alva was worthwhile.
I traced recent scheduling experiences
5 internal and 7 customer interviews covering steps, tools and workarounds.
I mapped the patterns
I also reviewed 90 days of interview usage to assess where scheduling could fit.
Chasing replies and updating people, calendars and interview details across tools took time away from candidates.
I grouped the research into five moments, from planning a round to arriving prepared.
Scroll across to follow the five moments
| Interview journey | 01Plan the wave | 02Get times agreed | 03Lock the slot in | 04Adapt when it breaks | 05Walk in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ActionsWhat they do | Reserve managers’ time at kickoff. Batch interviews into rounds. | Check calendars, propose times or send a booking link. | Send invitations. Copy the details into the other tools. | Find new times, reissue invites and follow up on replies. | Check the invitation and look up the candidate and role. |
| GoalsWhat they want | Have time ready when candidates reach the interview stage. | Agree a time that works without days of messages. | Keep the agreed slot held and every record in sync. | Keep the round moving when someone’s plans change. | Arrive with enough time and context to prepare. |
| Feelings & thoughtsHow it feels | Uncertain whether candidates will be ready for the time reserved. | Anxious that the slot will disappear while waiting for a reply. | Cautious about trusting the booking without checking again. | Drained by repeating the coordination after a cancellation. | Caught off guard when the interview arrives without context. |
| Pain pointsWhat gets in the way | Timing is a guess. Calendar blocks need constant upkeep. | Availability still needs checking. Reserved time can appear busy. | Pending invites can leave slots open. Records fall out of sync. | Replies stall. A change means updating everyone all over again. | Back-to-back meetings leave little prep time. Invites lack role details. |
| OpportunitiesThe unmet needs | I need to plan interview time with less guesswork. | I need to agree times without chasing both sides. | I need to know the booking is secure and up to date. | I need to recover a booking without restarting the coordination. | I need time and context before the interview. |
Condensed research synthesis · Notes are paraphrased from the original experience map.
These five needs connect the research to Alva’s business and product goals.
Increase conversion among prospects evaluating Alva for their interview workflow.
Hiring teams spend less time on interview admin.
We released a workspace for coordinating interviews in Alva, reducing admin across emails and other systems.
I explored in-app chat for planning interview rounds, agreeing on times and tracking bookings.
Recruiters reserved time weeks ahead without knowing when candidates would be ready.
A recruiter wanted first interviews one week and the next round the following week, estimating demand and blocking managers’ time by hand.
First interviews
Next round
Predict demand · Block managers’ calendars by hand
Plan the whole interview round.
I proposed forecasting demand, reserving time and letting recruiters set conditions, such as keeping interviews within a chosen week.
The expected interview round
The week interviews need to happen
Protect time before invitations
I wanted to reduce the estimating and calendar upkeep around a pre-booking routine teams already used.
RejectedTying pre-booking to job setup made it harder to revisit as candidates progressed.
RejectedRecruiters still had to estimate demand and reserve time by hand.
RejectedSeparating slots from the calendar made it harder to see where a whole round would fit.
Coordinating calendars, managers and candidates took repeated messages. Even time reserved for interviews could appear unavailable.
Free or busy didn’t explain a slot’s purpose, so recruiters still checked with managers before offering it.
Reserved for interviews
Busy · Unavailable
The time could be taken while candidates booked.
Use the context behind the calendar block.
I explored using event titles and descriptions to recognize and prioritize manually reserved interview time.
Prioritize interview reservations
The agent would need to interpret why time was held so recruiters could use their existing reservations when suggesting slots.
Sent invitations, pending replies and scattered records left recruiters unsure whether an interview was confirmed.
Recruiters checked several tools and followed up on unanswered invitations to find out what was booked.
Check replies · Follow up · Update the records
Make the booking status clear.
I proposed an overview widget and detailed view showing which candidates and hiring managers had confirmed or still needed to reply.
Open the details to see who still needs to respond.
Keeping both sides’ status together would help recruiters spot unanswered invitations and missing confirmations.
Scheduling workspace
I planned to track calendar connections, completed bookings and repeat use.
Planned measures. Release outcomes follow below.
People with a connected calendar
divided byAll users in the organization
Per organization, with a separate count of connected non-recruiters.
Candidates booked
divided byCandidates entering a stage with an interview assessment
Calculate the ratio for each stage, then take the median by job and the median by organization.
Overall healthBooked candidates per organization
Where did people try scheduling once and stop?
I planned to compare smaller customers and enterprise separately to understand where scheduling helped each group.
Less admin work to get interviews booked.
Less back-and-forth with hiring managers and candidates, and fewer updates across tools, supported our department’s “time to talent” goal by leaving more time for candidates.
Exact figures are confidential.
Many stalled deals became signed contracts.
Adding scheduling removed a major obstacle for customers considering Alva and helped our sales team close waiting contracts.
Research, product direction
and design.
Without PM support, I defined the problem, led research, set the MVP scope and chose success measures. Customer Success helped recruit customers; I interviewed recruiters and hiring managers and mapped their workflows and workarounds.
That research guided both the workspace I designed with T-Rex and my exploration of an agent for planning rounds, using reserved time and tracking bookings.