1. Transfer applicant data
2. Close your calendar sessions
Select the settings (gear) icon in the top navigation bar
Select Program Settings
Select Calendar Settings from the left-hand menu
Set all calendar sessions to Closed
Important: When you save, you will be prompted to confirm that event waitlists will be disabled automatically. This prevents applicants from joining a waitlist before you manually schedule them. You can re-enable waitlists later, once all applicants are scheduled.
3. Create your interview events
Create all interview events on your Thalamus calendar. For instructions, see the Creating Interview Dates guide.
4. Confirm your calendar and waitlist settings
Confirm that your calendar events are set to Closed and that waitlists are disabled. These settings will apply automatically once you complete steps 2 and 3 above.
2. Close Your Calendar Sessions
On the Program Page, go to Calendar Settings
Set all calendar sessions to Closed
Note: When you save, you will be prompted to confirm that event waitlists will be automatically disabled. This prevents applicants from joining a waitlist before you manually schedule them. You can turn waitlists back on after all applicants are scheduled.
3. Create Your Interview Events
4. Confirm Your Calendar Settings
Confirm that your calendar events are set to Closed and that waitlists are disabled.
Note: These settings are applied automatically when you complete the steps in sections 2 and 3 above.
Calendar events that are Closed with waitlists disabled will display a closed-door icon and a waitlist-disabled icon.
5. Create an Interview Invitation Email Template
Important: Create a custom Interview Invitation email template to let applicants know that your program will use Thalamus to manage interviews for the season, and that you will manually schedule them for the date they selected in the alternate application system.
Under the Interview Invitation section, create the custom template by following the Managing/Editing Automatic Email Templates guide.
Note: Applicants don't need to take any action, other than creating a Thalamus account through the link in the invitation, if they don't already have one. This link is provided by the "invitation message" short code, which must be included in the invite email.
6. Assign Scheduling Groups and Tiers
Before sending invitations, follow the Assigning Scheduling Groups on your Applicant Dashboard and Tiering Applicants on your Applicant Dashboard guides.
7. Invite and Schedule Applicants
Invite and manually schedule your applicants by following Inviting Applicants to Interview and Manually Scheduling an Applicant for Interview or Waitlist.
Note: Applicants will receive an automatic confirmation email letting them know that the program scheduled them manually. To send additional information, create a template under the Additional Templates section and follow Manually Sending Email Templates (Additional Templates).
8. Scheduling Management
After you schedule your applicants, choose one of the following options for future invitations and rescheduling.
Option 1: Allow Applicants to Self-Schedule
Use this option if you plan to send more invitations and want applicants to schedule themselves, or want currently scheduled applicants to be able to reschedule.
On the Program Page, go to Calendar Settings
Toggle the Event Status button to Open
When prompted to open waitlists, select Confirm
Note: You can still manually disable waitlists for a specific event by editing that event on the Thalamus calendar.
Once you complete these steps, all applicants, including those already invited or scheduled, and any invited in the future, will be able to self-schedule, reschedule, or join a waitlist as dates fill.
Option 2: Continue Manually Scheduling Applicants
Use this option if you plan to send more invitations but want to keep scheduling applicants manually, without allowing applicants to make changes on their own.
Leave all calendar events set to Closed with waitlists disabled
Manually schedule or reschedule applicants using the steps in section 7 above
Note: Applicants can still cancel themselves out of any event they're scheduled into, including closed events. To prevent applicants from self-scheduling, cancelling, or rescheduling, use lockout intervals.
For additional questions or support, please contact our team by emailing customercare@thalamusgme.com.