Video Interview Software: Features, Types, and How to Choose

Video interview software allows recruiters and hiring managers to interview candidates remotely, either through live video calls or through recorded answers to a set of questions. Depending on the product, it may also handle scheduling, recording, reviewer ratings, and a connection to your applicant tracking system (ATS).

Live interviews make it possible to hold a real conversation without bringing candidates on-site. One-way interviews let candidates record their answers on their own schedule. Both can make parts of hiring more efficient, but they offer different experiences to candidates and interviewers.

What is video interview software?

Video interview software is any tool used to run or record job interviews over video. At its simplest, that's a general meeting app with a calendar link. At the other end are dedicated platforms with question libraries, candidate instructions, recorded answers, reviewer scorecards, and reporting.

Most products get candidates and interviewers into the same call or recording, store what was said, and give reviewers a place to rate and comment. Many also sync with an ATS. If you're working out where video belongs among your other tools, the overview of recruitment software types covers the wider stack.

Live vs. one-way video interviews

The first distinction is the interview format, which is a different question from which product you buy. In a live video interview, the candidate and interviewer join at an agreed time and talk, much as they would in person or on the phone. In a one-way video interview, also called an asynchronous video interview, candidates receive preset questions and record their answers by a deadline for reviewers to watch later.

One-way interviews are sometimes used for high-volume screening because candidates can answer without coordinating a time with a recruiter. They also add another step for candidates, and some people dislike recording themselves with nobody on the other side. Comfort on camera, lighting, and connection quality can sway reviewers even when they don't mean them to. Before adopting the format, ask whether video answers tell you anything that written screening questions or a short structured phone screen wouldn't.

Live video keeps the conversation a recording loses, since interviewers can follow up and candidates can ask about the role. That matters most for senior or hard-to-fill searches, where strong candidates often want to ask their own questions before investing more time.

Types of video interview software

Software types overlap with formats rather than lining up against them. A dedicated platform may run live and one-way interviews, and an ATS may offer its own video or connect to several outside tools. The three broad categories differ mainly in how much of the recruiting workflow they handle.

General meeting apps are what many teams already use for live interviews. Paired with interview scheduling software for self-booking links, they can remove most of the back-and-forth over times without a new interview platform.

ATS video features keep recordings, ratings, and notes in the system recruiters already work in. Dedicated platforms can offer more control over question sets, candidate instructions, retake rules, and reviewer workflows.

Key features to look for

Whichever category you consider, the same features decide how well the software works for recruiters, reviewers, and candidates.

• Scheduling and calendar sync: Self-booking links, rescheduling, reminders, and interviewer calendars that stay in sync.
• ATS integration: Invites, recordings, and ratings that land on the candidate record without manual copying.
• Question sets and instructions: Reusable questions, clear time limits, retake settings, and a practice question for one-way interviews.
• Reviewer tools: Shared ratings, comments, and rubric fields that each reviewer completes before seeing the others.
• Candidate experience: Recording on a phone, a usable experience over a weak connection, and no required app download.
• Accessibility: Captions, keyboard navigation, screen-reader support, and a clear route to request an accommodation or another format.
• Recording controls and retention: Who can view recordings, how long they're kept, and deletion on request.
• AI features: Which AI functions exist, whether each can be turned off, and whether scoring is on by default.
• Reporting: Completion and drop-off by role, format, and device.

On captions, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG 2.2, call for captions on all prerecorded audio in synchronized media. That covers recorded prompts and recorded answers. WCAG is a technical standard rather than a law, and for live interviews you should ask separately about live captions.

When to use video interviews in the hiring process

Where video fits depends on what each stage needs to learn. Consider an in-house recruiter at a regional healthcare network hiring patient access representatives for several clinics. Each first-round phone screen covers the same ground: clinic hours, registration tasks, and how the applicant would handle a frustrated patient.

A one-way screen could cover those questions while applicants answer outside their shifts, with the clinic manager interview kept live. A recording can't clarify a vague answer or tell an applicant about the clinics, though, so a short live call for those who pass may be worth keeping. The recruiter might also find that written questions about availability and registration experience cover most of the screen with less effort for applicants.

If you use one-way interviews, a few setup choices make answers easier to review and the request easier to accept.

