Self paced one way video interview, step by step for both sides
A one way video interview is a job interview with no interviewer in the room. The employer sets a list of questions, the candidate records an answer to each one on their own time, and the hiring team watches the recordings later. It is also called an on demand, pre recorded, asynchronous, self paced or digital interview.
6 names, one format
Before anything else: these are not six different interviews. They are six words for the same thing, and which one you meet depends on who wrote the invitation.
| What it gets called | Where you will see that name |
|---|---|
| One way video interview | Job ads and recruiting teams. The plainest description of what happens: answers go one way. |
| On demand interview | HireVue's term for its own product, and so the wording many candidates are sent. |
| Pre recorded interview | How candidates describe it afterwards. Also written prerecorded interview or recorded video interview. |
| Asynchronous interview | The recruiting industry's word. Shortened to async interview or asynchronous video interview in vendor copy. |
| Self paced video interview | Used alongside the other two in HireVue's own guide heading, and the emphasis is on the candidate's clock. |
| Digital interview | A vendor and employer term. Some employers run the interview on a vendor-hosted portal under their own brand. |
Different words, one format. If an invitation uses any of these, expect the same experience.
What is a one way video interview?
One way video interview A screening stage with nobody on the other side. The employer fixes the questions in advance, the candidate records an answer to each one whenever they like, and the hiring team watches and scores the recordings on its own schedule.
A link arrives by email. The candidate opens it in a browser, with no app to install and no account to create, and works through a short set of questions. HireVue tells its own candidates to expect 5 to 8 of them.
How do one-way video interviews work?
Five stages, from the employer writing the questions to a reviewer scoring the answers. Pre recorded video interviewing and prerecorded video interviewing describe this same arc.
- The employer writes the questions and sets the rules Questions are fixed in advance and can be shown as written text or as a pre-recorded clip of the interviewer, a choice VidCruiter documents for its own platform. The timing rules are set at the same time. A video recorded interview can open with the hiring manager on camera, not a text prompt.
- The candidate gets a link VidCruiter states that candidates record from any device with a camera and an internet connection, with no app download and no account creation. Hireflix says candidates need no app and no registration either.
- A practice question comes first HireVue tells candidates they will have the opportunity to do a practice question, and suggests rehearsing beforehand by recording yourself on a phone, tablet or computer. The practice take is where you find out the lamp behind you is a problem.
- Each answer is recorded inside a time limit Hireflix documents per-question time limits as a standard control. HireVue tells its candidates they are given several minutes to respond to each question, and that most on demand interviews ask for an answer in just a few minutes.
- The hiring team reviews the recordings later VidCruiter describes multiple evaluators scoring each candidate against one shared scorecard. Spark Hire adds bulk sharing so a wider group can watch without signing in. Neither side has to be free at the same time, which is the whole point of the format.
The 3 settings that decide what the interview feels like
Everything a candidate experiences comes down to these three dials. VidCruiter and Spark Hire each document them as per-question controls, yet invitations rarely tell the candidate how they are set.
| Setting | What it controls | Set tight | Set generously |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prep time | The gap between reading the question and the camera starting. Spark Hire calls this think time. | Seconds. You get the first thing that comes to mind, which suits fast recall questions. | A minute or more. Answers are composed, and the nervous candidate stops being penalised for nerves. |
| Response duration | How long a single answer is allowed to run before recording stops. | Under a minute. Forces an edited answer and makes reviewing fast. | Several minutes. Room for an example with a result, and a longer pile to watch. |
| Re-records | How many takes are allowed. Spark Hire calls these take limits, VidCruiter calls them re-record options. | One take. Closest to a live answer, and the most stressful thing on the page. | Several takes, or unlimited. Calmer, more polished, further from how the person speaks at work. |
VidCruiter and Spark Hire both document these three controls per question. Defaults differ by platform, so check yours.
Why employers use the recorded format for early screening
The honest reason is the calendar. Spark Hire's own description of the format is that candidates record on their schedule, which eliminates calendar bottlenecks, and scheduling is usually the slowest part of a first round. One way screening also removes the ceiling on how many people a team can look at, because nobody has to find a mutual slot.
The fairness argument is the second reason, and it is narrower than it sounds. Everyone answers one fixed list of questions, and VidCruiter describes multiple evaluators scoring each recording against one candidate scorecard, which it says reduces inconsistency. That is a real improvement on four people forming four impressions in four unstructured calls. It is not the same as knowing whether the answer was true.
