The moment it happens
Book interviews automatically when you shortlist a candidate
When you shortlist a candidate, the next free 45-minute slot is booked on your calendar with a Meet link and the candidate gets an invitation email.
- Runs
- The moment it happens
- Apps
- Gmail, Google Calendar
- AI
- Optional
- Access
- Calendar write; Gmail gmail.send
Send this to your assistant
Create a ClickRuntime automation: when I mark a candidate as shortlisted, find the next free 45-minute slot in my calendar, create the interview with a Meet link and email the candidate an invitation.
First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.
Why use it
Why teams use this automation
A hiring manager at a growing startup shortlists eight candidates for a role. Each one then takes three or four emails to agree a time, and by the time the last interview is booked, the best candidate has accepted another offer.
Booking the first free slot the moment a candidate is shortlisted removes days of scheduling emails and shows candidates a fast, organised process.
What you get out of it
Candidates hear back the same day
A prompt invitation keeps good candidates engaged and signals that your company moves quickly.
No scheduling back-and-forth
The time is chosen from your real availability, so there is no thread of 'does Tuesday work?'
Every interview has a video link
A Meet link is attached to each event, so nobody scrambles for one at the start of the call.
Consistent, friendly invitations
Each candidate gets a clear email with the role, time and link, written in your company's tone.
How it works
What happens, step by step
When you shortlist a candidate, your hiring tool tells ClickRuntime.
ClickRuntime checks your Google Calendar for the next free 45-minute slot within your working hours.
It creates the interview event with a Meet link and invites the candidate.
The candidate also gets an invitation email with the role, time and link, optionally worded by AI.
Before it runs live
- Connect Google through your own Google app (a one-time, 10-minute setup), so it works with your own Gmail
- Connect Google Calendar
- Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings
What you get
Build your own
Need it to work differently?
Your own rules
Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.
Any number of apps
One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.
AI where it helps
Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.
On a schedule or on each event
Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.
Changes you can ask for
- Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
- Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
- Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
- Combine it with other Gmail and Google Calendar steps into one automation
Under the hood
The code that runs this automation
import base64
from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
from email.message import EmailMessage
from clickruntime import on_event, credentials, http
CAL = "https://www.googleapis.com/calendar/v3"
@on_event
def handle(event):
c = event.json or {}
h = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.connection('google', 'work')}"}
start = (datetime.now(timezone.utc) + timedelta(days=1)).replace(hour=10, minute=0, second=0, microsecond=0)
busy = http.post(f"{CAL}/freeBusy", headers=h, json={"timeMin": start.isoformat(), "timeMax": (start + timedelta(days=7)).isoformat(),
"items": [{"id": "primary"}]}).json()["calendars"]["primary"]["busy"]
def free(s):
return s.weekday() < 5 and 10 <= s.hour < 16 and all(s + timedelta(minutes=45) <= datetime.fromisoformat(b["start"]) or
s >= datetime.fromisoformat(b["end"]) for b in busy)
while not free(start):
start += timedelta(minutes=15)
end = start + timedelta(minutes=45)
ev = http.post(f"{CAL}/calendars/primary/events", headers=h, params={"conferenceDataVersion": 1}, json={
"summary": f"Interview: {c['name']} ({c['role']})", "start": {"dateTime": start.isoformat()}, "end": {"dateTime": end.isoformat()},
"attendees": [{"email": c["email"]}], "conferenceData": {"createRequest": {"requestId": event.event_id}}}).json()
m = EmailMessage(); m["To"] = c["email"]; m["Subject"] = f"Interview for {c['role']}"
m.set_content(f"Hi {c['name']},\n\nWe'd love to talk. Your interview is on {start:%A %d %B at %H:%M} UTC.\nJoin: {ev.get('hangoutLink')}\n\nReply if the time doesn't work.")
http.post("https://gmail.googleapis.com/gmail/v1/users/me/messages/send", headers=h, json={"raw": base64.urlsafe_b64encode(m.as_bytes()).decode()})
return {"booked": start.isoformat()}FAQ
Common questions
How do I mark a candidate as shortlisted?
Which hours does it book in?
Can the candidate change the time?
What permissions does it need?
Does it need AI?
How many runs does it use?
Can I change how it works?
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