On Demand Video Interviews: What They Are, How They Work, & Why Recruiters Use Them

Interview scheduling has always been one of the biggest bottlenecks in hiring. Between juggling calendars, chasing busy candidates, and coordinating multiple stakeholders, time-to-hire begins to add up. That’s why so many HR teams have turned to on demand video interviews—also called one-way video interviews, asynchronous video interviews, or digital interviews—to speed up the process without sacrificing quality.

If you’re dealing with high applicant volume, hiring across multiple locations, or trying to standardize your screening process, on demand video interviewing can help you move faster and make more consistent, better hiring decisions. In this blog, we’ll break down what on demand interviews are, how they work, and why so many recruiters rely on them today.

What Is an On Demand Video Interview?

An on demand video interview is a recorded interview where candidates answer pre-set questions on their own time. No live scheduling required.

Instead of coordinating calendars, a recruiter creates an interview and sends a link to the candidate. The candidate then records their responses from any device, whenever it fits their schedule. Once submitted, the hiring team can watch (and rewatch) the responses and evaluate them consistently using structured interview rubrics.

In short: It’s a flexible, structured way to run the first-round screening interview without everyone needing to be online at the same time.

This simple shift removes one of the biggest obstacles in early-stage hiring, finding a time that works for everyone, and helps reduce your overall time to fill. In 2024, 60% of companies reported an increase in their time-to-hire, making efficiency tools like on demand video interviews more critical than ever.

How On Demand Video Interviews Work: Step-by-Step

On demand interviews feel modern and seamless, and the process behind them is remarkably straightforward. Here’s how they work from start to finish:

Step 1: The Recruiter Creates the Interview

Using an on demand video interview platform like interviewstream, recruiters can:

• Write or select screening interview questions
• Choose whether candidates get retakes
• Add instructions, branding, and time limits
• Send the interview link to candidates
• Take advantage of automated email or SMS text reminders

You can build a structured screening experience in just a few minutes.

Step 2: The Candidate Records Responses on Their Schedule

Candidates can:

• Use their phone, tablet, or computer
• Record at home, on break, or after work
• Re-record answers if retakes are enabled
• Complete the interview in a single sitting or piece by piece

It’s flexible, accessible, and helps candidates put their best foot forward. Which is especially important for busy professionals, such as nurses working 12-hour shifts, teachers during testing season, or retail associates picking up extra hours, to name a few.

Step 3: The Recruiter Reviews and Shares Responses With Their Hiring Team

Once submitted, your team can:

• Review candidate videos on their own time
• Score answers using standardized rubrics
• Leave comments and collaborate with hiring managers
• Share interviews with panel interview participants
• Compare candidates side-by-side to improve quality of hire

And with integrated AI Interview Summaries, you can now get a concise, accurate breakdown of each response, helping teams move even faster while staying aligned and reducing recruiter burnout.

Benefits of On Demand Video Interviews for Recruiters

On demand interviewing isn’t just convenient, it solves real hiring pain points that impact everything from time to fill to candidate experience. Here’s why so many talent acquisition teams rely on it as their first screening step after the application.

1. Faster Screening & Reduced Time to Hire

Most early interviews are used to confirm skills, communication style, and basic qualifications. On demand interviews help you:

• Review more candidates in less time
• Run dozens of interviews simultaneously
• Move your top talent to the next step faster
• Reduce time to fill by eliminating delays

Companies using video interviews experience an 81% decrease in time spent on each interview. This is especially helpful in high-volume hiring cycles, seasonal recruiting, or when you need to staff multiple locations quickly.

2. No More Interview Scheduling Headaches

Traditional scheduling can take days or even weeks of back-and-forth emails. Research shows that 67% of recruiters report it takes between 30 minutes and 2 hours to schedule a single interview—and 60% regularly lose candidates before even getting to the scheduling stage. On demand video interviews eliminate this screening bottleneck entirely, making it easier to reach candidates who can’t meet during the traditional 9–5 workday.

For recruiters? No more calendar juggling, no more missed appointments, and no more scheduling fatigue.

3. More Structured and Consistent Evaluation

One of the biggest challenges in traditional interviewing is maintaining consistency. Different interviewers ask different questions, emphasize different competencies, and evaluate candidates using different mental frameworks. This inconsistency not only makes it harder to compare candidates fairly but can also introduce unconscious bias into your hiring decisions.

On demand video interviews solve this by ensuring every candidate receives:

• The same interview questions
• The same time limits
• The same instructions and expectations

That means less bias and more consistent scoring. This standardization not only improves fairness but also makes it easier to identify truly exceptional candidates when everyone is measured against the same bar.

4. Better Collaboration Across Hiring Teams

Getting multiple stakeholders aligned on a candidate traditionally requires coordinating everyone’s schedule for a panel interview or running multiple sequential interviews, both of which add significant time to your hiring process. With on demand video interviews, collaboration becomes asynchronous and infinitely more flexible.

Instead of asking panelists to join a live meeting, you can:

• Share video responses across your team
• Enable panel interviews without scheduling conflicts
• Review interviews asynchronously on your own time
• Add ratings and comments for better collaboration
• Make faster decisions with better data

This collaborative approach improves hiring manager satisfaction and speeds up the entire recruitment process.

