Sending an interview invite
How to invite one candidate or a batch of candidates to an interview — including what the candidate receives by email, how the invitation is scoped to a job, and what happens if you mis-target.
Key takeaways
- Open the candidate (or select multiple), click *Invite*, choose the job, click *Send*.
- Each invite is unique and tied to one candidate + one job. Don't share links.
- The invitation email contains a link that expires in 5–7 days by default.
- Sending an invite does NOT consume credits. Credits are consumed only when an interview successfully completes.
Before you start
Sending an interview invite is the trigger that starts the AI interview process. This article covers single-candidate invites, bulk invites, what the candidate experiences, and the small but important details that trip people up.
Path 1 — Invite a single candidate
When you want to invite one specific candidate to one specific role:
The candidate gets the invitation email within seconds. The invitation also shows in their profile as Invited with a timestamp.
Path 2 — Invite multiple candidates at once
When you want to invite a batch — typically the top N candidates after CV review:
Each candidate gets their own unique invitation email. The invitations are tracked individually in the platform.
TIP
Before you send a bulk invite, double-check the filter you have applied to the candidates list. The bulk action operates on currently-selected candidates, not on the visible page. Easy to invite 1000 candidates when you only meant 50 if you have *Select all* + *Show all* combined.
What the candidate receives
The invitation email is sent from a NextMantra-controlled address (typically no-reply@nextmantra.ai or your org-specific sender if configured). It contains:
- The role title and your organisation name.
- A short explanation that the interview is conducted by an AI interviewer.
- A button: Start interview. This is the link the candidate clicks.
- The expiry date.
- A link to a FAQ in this Knowledge Hub for any candidate who has questions before they start.
What counts as credits
No credits are consumed when you send an invite. Credits are consumed only when an interview completes successfully (transcript + evaluation generated). See How credits work.
This means you can over-invite without budget anxiety. If you have 100 credits and you invite 500 candidates, only the candidates who actually finish will consume the credits — and you'll see them complete in real-time, so you can pause invites at any point if you're close to the limit.
Tracking what you sent
Every invite shows in two places:
- The candidate profile → Interview history section. Status will be Invited, then In progress, then Completed (or Expired, or Revoked).
- The Interviews page in the sidebar. This is a global view of all interviews across all jobs — filter by status to find what you need.
Re-inviting
If a candidate's invite expired or they had a technical issue and you want to give them another shot, just send a new invite from their profile. The old invitation stays in history (so you have a record) but a new link is generated and emailed.
WARNING
If the candidate has already completed the interview (even badly), sending another invite gives them a fresh attempt. Be sure that's what you intend — if they bombed and you want to reject them, just reject them; don't re-invite hoping for a better outcome. The recruiter community generally considers retakes appropriate only for documented technical failures.
Next: reading the results once the candidate has finished.
Frequently asked questions
Can I invite a candidate to multiple jobs at once?
Not in a single invite. Each invitation is bound to one candidate + one job. If you want a candidate to interview for two roles, send two invites. They'll get two separate emails and take two separate interviews.
Can I customise the invitation email?
Currently the email template is fixed (organisation name, role title, candidate name, the interview link). Custom branding and a personal note from the recruiter are on the roadmap. For now, if you want to send a personal message, send a separate email of your own first introducing the AI interview, then send the platform invite.
I sent an invite to the wrong candidate. Can I revoke it?
Yes — open the candidate, find the invitation in the *Interview history* section, and click *Revoke*. The link in the candidate's email becomes invalid. If they have already started the interview, you cannot revoke; let it complete and ignore the result.
How long is the invitation valid?
Default is 7 days from the moment you click Send. You can configure the per-job expiry in the job settings. After expiry, the link no longer works and you would need to re-invite to give them another chance.
Next steps
Reading the interview results page
When a candidate completes their AI interview, you get an Interview Review page with the AI evaluation, transcript, recordings, and decisions. The full layout, explained panel by panel.
Reading the AI evaluation report — what the scores actually mean
Six dimensions, weighted by role, summed into one recommendation. Here is how to read each score, when to trust it, and when to override it with your own judgement.