This article explains how to configure and manage alternates for On-Campus Interview (OCI) schedules through OCI Round and Period configurations. It outlines the steps for enabling alternate settings, ranking applicants during the selection process, and managing schedules when a student withdraws. Additionally, it details the different configuration workflows available, including automated ranked promotions and open, first-come-first-served slot selection.
Sections
- Alternates in 12twenty
- Enabling Alternate Promotion
- Marking Students as Alternates
- Alternate Configurations
- Customizing Notifications
- Managing Withdrawals
Alternates in 12twenty
What is an Alternate in 12twenty?
Alternates are students who did not get chosen to interview during the selection process of an OCI Round, but who the interviewer would like as a 'back-up' interviewee if one of their first selections withdraw from the interview. When enabled, Interviewers can select Alternates during the Interview Selection Process and rank them in the order of preference. The alternate will be promoted to the Pending Assignment section of the schedule, but this can be adjusted to allow alternates that weren't selected to pick empty slots on a time-schedule in a first-come, first-serve basis.
What happens when an Alternate Promotes?
When an alternate promotes they are no longer considered an Alternate and have the same status as other selected students on the schedule. When the invitation to interview is accepted (this can be configured to accept automatically), promoted alternates are moved to the "Pending Assignment" section of the Schedule and can be configured to choose their own slots, or be assigned to a slot by an administrator manually.
Enabling Alternate Promotion
In order for employers to set applicants as alternates the setting Allow OCI applicants to be set as alternates must be enabled in Site Settings under Site Management > Site Settings > OCI and Job Listings > Access Controls and Notifications.
When Allow OCI Applicants to be set as alternates is activated Employers are able to select Alternates during any OCI Period with Allow employers to decide on interview decisions setting enabled. Once a student is set as an alternate there are a few ways that Alternates can be configured to behave.
Marking Students as Alternate
During the interviewer selection period navigate to the Job Posting and select the Applicants tab, then select students that need to be marked as alternates using the checkboxes on the left-hand side:
After making selections use the 3-dot action button to the top-right of the alternate list and open the drop-down menu, then select Waitlist from the menu.
When selecting alternates in this way students will be ranked in descending order from top to bottom so the student at the top of the list will be marked as Alternate 1, then Alternate 2 and so on.
*Note: To control the ranking of alternates it is necessary to promote alternates one-at-a-time, selecting the alternate's checkbox and then using the action-menu to Waistlist the selected student.
Alternate Configurations
12twenty supports 3 ways to configure how alternates behave during an OCI.
Alternates Auto-Promote when a student withdraws and immediately Accept Interview
This behavior triggers whenever a student withdraws from an OCI, immediately adding them to the Pending Assignment section of the schedule. This means when a student withdraws from the interview the alternate will be automatically promoted to Extended and Accepted Interview status in the order of their ranking as other students withdraw from or decline an interview, making slots available.
*Note: automatic promotion only works when a student withdraws from a slot. If an admin withdraws a student it will not automatically promote any alternates.
As a prerequisite for this setting, the OCI Round must have Will students who are extended interviews automatically accept the interviews? enabled under the OCI Round Settings. This can be done when adding a New Round or Editing a Round, more details on OCI Rounds is available here.
It is also necessary to configure the OCI Period that allows students to Withdraw to Automatically add promoted alternates to the schedule if a slot is available in order for students to automatically be placed on the schedule in this way.
This behavior can be configured several ways, but the example described here allows Students who have accepted interview offers (which is configured to happen automatically in our OCI Round), can also withdraw their decision or select a slot on the schedule. If one of these students withdraws, our alternate will automatically accept the interview and show up on the Schedule tab in the Students Pending Assignment section:
Alternates Auto-Promote when a student withdraws, then decide to accept or decline
If alternates should be allowed to choose if they want to Accept or Decline the interview then it is necessary to disable the setting Will students who are extended interviews automatically accept the interviews? on the OCI Round, setting it to No. It's also necessary to enable Allow students to accept interview offers on the OCI Period, this allows promoted alternates to choose if they want to accept the interview before being added to the schedule.
Alternates choose an Open Time Slot in a free-for-all after Selections are made
Allowing Alternates or employer selected students to self-select slots creates a "free for all"
If you have enabled the period permission Allow alternates or employer-selected students to self-select slots then the interview selection process shifts to a first come, first serve model. This is typically referred to as an Open Sign-up Period.
During this period:
- Alternates are not automatically promoted when students withdraw or decline interviews.
- All alternates receive an "Interview Slot Available" notification when a time slot opens, allowing them to log in and select the slot on a first come, first serve basis.
- Alternates can select an interview slot even if an employer-selected student has not selected a slot yet or if a higher rank alternate has not selected a slot. For example, if alternate #3 logs in, they can select a slot even if alternate #1 has not selected one yet.
Because of the above stipulations this setting is not compatible with Ranked Promotion of Alternates. To maintain ranked order promotion, disable the Allow alternates or employer-selected students to self-select slots setting. This ensures that alternates are promoted in the order of their ranking.
If you already had this setting enabled in an active OCI round and want to change this, please the article Editing an OCI Period Being Used in an Active OCI Round.
Customizing Notifications
The Student-facing email Alternate Promoted Action Required sends to Alternates whenever a student has withdrawn based on ranking (sending to the highest ranked alternate) or free-for-all (sending to all alternates regardless of ranking) settings. This email can be customized under Site Management > Site Settings > Interviews & Job Listings > Notifications to include details about the employer, position, and interview time slot. This ensures that alternates are well-informed about their new interview opportunities.
This email must be enabled if you want alternates to be notified to self-select slots after promotion.
Managing Withdrawals
If an alternate withdraws after being promoted, the next ranked alternate will be automatically added and notified via email. This ensures a smooth and continuous interview scheduling process without gaps.
When withdrawing a student as an admin, the confirmation window will ask admins if they would like to auto-promote an alternate. As mentioned earlier, Admins have the option to withdraw a student without promoting another to “extended interview” status.
*Note - when an administrator promotes a student in this way they will not be added to the schedule.