8 one way interview questions, and what a good recorded answer shows
Pre recorded interview questions and recorded interview questions look alike, so these are examples that survive the format. Each card carries the follow-up a recording cannot ask.
Why do you want to work here?
Something specific about this employer that the candidate could not have said about any other one, and a reason connected to the work rather than the logo.
Which part of that did you look up, and which part did you already know?
Tell us about yourself in 90 seconds.
A route through the resume rather than a recital of it. The best versions end on why this role is the next step and stop on time.
You skipped over the 2 years in the middle. What happened there?
What hours and shifts can you work, and from when?
A direct answer with real constraints named, not a hedge. This is the question the format handles best, because there is nothing to probe.
Rarely needed. This one answers cleanly in a recording.
Describe a time you handled an unhappy customer.
One named situation, what the person actually did rather than what the team did, and how it ended. Vague answers stay vague here.
What would you do differently if the same person came back tomorrow?
Tell us about a problem you solved on your own.
The decision, not the outcome. A candidate who explains why they picked one option over another is telling you how they think.
What was the option you rejected, and what made you reject it?
Tell us about a time something changed at short notice.
What was dropped, what was kept and who was told. The interesting part is the triage, not the calm tone.
Who decided what got dropped, you or someone above you?
How do you keep track of several jobs at once?
An actual system a person could describe to a colleague, with an example of it being used last week, rather than the word prioritise.
Show me what that looked like on your busiest day this month.
What part of this job do you think will be hardest for you?
A real weakness with a plan attached. Answers that name a strength in disguise are the most common failure in this format.
What have you already tried, and did it work?
The limit of the format
A recorded answer cannot be questioned. Whatever the candidate said in their last take is the whole of the evidence, so a thin answer stays thin and a rehearsed one never gets tested. Every one-way interview ends where the follow-up would have started.
One way, live human, and AI led two way interviews
The three ways a first round actually runs. Asynchronous video interviews sit in the first column, and the vendors that built that category now ship products in the third one too.
| One way recorded | Live with a recruiter | AI led two way | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduling | None. Candidate records whenever, reviewer watches whenever. | Two calendars have to meet, which is the slow part. | None on the recruiter's side. The candidate picks a time. |
| Follow up questions | Impossible. The question list is fixed before anyone answers. | Whenever the interviewer thinks to ask one. | The Cognitive asks its next question based on the answer just given. |
| Who has to be available | Nobody, at either end, at the same time. | Both people, for the whole slot. | Only the candidate. |
| What the reviewer gets back | A recording. Spark Hire adds transcription and AI summaries on top. | Notes, and whatever the interviewer remembers. | Recording, timestamped transcript, and a scorecard with a recommendation. |
| Consistency comes from | One fixed list of questions, scored on a shared scorecard. | The interviewer's discipline, which varies by interviewer. | A rubric fixed per role before anyone is interviewed. |
| Where it falls down | No probing. The evidence stops at whatever the last take happened to contain. | Cost per hour, and it does not scale past a few dozen. | A conversation with software is not what every candidate wants. |
HireVue and Jobma both now ship two way AI interviewers alongside their recorded products, per their own product pages.
Why an invitation says digital interview and lands on a strange domain
Digital interview is a vendor term, not a defined category. HireVue uses it throughout its candidate material without ever setting out a definition, and employers have adopted the wording. So whether someone asks what is a digital interview or what is digital interview, the answer is the same: this recorded format, named by whoever sent the invitation. Digital interviewing and digital interviews carry no extra meaning.
The strange domain is normal too. Employers run these on the vendor's infrastructure under their own branding, which is why the link often sits on a subdomain rather than the careers site. Before you start, check four things on the invitation: how many questions, how long you get for each, how many takes you are allowed, and the deadline. If any of them is missing, ask the recruiter.
When you need the follow up, the interview has to be live
A real live AI video interview, recorded in the app: the AI asks, listens, and asks again based on what it just heard.
The Cognitive does not run recorded one way interviews. It runs a live two way AI video interview, which keeps the part employers want from the recorded format, no scheduling, while the interviewer can still ask the next question. The rubric is fixed per role; the questions adapt to each answer.
Before you send a one way interview
Eight decisions worth making deliberately. Most complaints about this format come from one of them being left on a default.
- Keep it short. HireVue tells its own candidates to expect 5 to 8 questions
- Put a practice question first, and say that it is not scored
- Set prep time, answer duration and takes on purpose, not by default
- Write all three settings into the invitation so nobody is surprised
- Say roughly how long the whole thing takes, and give a deadline
- Test it on a phone before you send it, because many candidates will use one
- Say plainly whether a person watches the recording, and who
- Ask whether anyone needs an adjustment, and give them a route to ask
Reviewing recorded interviews without 5 reviewers reaching 5 verdicts
One scorecard per role, filled the same way by everyone: each criterion out of 5, one overall score out of 100.