5. Expands Your Talent Pool and Reach

Traditional in-person or live virtual interviews inherently favor candidates with flexible schedules, reliable transportation, and the ability to take time off during business hours. This creates an unintentional barrier that can exclude highly qualified candidates who happen to have constraints that make traditional interviewing difficult.

Candidates who can’t take time off work or travel to your office are no longer at a disadvantage. On demand interviewing helps:

• Attract busy professionals and passive candidates
• Open the door to remote candidates nationwide
• Increase diversity in your talent pipeline
• Improve the overall candidate experience

This expanded reach is particularly valuable when hiring for hard-to-fill positions or competing for talent in tight labor markets. By making your process more accessible, you’re strategically positioning yourself to attract candidates your competitors might miss.

6. Ideal for High-Volume, Predictable, and Multi-Location Hiring

When you need to hire 50 retail associates, 100 seasonal workers, or staff 10 new locations simultaneously, traditional interviewing simply doesn’t scale. You’d need to either dramatically increase your recruiting headcount or accept that hiring will take months. On demand interviews offer a third option: maintain your current team size while dramatically increasing your throughput.

Whether you’re staffing up for a new retail store, an upcoming school year, a hospital department, or a nationwide expansion, on demand interviews scale with you. They’re particularly effective for:

• Retail hiring and customer service recruitment
• Education hiring (teachers, paraprofessionals, district staff)
• Healthcare hiring (nurses, CNAs, medical assistants, physicians)
• Government hiring, where structure and fairness are critical
• Manufacturing recruitment during peak production seasons

The scalability isn’t just about volume, it’s about maintaining quality at scale. With structured questions, consistent evaluation criteria, and collaborative review tools, you can process 2-3x the candidates without compromising the quality of your hiring decisions.

Why Candidates Appreciate On-Demand Video Interviews

A common misconception is that candidates dislike video interviews. In reality, 81% of job candidates we’ve surveyed express positive, innovative view of video interviews as a recruitment method. Candidates overwhelmingly appreciate the flexibility and modern approach. They get to:

• Interview on their own schedule without requesting PTO
• Avoid commute time and travel expenses
• Prepare thoughtfully in advance
• Re-record answers if enabled
• Present themselves more confidently in a comfortable environment

Especially for early career candidates, Gen Z job seekers, or those applying across multiple employers, video interviews feels modern, efficient, and fair. It also demonstrates your commitment to a positive candidate experience and strong employer branding.

Common Misconceptions About On Demand Video Interviews

“Aren’t they impersonal?”

Actually, on demand interviews are built in a way that allows you to simulate an in-person interview. Interviews have the same structure and can include videos from your team giving welcome messages and asking questions in the interview. They also help standardize the process and ensure everyone gets the same experience, something live interviews can’t always guarantee.

“Don’t they replace recruiters?”

Not at all. On demand interviews simply give recruiters more time to focus on candidates who are truly a match, reducing time spent on repetitive screening tasks and preventing recruiter burnout. At interviewstream, we take a people first approach to technology, knowing that hiring team members have irreplacable expertise in their roles and organizations.

“Are they too time-consuming to review?”

Not with structured rubrics, collaborative scoring tools, playback speed variability, and new additions like AI interview summaries. Modern video interview software makes reviewing faster and more efficient than traditional phone screens.

When Should Recruiters Use On Demand Video Interviews?

On demand interviews shine in these scenarios:

• First-round screening for any role
• High-volume or predictable hiring
• Education hiring (teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, district staff)
• Healthcare recruitment (nurses, CNAs, medical assistants, allied health professionals)
• Government hiring, where structure and compliance are critical
• Decentralized teams hiring across multiple locations
• Seasonal hiring and campus recruitment
• Technical recruitment for initial skills assessment
• Manufacturing hiring during production scale-ups

If your team spends too much time scheduling or conducting repetitive first-round interviews, this method will transform your workflow and improve your recruitment metrics.

How to Choose the Right On Demand Interview Platform

A strong video interview platform should include:

• Easy interview creation
• Secure, reliable video recording technology
• Device flexibility for candidates (mobile, tablet, desktop)
• Branding and customization options
• Structured rating rubrics for consistent evaluation
• ATS integration with your existing systems
• Strong data privacy and compliance (GDPR and/or SOC 2 Type II)
• Collaboration tools for hiring teams

Platforms like interviewstream check all these boxes and are trusted across education, healthcare, government, and enterprise organizations for their scalability, reliability, security, and ease of use.

Final Thoughts

On demand video interviews have become one of the most effective tools for faster, fairer, and more consistent hiring. They offer structure for your team, flexibility for candidates, and meaningful time savings during the busiest parts of your recruiting cycle.

By implementing digital interviewing as part of your structured hiring process, you can reduce time to fill, improve quality of hire, enhance the candidate experience, and free up your recruiting team to focus on what matters most: connecting with top talent.

If your hiring process is slowed down by early screening or scheduling challenges, now’s the perfect time to try a modern approach to video recruiting.

Want to see an on demand interview in action? Check out a demo and discover why thousands of recruiters have made the switch to on demand video interviews.

About The Author

Drew Whitehurst is the Director of Marketing, RevOps, and Product Strategy at interviewstream. He's been with the company since 2014 working in client services and marketing. He is an analytical thinker, coffee enthusiast, and hobbyist at heart.