Multi-Hiring Manager Matchmaker and Client First

Requested by: Rachel Petersen (power user, featured customer story), Oct 20, 2026

Problem
When an interview involves a candidate plus two or more hiring managers, only the primary hiring manager gets the availability request. They then have to coordinate with the others offline and submit a joint availability. Arrange is pushing the hardest coordination step back onto the client. Rachel called this her only point of friction.

New toggle in the Arrange an Interview modal
When the recruiter selects two or more hiring managers, if they choose matchmaker or client first - a toggle appears: How should hiring managers share availability?

One person fills out for everyone: today’s behavior and the default. The primary submits availability on behalf of the group. This fits EAs, coordinators, and clients who prefer to sort it out internally.
Each hiring manager fills out individually: each one gets their own email and submits independently, and Arrange finds the overlap.

The toggle only shows when multiple hiring managers are selected. It applies to Matchmaker and Client First.

Individual mode behavior

Matchmaker: once all hiring managers and the candidate submit, the invite goes out at the earliest time that works for everyone.
Client First: once all hiring managers submit, the candidate only sees the times where they all overlap.
No full match (Matchmaker): the candidate sees only the times where the hiring managers overlap. The candidate can update their availability but cannot request more times.
No overlap among the hiring managers: don’t email the candidate. Instead, go back to the hiring managers with a “couldn’t find a time that works for everyone” email that shows when the others are free, and ask them to add times.

Submission Link and coordinator use cases
The person who clicks a Submission Link may not be attending the interview. They could be an EA, an HR coordinator, or someone forwarding the link. Two roles need to be separated:

Coordinator: drives the scheduling on the client side.
Attendees: the people actually in the interview.

After the client picks Matchmaker or “provide my own availability,” ask: Who’s joining this interview?

Just me. Same as today.
Me and others. They add the interviewers and enter their own availability, and each of the others gets an email.
I’m scheduling for someone else. They add the interviewers, then choose either “ask each of them” or “I’ll enter it for them.” Either way, the coordinator gets status updates and the “no overlap” or reminder emails, and is left off the invite unless they opt in.

How the recruiter and client choices interact:

If the recruiter already selected multiple hiring managers and set the toggle, prefill those names and apply the recruiter’s choice, so the clicker just confirms.
If the clicker’s email isn’t on the recruiter’s list, ask whether they’re attending or coordinating.
If the client adds a new interviewer, notify the recruiter.

Guardrails

Required vs optional hiring managers. The primary is required by default. If not everyone overlaps, match on the required hiring managers plus as many optional ones as possible.
Reminder at 24 hours. After that, the recruiter or coordinator can proceed with the people who responded, or drop or replace someone.
The primary or coordinator can submit for the whole group at any point, as an override.
Hiring managers connected via Arrange Connect use their calendars automatically. Everyone else gets the form.
Cap at around 4 hiring managers.
The overlap must cover the full interview length.
The tracker shows per-person status, such as “2 of 3 responded.”

Why it matters: Panel interviews are common for agency recruiters. Defaulting to today’s behavior means nothing changes for existing users, and the individual mode removes the client-side coordination entirely. That’s the core of the “middle person” promise.