How to Send Your Availability to a Recruiter (Templates + Examples)

Last updated: March 2026

A recruiter just emailed you asking for your availability. You know you're free Thursday afternoon and maybe Friday morning, but now you're overthinking it. How many time slots should you offer? Should you include the timezone? Is it weird to send a Calendly link? What if you offer times and they're all taken?

This happens to everyone during a job search. The good news: there's a formula. Once you know it, responding takes about 60 seconds — and you'll never second-guess the format again.

This guide covers exactly how to respond at every stage of the interview process, with copy-paste templates, real examples, and the mistakes that make recruiters' lives harder.

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The Formula (Works Every Time)

Every availability email to a recruiter follows the same structure:

1. Thank them — one sentence acknowledging the opportunity or next step.
2. State your availability — 4 to 6 time slots across multiple days, formatted clearly.
3. Include the timezone — always.
4. Show flexibility — one sentence saying you're happy to adjust.

That's it. Don't overthink the body of the email. Recruiters read hundreds of these. They want to scan your times, cross-reference with the interviewer's calendar, and book the slot. Make it easy for them.

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Templates by Interview Stage

Initial Phone Screen

This is usually the first real interaction. Keep it warm but professional.

Subject: Re: [Job Title] — Available Times

Hi [Recruiter Name],

Thank you for reaching out — I'm excited about the [Job Title] role at [Company] and would love to connect.

Here's my availability for a phone call over the next two weeks (all times [timezone]):

Monday (3/24): 9–11am or 2–4pm
Tuesday (3/25): 10am–12pm
Wednesday (3/26): 9am–12pm or 3–5pm
Thursday (3/27): 1–4pm
Friday (3/28): 9–11am

I'm flexible and happy to adjust if none of these work. Please let me know what's most convenient.

Best regards,
[Your name]

Why this works: You're offering 8+ windows across 5 days, which gives the recruiter plenty to work with. The timezone is explicit. The tone is enthusiastic without being over-the-top.

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Technical Interview or Panel Interview

At this stage, the recruiter is coordinating multiple people's calendars. Give them more options and a wider date range.

Subject: Re: [Job Title] — Availability for Technical Interview

Hi [Recruiter Name],

Thank you for moving me forward — I'm looking forward to the technical interview.

Here's my availability over the next two weeks (all times [timezone]):

Week of 3/24:
Monday (3/24): 9am–12pm or 2–5pm
Tuesday (3/25): 10am–4pm
Wednesday (3/26): 9–11am or 1–5pm
Thursday (3/27): 9am–5pm
Friday (3/28): 9am–12pm

Week of 3/31:
Monday (3/31): 9am–12pm or 2–4pm
Tuesday (4/1): 10am–5pm
Wednesday (4/2): 9am–3pm

I'm happy to adjust if the team needs a different time. Just let me know.

Best regards,
[Your name]

Why this works: Technical interviews often involve 2 to 4 interviewers whose calendars need to align. Giving a full two-week window with wide daily blocks makes the recruiter's job dramatically easier. Organizing by week helps them scan faster.

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Final Round or Onsite

Final rounds are often full-day or half-day blocks. Offer entire days or large windows.

Subject: Re: [Job Title] — Availability for Final Round

Hi [Recruiter Name],

I'm thrilled to be moving to the final round — thank you for the update.

For a full-day or half-day interview, here are the days that work best on my end:

Monday (3/24): Available all day
Wednesday (3/26): Available all day
Thursday (3/27): Available after 10am [timezone]
Friday (3/28): Available all day
Monday (3/31): Available all day

If you need me to block specific hours or if the format is different from what I'm expecting, just let me know and I'll adjust.

Best regards,
[Your name]

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When the Recruiter Suggests Specific Times

Sometimes the recruiter sends you 2 to 3 options and asks you to pick one. This is the easiest response — just confirm.

Subject: Re: [Job Title] — Confirming Interview Time

Hi [Recruiter Name],

Option 2 works perfectly — Wednesday (3/26) at 2pm EST.

Should I expect a calendar invite, or is there anything else I need to prepare?

Looking forward to it.

Best regards,
[Your name]

Don't overcomplicate this. If they gave you options, pick one and confirm. No need to re-offer your own availability.

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When You Need to Reschedule

Things come up. Here's how to handle it without looking flaky.

Subject: Re: [Job Title] — Request to Reschedule

Hi [Recruiter Name],

I'm sorry, but a conflict has come up for our scheduled time on [day/date/time]. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Here are some alternative times that work on my end (all times [timezone]):

Thursday (3/27): 9–11am or 2–4pm
Friday (3/28): 10am–3pm
Monday (3/31): 9am–12pm

I really appreciate your flexibility, and I remain very excited about the opportunity.

