Self-paced interview software that respects everyone's time

A self-paced interview is a type of video or audio interview where candidates record their responses to screening questions on their own time—no live interviewer required. You set up the questions in advance, send candidates a link, and they complete the interview whenever it's convenient for them. Your team reviews completed interviews when you have time. It's also called a one-way interview, async interview, or on-demand interview.

Phone screens require coordinating calendars, often result in no-shows, take 15-30 minutes per candidate, and rely on interviewer memory or hastily scribbled notes. Self-paced interviews eliminate scheduling entirely, let candidates complete on their own time (better for employed candidates), take 30 seconds to review with AI summaries, and create a permanent record with full transcripts. You can screen 10x more candidates in the same amount of time.

Most candidates prefer them to traditional phone screens. They can complete the interview on their own schedule—evenings, weekends, lunch breaks—without having to take time off work or find a quiet place during business hours. Truffle customers typically see 85-90% completion rates for engaged candidates.

Self-paced interviews are designed to replace first-round phone screens—not your entire interview process. They help you screen efficiently so your team can spend live interview time on the candidates who are actually worth talking to. Think of it as: self-paced interviews help you find your top 10%, then you invest real time in evaluating those candidates.

You create an interview with your screening questions and configuration (thinking time, response limits, retakes). You send candidates a link. They click the link when ready, see each question one at a time, get time to think, then record their video or audio response. Once they finish all questions, they submit the interview. You and your team get notified and can review completed interviews whenever convenient—with AI-generated transcripts and summaries to speed things up.

Most candidates prefer them to phone screens—especially employed candidates who can't take calls during work hours. They can complete the interview after work, on weekends, or during lunch. With Truffle, candidates get thinking time before each question and can re-record if they stumble, which reduces performance anxiety. There's no app to download, it works on any device, and they can complete it in 15-20 minutes.

No—it frees recruiters to do higher-value work. Instead of spending hours on administrative screening, recruiters can focus on sourcing, building relationships, selling candidates on the opportunity, and closing. AI handles the repetitive evaluation work; humans make the final decisions and do the work that requires human judgment.

We recommend 5-6 questions with 2 minutes of thinking time and 2 minutes to answer each. That puts most interviews at 15-20 minutes for candidates. Anything longer and you'll see completion rates drop. With Truffle's AI summaries and Candidate Shorts, you can review each completed interview in about 30 seconds.