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Creating and Managing Interview Templates

Learn how to create reusable interview templates and tailor job-specific interviews in Alva. Templates help you stay consistent across roles, while job-specific interviews let you customize for unique positions.

Pernilla Ahl avatar
Written by Pernilla Ahl
Updated this week

What Is an Interview Template?

An interview template is a structured setup that defines which criteria and questions will be used in an interview. Templates make it easy to run standardized, repeatable interviews that are consistent across roles and teams.

šŸ’” Tip: If you only need a one-off interview for a specific position, you can create a job-specific interview instead. Templates are best when you want to reuse the same setup for multiple jobs.


How to Create an Interview Template

  1. Go to the Interview Templates view.

  2. Click Create interview template in the top right corner.

  3. Add a title and description for the template.

  4. Click Add from library to include existing criteria from your Interview Content library.

  5. (Optional) Toggle on Generate personalized questions to include automatically tailored questions based on each candidate’s personality results.

  6. Click Create when you’re happy with the setup.

šŸ’” Note: Templates can be updated later if your process changes. Keep in mind that edits affect all jobs using that template.


Creating a Job-Specific Interview

If you want to create an interview that’s unique to a specific position, you can build it directly within that job. Job-specific interviews live only within that job and won’t appear in your shared template library.

  1. Open the job in Alva.

  2. Go to the Assessments tab.

  3. Click Add assessment and select Interview.

  4. Choose Create custom interview.

  5. Add a title and description.

  6. Click Add from library to include existing criteria - or create new ones directly within the interview.

  7. (Optional) Toggle Generate personalized questions to include candidate-specific questions.
    šŸ‘‰ Learn more about Generate personalized questions

  8. Click Save interview when done.

šŸ’” Tip: Any new criteria you create while building a job-specific interview can later be saved to your organization’s criteria library for future use in templates or other jobs.

Need more guidance on creating strong and consistent criteria? Read how to create and manage interview content.

āš ļø Note: Edits to a job-specific interview only apply to that job - they won’t update templates or other positions.


When to Use Templates vs. Job-Specific Interviews

Use templates when you want:

  • A consistent interview setup for similar roles

  • A repeatable structure across departments or teams

  • To add interviews through your ATS integration - this requires a template

Use job-specific interviews when you want:

  • A one-time interview setup tailored to a single role

  • The flexibility to test or refine new content before standardizing it

šŸ’” Tip: Start with a template if you’re unsure - it’s easy to adapt later once connected to a job.

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