For staffing firms and recruitment agencies, high-volume hiring can feel like an endless game of whack-a-mole. You’re stuck calling dozens — maybe hundreds — of candidates for initial screenings, only to deal with no-shows, reschedules, and awkward 5-minute calls where it’s clear the person isn’t remotely qualified.
Just imagine— you’re recruiting for a hospital — 100 open roles for the nursing field, all marked urgent. You spend the whole week glued to your phone, calling candidate after candidate. Half of them don’t pick up. A few bails on their scheduled calls and by Friday, you’re buried in emails flooded with resumes and nowhere near hitting your recruitment goals.
It’s not just annoying—it’s a massive time-sucker. The average time to hire in the U.S. is 36 days. In high-turnover industries like retail, hospitality, or logistics, that number stretches even longer.
When clients expect roles to be filled yesterday, this old-school approach just doesn’t cut it anymore. As an integrated part of the ATS Tracking system, one-way video interviews promise to speed things up, save you hours of phone tag, and filter out the top talent faster.
But is it actually a game-changer, or just another shiny feature that overpromises and underdelivers? Let’s find out.
Also known as asynchronous interviews, one-way video interviews offer an efficient and convenient way to screen applicants, especially those who are remote. It helps you to screen multiple candidates simultaneously, widen your talent pool by including remote candidates and evaluate applicants’ technological skills—all at the same time.
As technology plays a pivotal role in the recruitment process, this interview process has become an indispensable tool. This acts as a pre-screening tool to determine if a candidate should move forward in the interview process. Instead of calling each candidate individually, you can schedule bulk one-way video interviews.
There is no synchronous communication. Candidates log into a portal and record and submit their answers to pre-selected interview questions. You can then review the video interviews at your convenience and decide whether to advance the candidate to the next round or not.
Since 2020, the global video interviewing software market has witnessed a sharp rise. Besides being a leader in the ATS market, the North America video interviewing software market is expected to reach USD 352.23 million by 2030. This is due to the growing preference for video interviews in the recruitment landscape. The US, Mexico, and Canada contribute greatly to this market due to the rapid technological developments in these regions.
Thus, one-way video interviews emerge as a game-changing tool in recruitment due to the continuous evolution of technology.
Why Do Companies Use One-Way Video Interviews?
Saving time is undoubtedly one of the most significant benefits. Still, recruitment firms are increasingly using one-sided video interviews since they provide numerous advantages over traditional two-way interviews.
For instance, these interviews allow you to easily screen several applicants simultaneously, avoiding schedule conflicts and saving time for your hiring team members.
One-way video interviews can also help you expand your candidate pool by eliminating geographical boundaries and time zones. Remote candidates can now participate in the interview process without incurring expensive and time-consuming travel. It also allows you to swiftly assess an applicant’s technical qualifications and competency, such as their coding skills. This interview also eliminates bias, which is critical in 2025 for increasing the focus on diversity and inclusion in your workforce.
How Does a One-Way Video Interview Work?
In general, one-sided video interviews are the first round where candidates take part in their initial application process.
Once logged into their portal, candidates can record a practice round and have plenty of time to familiarize themselves with the interview style and test their equipment. During the actual recorded interview, applicants are shown a series of questions on their screen and record their responses using their device’s phone screens.
The interview format may vary depending on the recruitment process. However, candidates are often given a time limit to respond to each question to ensure that the recruiters can easily evaluate it. Once all the questions are answered on the interview platform, the talent may submit their application.
Thus, one-way video interview software speeds up the initial screening process, allowing you to swiftly analyze applicants’ qualifications and their fit for the role. It also gives them a handy and easy opportunity to present their skills and expertise.
Even without direct interaction with interviewers, recording the responses allows candidates to carefully tailor their answers to highlight their strengths and qualifications effectively.
Moreover, the practice phase of a virtual interview allows candidates to become acquainted with the interview platform, resulting in a seamless experience during the actual interview. This is a convenient and effective approach to assessing talents’ suitability for the job role.
How Do One-Way Video Interview Questions and Answers Work?
Candidates are sent with a pre-recorded set of questions to respond to — on their own time and convenience. These questions are your secret weapon to gauge talent’s skills, Qualifications, experience and whether they’d mesh with the client’s requirements.
So, what’s the beauty of a one-way video interview? The recruiter supervises the questions! This helps in identifying the best fit for the job position. Let’s assume you’re recruiting for the position of Data Analyst. If you only ask, “Tell us about yourself”, you’re probably going to get a rehearsed answer. Instead, if you ask, “Tell me about a time when you uncovered an unexpected insight from a messy dataset?” — now you’re digging into the technical skills and problem-solving abilities of the candidate.
Hence, it’s not just about asking questions in the interview; it’s about asking the right ones. As a recruiter, you must craft clear, targeted questions so that talents can showcase their strengths as good prospects.
What Are the Benefits of One-Way Video Interviews?
One-sided video interviews offer multiple benefits, which include
Connecting with remote candidates
With asynchronous interviews, distance isn’t a barrier anymore! It resolves any issues related to time zone differences. Such an interview enables interviewers and talents to communicate with each other without having to join the live interview. This helps recruiters to view all candidates’ recordings at their convenience, especially when they are handling
large-scale hiring.
