One-way interviews are pre-recorded interviews that allow the hiring process to be sped up. One of the most challenging things about hiring is trying to find times that work for both the company and the interviewee. If the potential hire currently has employment elsewhere, taking time off to come in for a video or in-person interview is challenging. As technology becomes easily available and more advanced, companies are looking for ways to make the hiring process easier. And pre-recorded interviews may be the thing that changes hiring for good. However, as with anything, one-way interviews come with both benefits and downfalls. There are many pros and cons for pre-recorded interviews, and we’ll get into that below.
What is a One-Way Interview?
A one-way interview is just another word for an asynchronous interview. These interviews are pre-recorded by the hiring candidates based on questions sent to them beforehand. The potential hires will record themselves on video answering the questions in order, simulating a regular interview experience.
Why Do Companies Use One-Way Interviews?
Oftentimes, one-way interviews aren’t final interviews. They are usually used as a pre-screening move to see who should and shouldn’t move forward in the hiring process. It helps eliminate much of the first round of interviews and saves time trying to schedule multiple interviews. Pre-recorded interviews are used more as a first step in the hiring process, and they’re often like introductions to each potential candidate.
What are the Pros of One-Way Interviews?
There are many benefits to one-way interviews for both the company hiring and the potential hire themselves. If you’re considering the use of asynchronous interviews in your hiring process, here are the pros of one-way interviews:
Saves time
Perhaps the number one reason people use one-way interviews is that they save so much time. Between your schedule and the potential hires’ schedules, trying to hold 20 different interviews with 20 different candidates could take over a week. This delays the hiring process immensely—especially if it’s just the first round of interviews.
Instead, pre-recorded interviews save a lot of scheduling and time. You can send out the interview questions to all candidates in under five minutes, and then you wait for their videos to come back. You might spend a few hours watching the pre-recorded videos, but that’s a huge improvement versus the week it could take to interview them all in person.
Widen your pool of candidates
Another reason to use pre-recorded interviews is to widen your pool of candidates. You can interview people from multiple areas rather than just nearby. This is especially helpful if you’re hiring for a remote position or a current work-from-home job due to the lingering effects of the pandemic.
People can record this video on their own time, which means they won’t miss out on an opportunity due to scheduling conflicts. It also allows candidates who may have been busy during regular interview slots to still participate in the hiring process.
Helps screen candidates
There’s nothing worse than having an interview after an interview, only to wonder how these people qualified for the job in the first place. Simple questionnaire forms can give you a few precursors for candidates to check off, but they still don’t do enough. You can’t see what these candidates are like until you have them in front of you. Well, until now.
With pre-recorded interviews, you’re able to see how they’re qualified for the job. It’s easier to screen them, and you can ask more about their skillset. If you want them to be fluent in another language, you can ask them to speak it on camera. If you need them to be a skilled customer service rep, a video will allow you to hear what they sound like and how they’ll interact with customers.
Gets rid of the nerves
It’s no secret that the interviewing process is overwhelming for potential hires. They can get very nervous, and an interview where they record themselves can cut down on their nerves. But, how does this benefit the hiring of a company? Sometimes, even the most qualified candidates can bomb an interview because they are nervous.
By allowing them to record their answers, you get an upfront look at what type of candidate they truly are. This benefits you because a great candidate you may have overlooked in an in-person interview can shine on camera.
Everyone can see them
Oftentimes, it’s not just one person who is making the final decision on a potential hire. However, you can’t crowd more than two or three people into a conference room to interview a potential hire. That means the rest of the hiring team is reliant upon the debrief that the interviewer gives to them. With pre-recorded interviews, everyone on the hiring team can watch the interview. That means everyone can have an opinion on who is the best pick for the company. It’s easier to discuss the candidates and who would fit well on the team when everyone’s involved.
Spices up structured interviews
Being objective in interviews is one of the most important things you can do. One way to do this is by using structured interviews. This means you’re asking the same questions in the same order to each candidate. However, this often comes across rigid as an interviewer because you’re used to going through the motions. However, with pre-recorded interviews, you can still have structure without it coming off as monotonous.
Related: The Difference Between Structured and Unstructured Interviews
Allows for better preparation
While in-person interviews are good for testing a candidate’s spontaneity, it also puts them on the spot to come up with examples of their past work that shows their skillset. Potential hires often feel rushed in in-person interviews, which makes them blurt out the first example they can think of. It’s not always the best example. But, with pre-recorded interviews, they have time to think about their past work and skillset. You end up getting a better picture of who they really are and what they’ve done in the past.
What are the Cons of Pre-Recorded Interviews?
