Who this is for: Recruiting Ops admins and coordinators setting up Guide with Ashby as your ATS. When to use this: After your live onboarding call, as a step-by-step reference to complete your setup.
Understanding How Ashby Interviews Work in Guide
Ashby has two types of interviews, and knowing the difference will save you significant setup time:
Global (Shared) Interviews — defined once in your Ashby Interview Library, reusable across all jobs
Job-Level Interviews — defined on a specific job only; not shared across roles
Why this matters: If you have duplicate interview names in Ashby (same name used on multiple jobs, or multiple times on the same job), Guide won’t be able to tell them apart during sync. The fix is easy — rename them in Ashby — but catching this early saves headaches later.
Step 1: Pre-Setup Audit in Ashby
Before configuring anything in Guide, do a quick audit of your Ashby setup:
Do you use Ashby’s shared/global interviews feature, or are interviews defined per-job?
Do you have any duplicate interview names across jobs or within the same job?
Do you use Ashby’s training paths feature? (Note: these will appear in Guide as interview pools, not shadowing programs — more on this below)
How many open reqs are currently active?
If you find duplicate interview names, rename them in Ashby before proceeding. Guide will pick up the updated names on the next sync.
Step 2: Configure Your Org-Level Scheduling Defaults
These settings apply globally across all scheduling plans. Set them once before you do anything else.
Go to Settings → Scheduling Defaults in Guide.
Setting | Recommended Default |
Default video platform | Zoom (use Google Meet as backup for users without a Zoom license) |
Calendar organizer | Your team interviews calendar — not personal calendars (prevents duplicate invites) |
Coordinator assignment | Assign to rec coordinator |
Availability request window | 14 days |
Reschedule task routing | Set based on your team’s preference |
Step 3: Set Up Your Interviews
🌐 Start with Global (Shared) Interviews
Global interviews are defined once and reused across jobs — setting these up first will dramatically reduce the per-job work you need to do.
In Ashby:
Go to your Interview Library
Identify which interviews are shared/global
Confirm that duration, feedback forms, and titles are correct at the global level
In Guide:
Go to Interview Defaults
Your global interviews will appear here automatically after sync
For each interview, do the following:
✏️ Edit the candidate-facing display title — simplify where needed (e.g., “Functional Case Study” → “Case Study”)
👁️ Toggle visibility — hide any internal-only interviews (like debriefs) so candidates don’t see them
⏱️ Verify duration — Ashby often pulls interviews in as 60 minutes by default; adjust to the correct length (e.g., 30 min for recruiter screens)
Best practice: Going forward, use Ashby’s shared interviews feature whenever possible. This is especially valuable for evergreen roles — you set it up once and it applies everywhere.
💼 Then Set Up Job-Level Interviews
Job-level interviews are specific to a single rec and don’t inherit from your global settings. You’ll typically use these for role-specific steps like a take-home assignment.
In Guide:
Go to the Jobs tab
Open each active rec
Review the interviews attached to that job — confirm they’re the right ones and not duplicates
If you see duplicate names: rename them in Ashby first, then trigger a manual resync in Guide
Confirm candidate-facing titles and visibility at the job level (these can override your global defaults)
⚠️ Common issue for larger teams: If your org has 200+ interviews, you may see identical interview names on the same job. Guide will display the stage name as a subtitle to help you tell them apart — but the cleanest fix is renaming duplicates directly in Ashby.
Step 4: Set Up Scheduling Plans
A scheduling plan defines how interviews are sequenced, who the interviewers are, and how availability is requested for a given role.
Choose Your Setup Approach
Decide which approach fits your team before you start:
Approach | Best For | Trade-off |
Pre-build all plans upfront | Smoother recruiter experience from day one | More admin work before go-live |
Build on first request | Smaller ops teams or large job counts | Recruiters/RCs build it the first time they schedule; Guide saves it as a template for future use |
Our recommendation for your first week: Manually set up scheduling plans for your pilot roles before go-live, then let recruiters or RCs build the rest on first use.
How to Build a Scheduling Plan
For each role (or your pilot set):
In Guide → Jobs → select the rec → Scheduling Plan
Configure the following:
Interview sequence — set the order and timing rules for each stage
Interviewer pools — add your interviewers and any alternates
Cross-day scheduling — enable if interviews span multiple days
Coordinator assignment — choose between rec coordinator, last scheduler, or a queue
If a role has multiple hiring managers (same rec, different interview panels):
Create a default plan (e.g., Team A)
Create a secondary plan (e.g., Team B)
Your recruiter will select the right plan when they go to schedule
Set your availability request window — 14 days is recommended
Step 5: Common Issues & How to Fix Them
Issue | What’s Causing It | How to Fix It |
Duplicate interviews appearing in Guide | Same interview name used on multiple jobs in Ashby | Rename the interviews in Ashby, then trigger a manual resync in Guide |
Training paths not syncing correctly | Ashby training paths function differently than Guide’s — they import as interview pools, not shadowing programs | Import your existing training progress manually; use Guide as your source of truth going forward |
All interviews showing as 60 minutes | Ashby’s default duration pulls through on sync | Manually adjust durations in Guide → Interview Defaults |
Archived interviews showing up | Ashby syncs archived interviews to Guide | Toggle visibility off for those interviews in Guide → Interview Defaults |
Interviewer pool data not populating | Ashby’s API doesn’t currently expose pool and alternate list data | Set up interviewer pools manually in Guide |
Setup Checklist
Use this to track your progress before your next check-in with the Guide team:
Rename any duplicate interview names in Ashby
Identify which interviews are global vs. job-level
Complete user profile setup for your team (photo, LinkedIn URL, 3-sentence bio)
Configure org-level scheduling defaults in Guide
Review and edit interview display titles and visibility in Guide
Set up scheduling plans for your pilot roles
Audit email templates for token translation issues
Finalize your default candidate portal template
Questions? Reach out to your Guide CSM contact or visit support.guide.co.