Accelerating the recruitment process
If you’ve ever spent hours screening candidates, only to realize within the first two minutes that he/she isn’t a match—you know the struggle! With one-way video interviews, you only need to craft your questions once and send them to the talents. And the best part? You can bulk schedule all the interviews in one go! Additionally, you can replay all the interview recordings many times to ensure you didn’t miss out on anything
Effective screening of candidates
A pre-recorded video interview helps in digging into the candidates’ skillset. For instance, if you want a nursing candidate to specialize in trauma care, ask them questions related to this field. On the other hand, if you’re hiring Sales Representatives, you can easily test their presentation and communication skills through asynchronous interviews.
De-stressing interview process for candidates
Even best prepared applicants get stressed during interviews. This is likely to hinder the interview performance. With asynchronous video interviews, you can create a seamless candidate experience to aid your decision-making. A candidate can record as many takes before submitting the final one. This helps them to rehearse better, ensuring they are confident enough to submit their responses.
Effective collaboration among the recruiting team
The best employment decisions are usually not made in a vacuum. They take a team. With such a video interview process, hiring managers and recruiters can review the same recording and provide feedback. Additionally, later in the interview process, the hiring team can refer back to the video if they need clarity on something the applicant stated.
The Drawbacks of One-Way Video Interviews
There are several disadvantages of one-sided video interviews, which include:
Candidates may have trouble speaking to a ‘machine'
Not all applicants will be comfortable recording themselves. This could impair their performance. That is why asynchronous interviews should not be the sole reason for rejecting or moving prospects forward.
Lack of human connection
One of the disadvantages of one-way video interviews is the lack of face-to-face interaction. This can make it difficult for candidates to build rapport with the interviewer and demonstrate their personality and interpersonal abilities.
Unable to promote the company
Candidates who participate in asynchronous interviews miss out on learning more about the company’s culture, environment, and values. This drawback may impede their ability to convey excitement and alignment with the organization.
Technological barriers
Not all candidates may be skilled with technology. Those who are not tech-savvy may have difficulty navigating the video interviewing platform, affecting their performance and potentially removing them as the best fit.
Lack of organic conversation
Unlike traditional interviews, one-way video interviews lack the spontaneity of a natural interaction. This can make it difficult for applicants to demonstrate their communication abilities and respond to unanticipated queries or follow-up talks.
Why is one-way video interview the future of recruitment?
One-sided video interviews have evolved as an excellent tool for evaluating candidates’ authentic skills and expertise. Here’s why it’s the future of recruitment:
Authentic Applicant Representation
It is becoming increasingly difficult to determine whether any of the candidates are genuine. Video responses demonstrate the real applicants and their ability to express themselves clearly and spontaneously. Recruiters can evaluate body language, tone, and overall confidence. This format accurately represents talent, making it difficult for AI to enhance or replicate.
Evaluation of Soft Skills
Video interviews allow the recruiting team to assess critical soft skills, communication abilities, and personality traits that AI-generated text cannot adequately express. This human component is critical in determining the cultural fit and overall suitability for the position.
Standardized Screening Process
Recruiters use pre-selected interview questions to provide a fair and consistent evaluation process for all applicants. This uniformity makes it easy to screen and shortlist candidates and reduces potential biases induced by AI-enhanced applications.
Improved Candidate Experience
Asynchronous interviews provide candidates with the freedom to complete the interview at their own pace. This approach values applicants’ time while allowing them to make a great impression.
Efficient Screening
Recruiters may assess more applications in less time by watching video responses instead of arranging and screening phone calls. This approach is especially useful when dealing with large-scale hiring.
Improved Insights for Remote Work Suitability
As remote work continues to grow, video interviews enable the recruiting team to examine how well applicants use technology and whether they are suited for remote work culture.
Cost-Effective Solution
One-sided video interviews are cost-effective for both businesses and candidates since they reduce travel and time obligations. This is highly beneficial when sorting through bulk applications.
How to Improve One-Way Video Interviews for Candidates?
There are several steps you can take to ensure that applicants have the best possible experience with one-way video interviewing.
Making an announcement
Make it clear in your job offer that candidates will be required to participate in a one-way video interview as part of their early screening process. This allows candidates who do not want to complete one to opt out of applying, saving both you and them from wasted time.
Save the trick questions
Stick to typical interview questions, such as strengths, weaknesses, or professional experience. This will make candidates more comfortable with an asynchronous interview and will also help you in the decision-making process.
Add some personality
While you may not be able to answer role-specific questions or discuss your company culture, a one-way interview might reveal some company personality. You can include a short video of the company you’re recruiting for before the interview begins. Use this as an opportunity to highlight the significance of the job role.
One-way shouldn’t mean silent
Nobody loves being ghosted after an interview, and a one-way interview should be no exception. Although you may never meet a candidate in person, make sure to follow up.
Conclusion
A one-way video interview can be a game changer for businesses looking to streamline recruitment. They save time, decrease bias, and provide more access to a global talent pool. However, they do not provide a one-size-fits-all answer.
If you’re thinking about using them, choose an ATS solution that has a built-in one-sided video interview. This is not only affordable but will make the process hassle-free, as you don’t have to juggle multiple platforms to fill an open position.
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It’s a pre-recorded interview where candidates answer recruiter-set questions, helping assess their skills, personality, and fit.
They speed up early recruitment stages— ideal for screening candidates efficiently.
Most video interviews last about 45 minutes, offering enough time to evaluate a candidate’s expertise thoroughly.
They streamline screening, expand the candidate pool, and save time — especially for remote and high-volume hiring.
Candidates log in, review questions, record responses, and submit — often with a practice round beforehand.
Using tailored questions, ensuring a smooth candidate experience, and encouraging collaboration among hiring teams improves results.