One-way video interviews, explained for employers and candidates

What a one-way video interview is

The employer writes a few questions and sends a link. The candidate opens it, reads or watches each question, and records an answer, usually with a time limit of one to three minutes. Nobody from the company is on the other end. The employer reviews the recordings later, often alongside a transcript.

You will also see it called an asynchronous video interview, a pre-recorded video interview or an on-demand interview. They all mean the same thing. It differs from a live video interview, where both people are on a call at the same time, and from an AI interviewer, where the candidate holds a spoken conversation with software.

How it works, step by step

1. You write three or so questions and decide, for each, what a good answer should cover. Our screening interview questions include those notes.
2. You set a time limit per answer, how many retakes are allowed, and a deadline, typically a week.
3. Candidates get a link by email, or apply through a link in your job ad, and answer on their phone or computer.
4. You get the recordings, read or skim the answers, and pick who moves on to a live interview.

When it's worth using, and when it isn't

It earns its keep when phone screens are eating your week:

• Roles with dozens or hundreds of applicants, such as support, sales, retail and warehouse jobs.
• Roles where how someone explains things matters as much as their resume.
• Hiring across time zones, or candidates who can only talk outside working hours.
• Agencies that want to show a client a candidate before setting up a meeting.

It is a poor fit for senior roles where the candidate is interviewing you as much as you are interviewing them, for roles with only a handful of applicants, and anywhere the conversation itself is the test. In those cases, call them.

Setting one up so people finish

Completion is the number to watch. Vendors report completion rates anywhere from about a third of candidates to most of them. These are the parts of the setup you control:

• Keep it short. Three questions of two minutes each come to about ten minutes in total. Before adding a question, check how many candidates finish the ones you have.
• Say how long it takes on the first screen, and keep that promise.
• Allow at least one retake. A single take turns a screening question into a test of nerves.
• Let people answer by text or voice if they would rather not be on camera. You learn the same things from the content.
• Don't make candidates create an account or download an app. It should work in a phone browser.
• Say who will watch the answers, how long they are kept, and how to have them deleted.
• Send a reminder a day or two before the deadline.

Reviewing answers fairly

The advantage of a one-way interview is that every candidate gets the same questions in the same conditions. Keep that advantage when you review:

• Write your criteria before you watch anything, and score each answer against them.
• Judge what was said, not the room, the lighting, the accent or how polished the delivery was. A transcript helps.
• Write a short quote next to each score so a colleague can check it.
• Have the same person or people review every candidate for the role.

A printable interview scorecard makes this quick. If software scores the answers for you, ask what it scores and whether you can see the evidence behind each score; our AI scoring method is one example. Some places also require you to tell candidates before AI is used, which our AI hiring laws summary covers.

For candidates: how to prepare

If you have been sent a one-way interview, here is what helps. None of it needs special equipment.

Before you start

• Check how many questions there are, the time limit for each, and whether you can retake answers. Good invitations tell you on the first screen.
• Use a quiet room. Prop your phone at eye level, with the light in front of you rather than behind.
• Read the questions if they are shown in advance, and jot down one example for each.

While you answer

• Use one real example per question: what happened, what you did, and how it turned out. A number or a result makes an answer stick.
• Don't try to fill the full time. A clear 60-second answer beats a rambling two minutes.
• If retakes are allowed and you lost your thread, use one.

Your questions and your rights

• If you can't or would rather not record video, ask the employer whether you can answer by text or voice.
• You can ask who will watch your answers, how long they will be kept, and whether AI is used to assess them. In some places, such as Illinois and New York City, employers have to tell you before AI is used.
• You can ask for your recordings to be deleted. In AnswerReel interviews, the link you answered from and your confirmation email both have a delete option.