> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.alex.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Outreach and Engagement

Automated outreach helps you connect with candidates efficiently, ensuring they receive timely invitations and reminders. This keeps them engaged in the hiring process without manual follow-up.

## Inviting Candidates to Interviews

You can start the conversation with potential candidates by sending invitations individually or to a large group at once. This flexibility allows you to manage your recruiting pipeline effectively, whether you're reaching out to a single promising applicant or launching a large-scale sourcing campaign.

### Invite an Individual or a Group

* **Individual Invitations**: You can invite a single candidate to an interview process.
* **Batch Invitations**: To save time, you can invite multiple candidates simultaneously by providing a list of their names and contact information (email or phone number).

The system validates each candidate's information before sending an invitation. If a workflow requires a phone number for SMS or phone outreach, candidates without one will not be invited. Additionally, candidates who have previously opted out of communications will not receive new invitations.

## Configuring Communication Channels

Design a custom communication plan for each workflow using a sequence of steps. This ensures candidates receive a well-timed initial invitation and any necessary follow-up reminders through various channels.

### Set Up Your Outreach Sequence

Your outreach is built as a series of steps. The first step is always the **Invitation**, which is sent immediately. Subsequent steps are **Reminders**, which are sent after a delay that you define.

You can configure the following communication channels for any step in your sequence:

* **Email**: Customize the subject and body of the email.
* **SMS (Text Message)**: Write the content for the text message.
* **Phone Call**: Schedule an automated phone call. You can also configure a follow-up text message to be sent if the candidate misses the call.

### Schedule Reminders and Set Outreach Hours

* **Reminder Timing**: For each reminder step, you can set a delay in minutes, hours, or days. This determines how long the system waits after the previous step before sending the reminder.
* **Outreach Hours**: To avoid contacting candidates at inconvenient times, restrict outreach to specific hours of the day (for example, excluding overnight hours). Any communication scheduled outside those hours is automatically held and sent at the next available time. The candidate's local time zone is used. This is set per workflow, on the workflow's **Settings** tab.

## Tracking Candidate Engagement

Keep track of every candidate's progress throughout the interview process with clear, automated status updates. This helps you identify who has been invited, who is actively engaged, and who has completed the process.

### Identify Candidate Status

Once an invitation is sent, the candidate's interview session is updated to reflect their progress. Key statuses include:

* **Sent**: The initial invitation has been sent.
* **Scheduled**: The candidate has scheduled their interview.
* **Active**: The candidate has started the interview.
* **Completed**: The candidate has finished the interview.
* **Expired**: The candidate did not complete the interview within the allowed time frame after the final reminder was sent.

The system automatically stops sending reminders as soon as a candidate takes action, such as scheduling or starting their interview, or if they are rejected. Each candidate also has an "active session," which makes it easy to identify their current stage in the interview process.