Scoring recorded video interviews consistently is a scorecard problem, and it is the same problem whichever format you run. On The Cognitive the criteria are set for the role before the first interview, and the report comes back structured rather than as a set of impressions.
For candidates, recording an answer with nobody to read
Do
- Use the practice question to check your light, your sound and what is behind you
- Look at the lens, not at the little picture of your own face
- Answer the question asked in the first 15 seconds, then give the example
- Keep one specific situation per answer, with what you did and how it ended
Do not
- Reading a script off a second screen. It is visible, every time
- Burning every take chasing a perfect one, when takes are usually limited
- Trying to read the interviewer's reaction, because there is not one to read
- Recording anywhere you can be interrupted mid-answer
Keep reading
Video interview software compared · Video interview tips · The STAR method · Screening questions · One way video interview software · AI video interviews run live
Frequently asked questions
What is a one way interview?
A one way interview, or one way video interview, is a job interview with no interviewer present. The employer sets the questions in advance, the candidate records an answer to each one on their own schedule, and the hiring team watches the recordings later. HireVue's own guide notes that one way, on demand, pre recorded and asynchronous all name this same format, which is also what people mean by a recorded interview.
What is a self paced video interview?
A self paced video interview is a one way video interview seen from the candidate's side: you open the link when it suits you before the deadline, read or watch each question, and record your answer inside the time the employer allows. Nobody joins live. The pace is yours between questions, but prep time, answer length and the number of takes are still set by the employer.
What is an on demand interview?
The same thing. On demand interview, sometimes written ondemand interview, is HireVue's name for its recorded interview product, and it has spread from there into job ads and invitations. There is no difference in the on demand interview meaning worth learning: the questions are set, the candidate records answers alone, and a reviewer watches afterwards.
What is a digital interview?
Digital interview is a vendor and employer term for this recorded format rather than a formally defined category. HireVue uses it throughout its candidate material without ever defining it, and employers running interviews on vendor-hosted portals use the same word. So what are digital interviews in practice: pre-set questions, recorded answers, reviewed later.
How do one way video interviews work?
The employer writes the questions and sets the timing rules. A link arrives by email, and VidCruiter and Hireflix both state that candidates record from any device with a camera, with no app and no account. A practice question usually comes first. Each answer is recorded inside a time limit, then the recordings go to reviewers who score them against a shared scorecard.
Can you re record your answer in a one way video interview?
It depends entirely on what the employer chose. VidCruiter documents re-record options set per question, and Spark Hire calls the same control take limits, so anything from a single take to unlimited retries is possible. The invitation or the on-screen instructions will say. Assume one take until you have read them.
How long is a one way video interview?
Usually a short set of questions rather than a full interview. HireVue tells its own candidates that most of its video assessments include between 5 and 8 questions, that most take under 20 to 30 minutes, and that you should set aside 45 minutes to be safe. That is one vendor's guidance for its own product, not a market standard, so check your invitation.
What questions are asked in a pre recorded video interview?
Questions that survive without a follow-up: motivation, a short background summary, availability, and behavioural prompts such as describing a time you handled an unhappy customer. Eight pre recorded video interview examples are above, each with what a strong recorded answer shows. Expect fewer technical deep dives, because nobody is there to probe the answer.
Is it legal for an employer to use AI to score a recorded interview?
It depends where you are, and it is worth checking. In New York City, an automated employment decision tool must have had a bias audit within the past year, candidates must be notified 10 business days before it is used, and bias audit information must be publicly available. The city's DCWP has enforced this since 5 July 2023. Some states have their own rules on AI-analysed video interviews, so check your own. This is general information, not legal advice.
What is the difference between an asynchronous and a live interview?
In an asynchronous interview nobody is on the other side while the candidate answers, so nothing can be followed up and the evidence stops at the final take. A live interview, human or AI led, can ask the next question based on the answer just given. Async interview scheduling is easier; live interviewing learns more.
Do candidates need to download an app for a digital interview?
Usually not, though it depends on the platform. VidCruiter states that candidates record from any device with a camera and an internet connection, with no app download and no account creation. Hireflix says candidates need no app and no registration. HireVue tells candidates to pick whichever device they are most comfortable with, computer, tablet or phone, and to check their connection speed first.
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