Skip to main content

Setting up your interview preferences

How to set up your interview preferences in Dover so you can efficiently schedule and manage candidate interviews.

Updated over 2 months ago

Overview

This article explains how to set up your interview preferences in Dover based on your preferred scheduling method. Each interviewer on your team should configure their own preferences.

How to set your interview preferences

Here's how to access your interview preferences in Dover.

  1. Log in to the Dover App

  2. Navigate to Settings & Members > Personal Settings > Interview Scheduling

  3. Complete your profile (name, role title, and pronouns)

    • This information introduces you to candidates (e.g., "Anvisha is the CPO at Dover")

    • Role titles and pronouns can be used as variables in email templates.

  4. Choose how candidates can book time with you: Dover Scheduling Link, Third-party link, or Do not use a scheduling link.

Choosing your scheduling method

Choose where and when candidates can book interviews with you.

  1. Dover Scheduling Link: Let Dover schedule candidates for you using Google Calendar

  2. Third-party Link: Use an external scheduling tool (e.g., Calendly)

  3. No Scheduling Link: Manually coordinate interviews outside of Dover

Option 1: Dover Scheduling Link

Connecting your calendar

  1. Click Connect Google

  2. Review permissions information and click Continue

  3. Select your work email account

  4. Grant all requested permissions:

    1. These permissions allow Dover to create interview events and prevent double-booking

    2. Dover has been thoroughly audited by Google and is compliant with security standards

Setting up your interview preferences

Select interview location

Choose from:

  • Google Meet

  • Zoom

  • Whereby

  • Phone Call

  • In Person

Set your availability

  • Select days and times you're available for interviews

  • Confirm your time zone is correct

  • Select all calendars Dover should check to avoid double-booking

Optional Settings

  • Advance Notice: Time required before candidates can book (default: 24 hours)

  • Buffer Time: Time before and after interviews (set to 0 to maximize availability)

  • Maximum Interviews Per Day: Limit how many interviews can be scheduled daily

  • Backup Phone Number: Included in all booking links to reduce technical difficulties

  • Branding: Your company logo appears on scheduling pages

  • Rescheduling & Cancellation: Candidates can reschedule/cancel directly from the calendar invite

Tip: Click "See my availability" to preview when candidates can book with you.

Managing Your Calendar Availability

Blocking Off Time

  • Add "Do Not Schedule" (DNS) blocks to your calendar

  • Ensure they are marked as "Busy"

  • For holidays or time off, create Out of Office events on your connected calendar

Important: All-day events will not prevent double bookings unless marked as "Busy."

Adding Personal Calendars

  1. Open Google Calendar while logged into your personal account

  2. Find "My calendars" section and click the down arrow

  3. Hover over the calendar to share and click the three dots

  4. Select "Settings and sharing"

  5. Under "Share with specific people," click "Add people"

  6. Add your work email and adjust permissions

  7. Click "Send" and follow the emailed link

Setting Up Interview Locations

Google Meet

  • Selected by default if available in your Google Workspace

  • Note: Due to Google's 2023 policy update, candidates must manually confirm calendar invitations

  • Dover helps by sending reminders from [email protected] with rescheduling links

Zoom

  1. Log in to your Zoom account

  2. Go to Meetings > Personal Room tab

  3. Optional: Remove password requirement in Zoom settings

    1. Click on My Account in the menu bar

    2. Click on Settings on the left sidebar

    3. Scroll down to the Passcode options.

    4. Toggle the sliders to the desired settings. Blue indicates the setting is on.

  4. Copy your Personal Meeting URL

  5. Paste into Dover Scheduling preferences

Set up a personal zoom room:

Every licensed user of Zoom has a personal Zoom room, however, if you want to customize the link you must be on the business or education plan.

  1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal.

  2. In the navigation panel, click Settings.

  3. Click the Meeting tab.

  4. Click on the Security tab. We recommend that you enable the Waiting Room feature to prevent anyone from entering into an ongoing call. If you have the passcode feature enabled, make sure you toggle on "Embed passcode in invite link" as shown below.

  5. If the setting is disabled, click the toggle to enable it. If a verification dialog appears, click Turn On to verify the change.

Note: If the option is grayed out, it has been locked at either the group or account level. You will need to contact your Zoom admin in order to make the necessary changes.

Phone Call

Candidates will share a phone number for you to call them on.

In Person

Address where you will conduct interviews and that will be shared in the Google Calendar event.

Option 2: Third-Party Scheduling Link

  1. In Interview Preferences, select Third-party link

  2. Enter your scheduling link URL (e.g., from Calendly)

  3. Click Save

Note: With third-party scheduling, Dover cannot automatically schedule, reschedule, or send followups to candidates. Interview durations will always be the same.

Option 3: No Scheduling Link

  1. In Interview Preferences, select Do not use a scheduling link

  2. Click Save

  3. You'll need to coordinate interview times directly with candidates

  4. Manually update candidate status in Dover after interviews

Frequently Asked Questions

Dover Scheduling: Can I check when candidates can book time with me?

Yes, go to Interview Preferences and click "See my availability" to view your calendar with conflicts clearly marked.

Dover Scheduling: Will Dover delete any of my calendar events?

When interviews are rescheduled using Dover Scheduling, the original interview event will be deleted.

Dover Scheduling: What events can Dover see on my calendar?

Dover can view all the calendars that you are subscribed to, including coworkers' calendars if you are connected with them.

Dover Scheduling: Why is viewing all connected calendars helpful?

This is by design — so we can track when Dover candidates have meetings on a "Hiring" calendar, or reach late-stage interviews. Dover uses Google Calendar API to provide this functionality.

Dover Scheduling: Why is Google Meet greyed out?

This is due to your company email account permissions. If you cannot select Google Meet we suggest reaching out to your IT department or your GSuite Admin and see if granting your team access to Google Meet is possible.

Dover Scheduling: What are Google's Calendar permissions?

Dover uses the Google Calendar API to read events from your calendar. Google calendar does not provide more granular permissions than that (e.g. reading from a single calendar is not supported). Dover only queries your free/busy availability and events that relate to active Dover candidates.

Dover Scheduling: How do I block off holidays on my Google calendar?

If you do not wish to have interviews scheduled on holidays, please add an OOO to your calendar so that candidates cannot book time with you on holidays.

  1. Go to your Google Calendar: https://calendar.google.com

  2. Click Create and select Out of Office from the dropdown

  3. Select the date and time of your OOO. Please make sure that your event is Public.

  4. When you've made changes, click Save

What if I need someone to interview for me while I'm away?

Edit your Interview Plan, add an alternate interviewer to the interview stage, and save your changes.

Did this answer your question?