Scheduling: How Suggested Slots Are Gathered (and Why None May Appear)
Last updated: August 12, 2026
Approx. 5 min read
When you schedule an interview in candidate.fyi, the product can recommend times for you to book. Depending on where you are working, these recommendations may appear under Suggested Slots, Suggested Schedules, or (for candidates submitting availability) Suggested Times.
This guide explains how those suggestions are gathered and the most common reasons you may see no suggestions at all.
Where you will see suggested times
Scheduling Request scheduler (main admin experience)
Go to Scheduling, open a request, and click Schedule (or the calendar icon). On the right side of the scheduler:
Individual mode shows Suggested Slots — single interview times you can click to book.
Schedules mode (available when the request has more than one interview) shows Suggested Schedules — full multi-interview combinations.
Chrome Extension — Schedule Now
From your ATS, open Schedule Now, configure the round, then drill into an interview. Suggested time cards appear for the day you are viewing. You can also choose Select Time Directly if suggestions do not work for you.
Candidate portal — availability requests
When a candidate is asked to submit availability (not self-schedule), they may see Suggested Times with the prompt Click any of these suggested times:. This is a separate experience from the coordinator scheduler and only appears when specific round settings are enabled (see below).
How Suggested Slots are gathered (admin scheduler)
When you open the scheduler and select an interview, candidate.fyi searches for bookable times and lists them in the Suggested Slots panel. The search runs automatically when you change interviews, dates, filters, or suggestion settings.
The product looks for times where all required pieces line up at once:
Interview setup — interview duration, assigned interviewers, tag-based interviewer pools, alternate interviewers, and whether the round is configured with no interviewers required
Candidate availability — times the candidate submitted (unless you turn on Ignore Candidate Availability in Suggestion Filters)
Interviewer availability — calendar busy times and working hours (unless you turn on Ignore Interviewer Working Hours)
Conference rooms — room availability when room booking is enabled and Include Booking Rooms is on
Trainees — availability for any configured training paths
Already scheduled in this session — times you already picked for other interviews in the same request are excluded
Date and time window — controlled by your calendar view, Start on or Schedule For day buttons, and Morning / Afternoon filters
Lead time — if you search for today, the search starts about five minutes from now; for future days it starts at the beginning of the day (or at noon when Afternoon is selected)
Slot spacing — controlled by Slot Interval (minutes) in Suggestion Filters (10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes)
Each suggested slot appears as a card showing the date and time, interviewers, and sometimes room or trainee details. Slots may also show warnings such as:
* Outside Interviewers Working Hours
* Outside Candidate Availability
X/Y available when only some interviewers are free
Suggestion Filters
Click the filter button next to Suggested Slots to open Suggestion Filters. From here you can adjust:
Ignore Candidate Availability
Ignore Interviewer Working Hours
Include Booking Rooms (shown when conference room booking applies to the interview)
Slot Interval (minutes)
Click Update to refresh suggestions, or Restore Default to reset filters.
Suggested Schedules (multi-interview requests)
When a request has more than one interview, switch Suggestions to Schedules. The product finds full combinations of times across the interviews you selected (X/Y Interviews Selected → Select Interviews).
Additional filters in this mode include Allow Multi Day and Require Back to Back. When Require Back to Back is on, a tooltip notes that Back-to-back interviews limit suggestions searching to selected day only.
How candidate Suggested Times are gathered
For availability requests, candidates may see up to five recommended time windows. These are built from when interviewers are actually free, starting after the round’s minimum buffer hours and within the “all interviews scheduled within X days” deadline when that setting applies.
Suggested Times only appear when all of the following are true:
Suggest availability times to candidate is turned on (in round settings under Templates → Scheduling Rounds, or on the request under Edit Round Settings → Candidate Selections)
The request type is an availability request (not self-schedule)
The request has exactly one interview
There are viable interviewer windows in the search range
If any of these conditions are not met, the Suggested Times section is simply hidden — there is no error message shown to the candidate.
Why no suggestions may appear
Admin scheduler — Individual (Suggested Slots)
When no bookable times are found, you will see:
No slots suggestions available
This message does not explain the specific reason. Common causes include:
No overlap between candidate availability and interviewer free time
All interviewers are busy or outside working hours (with filters off)
Interviewers are not configured for the round, or tag/alternate pools cannot be filled
Conference rooms are required but none are free (when Include Booking Rooms is on)
The selected date or Morning/Afternoon window has no valid times
Times already picked for other interviews in this session block remaining options
The search window does not overlap with when the candidate is available
What to try:
Change the calendar day using Start on / Schedule For, or switch between Morning and Afternoon
Open Suggestion Filters and try Ignore Candidate Availability or Ignore Interviewer Working Hours
Confirm interviewers are assigned and calendars are connected
Check whether the candidate has submitted availability
Pick a time manually on the calendar using Manual Schedule
Admin scheduler — Schedules (Suggested Schedules)
Same empty message: No slots suggestions available. Common causes include no valid multi-interview combinations, Require Back to Back limiting search to one day with no valid combos, or too few interviews selected in Select Interviews.
Chrome Extension — Schedule Now
Select an interview to view suggested time slots — no interview is selected yet
No slots available with No suggested slots available as interviewers are not enabled for this round — the interview is configured with no interviewers
No slots available with No interview slots found for this day. Try selecting a different day or adjusting the interview configuration. — no times on the selected day
The extension does not offer Suggestion Filters. Use Select Time Directly or try a different day.
Candidate portal — Suggested Times
If Suggested Times do not appear, check that Suggest availability times to candidate is on, the request is an availability request with a single interview, and interviewers have open calendar time within the configured buffer and deadline window.
Round settings that affect suggestions
These settings (on the round template or scheduling request) influence whether and how suggestions appear:
Suggest availability times to candidate — enables candidate-facing Suggested Times
Restrict Candidate Availability Entry — limits which dates candidates can pick
Minimum buffer hours — earliest time suggestions can start
All interviews scheduled within X days — caps how far out suggestions are searched
Requires back-to-back interviews — affects default schedule suggestion behavior
Allow multi-day schedule — whether multi-day schedule combinations are allowed
Interviewer slots, tags, and alternates — who must be free
Room selection and booking settings — whether rooms factor into suggestions
Training paths — trainee availability is included when configured