One-way interviews aren’t without their problems. In fact, there are more than a few downsides to them as well. Here are the cons of one-way interviews:
Camera shy candidates
Some people aren’t good on camera, and they actually perform worse. While it can help those with social anxiety, it may be bad for those who regularly talk to people but rarely record themselves.
Limited information
With pre-recorded interviews, perhaps the biggest limitation is that you can’t respond to them while they’re answering the questions. This makes the information you receive a bit limited. With in-person interviews, you can ask to follow up with questions that will help you find out even more about a candidate. Without this ability, you’re stuck with just the information that they answer in the interview questions.
Miss out on company promotion
Another thing is it’s hard to promote your company in a pre-recorded interview. Sometimes, as hiring managers, we forget that the people coming to interview are interviewing our company as well. They may not know enough to decide whether or not the company is the right fit for them. While you can send a company description with the interview questions, it’s not the same as being in-person and sharing more company information.
It’s not enough to make a decision
Most companies find that there simply isn’t enough information to base your decision on regarding one-way interviews. While they make a great first-round interview, it’s hard to hire someone just from watching them answer a few questions. So, even though they save you time initially, you’ll probably still need to schedule interviews regardless.
Some software is stressful
Depending on the software you use for the one-way interview, it could be stressful for the candidate. If you allow them to record everything and send it to you, they can have multiple takes and get their nerves out. But, if you use software for a pre-recorded interview, it can create even more stress than regular because the potential hire only has 30-60 seconds to think of an answer, which doesn’t allow for better examples or the ability to really think out what they should say.
It can be dehumanizing
Sometimes, one-way interviews look like just another algorithm to a potential hire, and they may think your company doesn’t truly care about anything more than filtering out people based on an algorithm. This is a common complaint.
Should You Use Pre-Recorded Interviews?
Though one-way interviews have pros and cons, whether or not you should use them depends on your company and its goals. They’re a great first step in screening candidates, and if done right, they can save you time and effort in hiring. Just be aware of the cons going in so you know what to prepare for.
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One-Way Interview Software to Use
VidCruiter
VidCruiter is a video interview platform offering robust tools to make the interview process easier for recruiters. In addition to pre-recorded interviewing capabilities, the platform can facilitate live interviews and assist with scheduling.
Willo
Willo helps companies hire at scale with pre-recorded interviews that can be set up in minutes. It’s designed to fit seamlessly within your existing tech stack, integrating with over 5,000 applications, and is guaranteed to work on any device.
Hireflix
Hireflix allows recruiters to create one-way interviews for video and text-based responses. The built-in interview builder makes it easy to add custom intro and outro videos that provide more information about the company and the job.
HireVue
In addition to facilitating asynchronous interviews, HireVue uses artificial intelligence to analyze and score candidate responses. An advanced algorithm evaluates aspects of a candidate’s answer, such as speech, tone, pronunciation, and pauses, to assess quality and even flag possible cheating.
Harver
With Harver, combining one-way video interviews with other assessment tools like skills tests and reference checks makes it easy for recruiters to gain a holistic view of candidates.
Common One-Way Interview Questions
Asynchronous video interviews are best used as a screening tool to aid in pre-qualifying candidates. Thus, the best one-way interview questions should help you get a broad idea of the candidate’s capabilities and reasons for applying. Save more targeted questions for the next conversation with a live interviewer, where you’ll have the chance to ask follow-up questions and prompt the candidate to expand on anything you found interesting from their recorded answers.
Here are some good one-way interview questions to ask candidates.
Tell us about yourself.
No matter what kind of interview is taking place, a candidate should be prepared to concisely summarize their background, career path, and qualifications. This question will help you understand how the candidate arrived at their current professional situation and will also give you a feel for their personality.
Why are you interested in this job?
It’s a good sign when a candidate is interested in a role for a particular reason, like the opportunity to apply specific skills or being passionate about the company’s mission. This question can help weed out candidates who are applying for dozens of jobs without any real investment in the company or role.
What skills or experience make you a good fit for this job?
One of the most important goals of a one-way interview is to verify the required skills. Use this question to ensure a candidate checks off all the minimum requirements on your list. Bonus points if they mention relevant experience that has prepared them to succeed.
What’s your ideal work environment?
Alignment on the work environment is an important aspect of culture fit. You want to identify candidates who are positioned to thrive in your office, both in terms of their physical characteristics and the team dynamic. Having a candidate describe their preferred work environment will give you clues about whether they will be happy as part of your team.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Learning about a candidate’s career aspirations can help you decide whether they’ll be challenged, engaged, and satisfied in a role. All of these are important components of a successful hire. Asking applicants to describe their five-year vision will illuminate their professional ambitions.
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