What is an async video interview? A complete guide for hiring teams
An async video interview replaces the first-round phone screen with a private link: candidates record answers in their own time and your team reviews them together. Here is how it works, when to use it and how to run your first one.
An async video interview is a first-round interview that nobody has to schedule. You write the questions, each candidate gets a private link, and they record their answers in their own time before a deadline. Your team watches the recordings when it suits them, rates each answer and decides together who moves forward.
If you have ever spent a week trading calendar invites for twenty-minute phone screens, this guide is for you. It explains what an async interview is, how the process works on both sides, where it helps, where it does not, and how to run your first one this week.
What is an async video interview?
"Async" is short for asynchronous, which simply means the two sides do not need to be online at the same time. You might also hear it called a one-way video interview, an on-demand interview or a pre-recorded interview. They all describe the same thing: the hiring team asks the questions in advance, and the candidate answers on camera without an interviewer in the room.
It is not a video call. There is no meeting link, no waiting room and no small talk about the weather. It is also not an application form with a webcam bolted on. Candidates speak, you watch, and you get a far better sense of how someone communicates than a CV can ever give you.
Most teams use async interviews to replace the first round only. Later rounds, where you dig into detail and sell the role, still happen live.
How an async video interview works
For the hiring team
Write three to five questions. Give each one its own time limit, usually between one and three minutes. Save the set so you can reuse it for the next role.
Set a deadline. Pick the date and time the interview closes. A week is a sensible default for most roles.
Invite candidates. Add them one at a time or paste a list of names and emails. Each person gets their own private link by email, and reminders go out 48 and 24 hours before the deadline.
Review when you are ready. As answers come in, your team gets an email and an in-app alert. Watch at normal speed or up to 2×, rate each answer from one to five stars, leave private notes and give an overall recommendation.
Decide together. Every reviewer's ratings and notes sit side by side, so you can shortlist or reject from the same screen.
For the candidate
Open the link. No account and no app to install. It works in the browser on a laptop or a phone.
See what is coming. The job title, your note, how many questions there are, roughly how long it will take and when the link closes.
Check the set-up. A camera preview, a microphone level meter and a connection check, all before anything is recorded.
Warm up. A practice question that is never recorded or shared, so the first real answer is not the first time they have spoken to the camera.
Answer one question at a time. A five-second countdown, then the timer runs. It warns at 30 seconds and again at 10, and stops at zero. If the page reloads, the interview picks up at the next unanswered question.
Submit and get confirmation. A confirmation email arrives straight away, so nobody is left wondering whether it went through.
You can see the whole flow, from both sides, on our how it works page.
Why hiring teams use async video interviews
No scheduling. The first round stops depending on two calendars lining up. You send the link on Monday and the answers arrive through the week.
Every candidate gets the same interview. Same questions, same order, same time per answer. That is the basis of a structured interview, and structured interviews are fairer and better at predicting job performance than unstructured chats.
Faster first rounds. Twenty phone screens take twenty slots in someone's diary. Twenty recorded answers to a two-minute question take about forty minutes to watch, and less at 1.5×.
Candidates in any time zone. Someone in Manila and someone in Manchester can both answer at a time that suits them, and both get the same experience.
Better decisions as a team. Three people can watch the same answer and rate it independently, instead of relying on one interviewer's memory of a call.
A record you can return to. When two candidates are close, you can watch the answers again rather than argue about who said what.
When a live conversation is still better
Async interviews are a first-round tool. Be honest about their limits:
You cannot ask a follow-up. If an answer raises a question, you have to wait for the next round to ask it.
Senior and specialist roles. A head of finance or a principal engineer expects a conversation, and you learn more from one.
Selling the role. A recording cannot answer a candidate's questions about the team, the manager or the work. Save that for a live call with someone who can.
Some people find a camera harder than a conversation. A practice question and a clear note up front help a great deal, but keep it in mind when you review.
The pattern that works for most teams is simple: async for the first round, live for everything after. We compare the two in more detail in async vs live first-round interviews.
How to run your first async video interview
Pick one role with a steady flow of applicants, where the first round is mostly about motivation and communication. Customer support, sales and coordinator roles are good places to start.
Write three to five questions. Mix motivation, experience and one situational question. Keep each answer to between one and three minutes. If you want a starting point, see first-round interview questions with 20 examples.
Write a short note to candidates. Two or three sentences: what the role is, why you use recorded answers, and that they can check their set-up and practise before anything is recorded.
Set a deadline about a week out. Reminders go out automatically, and if a strong candidate asks for more time you can extend by seven days in one click.
Agree how you will rate answers before you watch. Write one line per question describing what a strong answer includes. It takes ten minutes and it is the single biggest thing you can do for fairness.
Send the invites and watch the pipeline. The overview shows who has started, who has submitted and who is about to run out of time, so you can nudge or extend before anyone drops out.
Frequently asked questions
Do candidates need an account or an app?
No. Each candidate gets a private link by email and records in the browser on a laptop or phone. There is nothing to install and no password to remember.
Can candidates practise first?
Yes. Before the real questions there is a camera, microphone and connection check, and then a warm-up question that is never recorded or shared.
Can a candidate re-record an answer?
In AsyncView, no. Each answer is recorded once. That is deliberate: one take for everyone keeps the round fair, and it is closer to how a real conversation works. The practice question exists so the first real answer is never a cold start.
Can I tell if a candidate switched to another tab during an answer?
Yes. If someone leaves the interview while a question is recording, your team sees a note on that answer with how many times they switched away and for how long. Treat it as information rather than a verdict. Glancing at a calendar is not the same as reading from a script, so use your judgement.
Who can see the recordings?
Only the users in your company. Recordings are kept in private storage, and your team plays them through secure links that expire after an hour.
What happens when the deadline passes?
The link closes automatically and your team is told. Anything already recorded is kept, and extending the deadline reopens the link for that candidate.
Ready to try it? Book a short demo and we will set up a sample interview with your own questions, so you can see it from both sides before you invite a single candidate.