• Keep the question set short: Each extra question adds time for every candidate and every reviewer.
• Use the same questions in the same order: Reviewers then compare answers to identical prompts.
• Add a practice question: An unscored warm-up lets candidates check their camera and sound.
• State the rules up front: Say how long answers can run, whether retakes are allowed, and when the screen closes.
• Offer another format: Explain how to request an accommodation, and give anyone who asks a phone or live option.
• Score with a job-related rubric: Reviewers rate independently using an interview rubric tied to the requirements.

Standard questions make answers more consistent to compare, but consistency isn't the same as fairness. Reviewers can still react to appearance, accent, background, or camera quality. Train reviewers to score what the candidate said against the rubric and to leave aside anything the job doesn't require.

The guide to the pre-screening interview covers what a first conversation should include. For later rounds, see interview formats by stage.

How to check video interview software before you buy

A trial is the most reliable way to check how a tool works for your team. Build one real question set or interview template, invite colleagues to complete it as candidates, and have two or three reviewers rate the results. Test on different phones, computers, and connection speeds, since that's where unclear instructions or upload problems show up.

Device testing shows usability problems, but it doesn't establish whether the tool is accessible. Ask the vendor for evidence of accessibility testing, including keyboard navigation, screen-reader compatibility, captioning, and how accommodation requests are handled. Much of this overlaps with candidate experience tools, so the same questions apply.

Pricing models vary. Vendors may charge per recruiter seat, per open job, or per completed interview. Per-interview pricing can suit seasonal volume, and per-seat pricing can suit steady hiring. Also ask what setup needs from IT and whether recruiters can build question sets without vendor help.

AI, privacy, and compliance considerations

AI features in video interview software do different things, and the differences matter. Transcription turns speech into text so reviewers can search and skim. Summaries condense answers, which saves time but can drop detail. Automated scoring rates or ranks candidates, and because it feeds into who moves forward, it's the use that state and city rules mainly address.

Rules depend on where you hire, so confirm the details with your legal team.

Illinois's AI Video Interview Act covers employers that use AI to analyze applicant-recorded video interviews for Illinois-based positions. Before the interview, the employer must tell applicants AI may be used, explain how it works and what general types of characteristics it evaluates, and obtain consent. The law also limits sharing of applicant videos to people whose expertise or technology is needed to evaluate the applicant. It requires deletion within 30 days of an applicant's request.

New York City's Local Law 144 applies to tools that meet its definition of an automated employment decision tool, not to every product with AI features. Employers and employment agencies can't use such a tool without a bias audit within one year of use, public audit information, and the required notices to candidates. If a vendor's scoring might fall under the law, ask for its audit documents and the candidate notice it supports.

Candidate attitudes are a further reason to be open about AI. A Pew Research Center survey of 11,004 U.S. adults, fielded in December 2022, found 66% wouldn't want to apply where AI helps make hiring decisions. That's a general attitude rather than a view of video interviews, but it supports telling candidates plainly what the AI does and that people decide.

Recording consent, AI analysis, and sharing are separate questions. Consent to record a live call varies by location, and the guide to recording interviews covers it. Agency recruiters who share recorded answers with clients should tell candidates and get their agreement before they record.

Where AI analysis applies, as under the Illinois law, permission alone may not settle what sharing is allowed, so check that too. Look for view-only client access, expiring links, and a way to remove access when the search closes.

How to measure video interview performance

Measure before rollout and again after several openings on the same roles, and look at candidate outcomes alongside recruiter time.

• Completion rate: The share of invited candidates who finish, by role, format, and device.
• Drop-off: Where candidates abandon the process, and whether qualified people are among them.
• Time from application to first review: Whether candidates reach a reviewer sooner than when screens waited on scheduling.
• Recruiter hours on scheduling: A rough log kept before and after.
• Candidate feedback: One or two questions about clarity and fairness of the process.
• Job-relevant information: Whether reviewers say the answers tell them what they need to decide.

A change in how often hiring managers or clients accept your shortlist can prompt a look at the questions, though other factors can cause it too. A faster screen isn't an improvement if qualified candidates are less willing or able to complete it.

Start with one interview stage before you expand

Video interview software works best when you know which part of the process it should change. Decide whether that stage needs a live conversation, recorded answers, or a simpler option, then run a trial on one role. Put the AI, privacy, and accessibility questions to vendors before you sign, and compare results with your baseline before rolling the software out more widely.