When arranging interviews, do recruiters book their preferred candidates first?

[ThatQuickLimePombear]

Just wondering how much strategy goes into scheduling interviews. If you’re inviting a few candidates to interview for the same role, do you arrange them based on preference - like booking your top choice earlier or later in the day? Or is it just done based on availability?

Genuinely curious how this works behind the scenes.

Alphabetical by surname

my dp used to do recruitment and he would put the strongest candidate last if he was able to

As long as I can see all the candidates on the same day, I don’t really have a preference for what order I see them in. I prefer not to interview more than 4-5 people for a role though.

We have an automated system, all candidates get the same email at the same time inviting them to book an interview space. They then book their choice on a first come first served basis.

I always do alphabetical by surname when l arrange interviews

Availability. Trying to sequence in order of preference would be an admin and logistical faff and probably impossible. I used a tool that offered slots for candidates to choose on a first come, first served basis.

It's 99% availability. Candidates are generally booked in by admin so there's no consideration given to quality.

If there was ever an occasion that I'd take quality into consideration, I'd probably put the weakest candidate first. Every job I interview for is very different so I'd 'practice' on the weaker candidates first.

I would only be interviewing 4 or 5 people for a post. I would usually contact my preferred choice first to offer them a slot, as I’d be keen to give them an alternative time slot that day if necessary. And if I had an ‘outsider’ on the list, I’d probably contact them last, and offer them whatever time was left. It would be more important for me to definitely see my preferred choices on the day.

No! The only preference we’d give is to those who respond to the initial email first - all good candidates are accommodated for an interview slot provided they are available in the interview window.

(edited to explain) it would only affect who got the first slot based on availability.
Interview order/ who we interviewed first or last, has zero bearing on who we offer the job to.

Zero consideration given here. They sit in our system in the order they were submitted but all applications are treated equally. But for that reason, the earlier ones are invited first, as they're at the top of the list once passing the application stage.
Nothing to do with favourites.

As someone with a name which is a late letter in the alphabet, can I plead for people to stop this? I have had it done so often and it really disadvantages me = so many times people are tired, fed up and just want to be done when I get in. It sucks. First come first served for times is much fairer.

I look at where they live and schedule the most local people at the start or end of the day and those that travel furthest in the middle, in the hope that this makes it easier for everyone to attend.

No. The people who do the shortlisting are very rarely the same people who do the scheduling.

Our HR admin staff do the scheduling, they wouldnt have a clue which candidates were standing out to me or not. I only interview people who look employable on paper, I can't be wasting my time interviewing people I would never employ

Same here. It’s public sector though.

That may well be what happens for us too actually, I have no idea. . I send a shortlist of names to the HR admin team and then they come back to me with an interview schedule

When Mum used to recruit, she did alphabetical order as far as possible.

I had one ex-boss who used to start the day with those who she felt "would have to work harder to impress her" and end with those who she thought were stronger on paper following the shortlisting (as it turned out, very often the ones she thought looked the strongest weren't the ones who eventually got hired).

I shortlist but HR book the interviews so there’s no relationship between who I (on paper) think is the best candidate and when they are interviewed…

I used to do the same. Are face-to-face interviews still common though? Or do they tend to be done over Zoom nowadays? I suppose if I was recruiting and using virtual interviews I’d phone my preferred candidate first and give them first pick of the different slots.

These days, I'm interviewing online, usually alphabetical order. Sometimes I go reverse alphabetical order so the people who usually have to wait all day go first!
Sometimes it depends on time zone difference, and when I used to do interviews where candidates were there for most of the day, with formal interviews in the afternoon, we interviewed the ones with longest travel first and local ones last.

No preference here. An admin person sorts it all out and I think people are offered slots and book themselves.

Same here - the ATS does it all

No. We have a scheduling system where candidates choose their own times on the interview days.

No real order for me. Depends on availability of the candidate and fitting around a really busy diary for me and the co-interviewer.