Best regards,
[Your name]

Key points: Apologize once (not profusely), offer replacement times immediately, and reaffirm your interest. Don't explain the conflict in detail — "a conflict came up" is sufficient.

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The Faster Way: Auto-Generate Your Availability

If you're actively job hunting, you might be sending availability emails to 3 to 5 recruiters per week. Typing your free times from scratch every time — while cross-referencing your calendar — gets old fast.

ShareAvailability connects to your Google Calendar (read-only) and generates a clean, formatted list of your free times in about 10 seconds. You set the date range, working hours, timezone, and meeting duration, then copy and paste the output directly into your email.

Here's what the output looks like:

Here are some times that work for me (EST):

Mon (3/24): 9–11am, 2–4pm
Tue (3/25): 10am–12pm
Wed (3/26): 9am–12pm, 3–5pm
Thu (3/27): 1–4pm
Fri (3/28): 9–11am

You paste that into any of the templates above and you're done. No tab-switching between your calendar and email, no mental math, no accidentally offering a time that overlaps with another interview.

Why this matters during a job search: When you're juggling multiple interview processes, your calendar changes daily. Manually checking and typing your availability each time is error-prone and slow. Auto-generating it ensures accuracy and saves you 5 minutes per email — which adds up.

Generate your availability now — free, no sign-up required.

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Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Sending a Calendly link

This is the biggest one. Sending a recruiter a booking link says "schedule yourself into my calendar" — which flips the dynamic. The company is evaluating you, and their scheduling process should take priority. Send your times as text and let them coordinate.

There's one exception: if the recruiter explicitly asks you to use a scheduling tool, then by all means use one.

Offering too few time slots

Sending "I'm free Tuesday at 2pm" gives the recruiter exactly one option. If the interviewer isn't available then, the recruiter has to email you again, wait for your response, and try to match again. Offer 4 to 6 options across multiple days. Make their job easy.

Forgetting the timezone

If you write "Thursday at 2pm" and the company is in a different timezone, you've just created a problem. Always include the timezone. If you're in a different timezone than the company, consider listing times in both:

Thursday (3/27): 2–4pm EST / 11am–1pm PST

Being too slow to respond

Recruiters are often coordinating across multiple candidates and interviewers simultaneously. A 3-day delay on your availability email can mean losing a slot — or signaling low interest. Aim to respond within 24 hours.

Offering times that are too soon

Don't offer "today at 3pm" unless the recruiter specifically asked for something urgent. Give at least 2 to 3 business days of lead time so the interviewer can prepare and the recruiter can send confirmations.

Including irrelevant details

The recruiter doesn't need to know why you're unavailable on Wednesday. Don't write "I have a dentist appointment Wednesday morning so I can't do before noon." Just don't offer Wednesday morning. Keep the email focused on your available times.

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What Recruiters Actually Want

Here's the recruiter's perspective: they're managing 10 to 30 open roles, each with multiple candidates in various interview stages. When they ask for your availability, they need to:

1. Copy your times.
2. Cross-reference them with the interviewer's calendar.
3. Find a match.
4. Send calendar invites to both of you.

The best thing you can do is make step 1 effortless. That means:

• Clear formatting — one time slot per line, day + date + time range.
• Enough options — 4 to 6 slots across multiple days.
• Timezone included — so they don't have to look it up.
• Quick response — within 24 hours of their email.

If your email does all four, you're already easier to work with than most candidates.

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Putting It Together

Here's a quick reference for which template to use:

For all of these, you can use ShareAvailability to auto-generate the time slots from your Google Calendar, then paste them into the template that fits your stage.

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TL;DR

1. Offer 4 to 6 time slots across multiple days.
2. Always include the timezone.
3. Format one slot per line: Day (Date): Time Range.
4. Match your tone to the stage — warm for first contact, brief for confirmations.
5. Respond within 24 hours.
6. Never send a booking link to a recruiter.
7. If you're juggling multiple interviews, use ShareAvailability to auto-generate your availability from Google Calendar instead of typing it manually.

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Related Guides

• Professional Email Availability Templates — 12 templates for meetings, clients, networking, rescheduling, and more.
• How to List Your Availability in an Email — the formatting rules that get faster replies from anyone, not just recruiters.
• How to Share Your Google Calendar Availability (5 Methods) — five ways to share your schedule, ranked by speed.
• ShareAvailability vs. Calendly — why plain text beats booking links for job searches and relationship-driven scheduling.

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ShareAvailability generates your free times from Google Calendar as plain text — paste it into any recruiter email in seconds. Free, no sign-up required for the recipient.