What is Interview as a Service?
Interview as a Service (IaaS) is a third-party interview outsourcing solution that helps organizations assess job candidates particularly for technical and niche roles without involving their own internal teams during early screening phases.
Think of it like hiring an on-demand expert panel to vet candidates before your internal HR or engineering team gets involved.
How It Works
The general process involves:
- Job Profile Intake: The hiring company provides the job description, required skills, experience level, and evaluation criteria.
- Candidate Submission: The company submits candidate resumes for evaluation.
- Interview Scheduling: The IaaS provider contacts the candidate and schedules interviews via phone, video, or live coding sessions.
- Expert Evaluation: Subject matter experts (SMEs) conduct the interview using structured formats technical, behavioral, or case-based.
- Detailed Feedback: The IaaS provider shares an interview report, skill ratings, and recommendation (hire/reject/pass for further round).
- Handoff: Candidates who clear the IaaS stage proceed to the company’s internal interviews or direct offer stage.
Types of Interviews Conducted
| Type | Description |
| Technical Interviews | Coding, system design, data structures & algorithms, DevOps, QA |
| Behavioral Interviews | Soft skills, communication, cultural fit |
| Domain-Specific | Finance, healthcare, AI/ML, cybersecurity |
| Remote Assessments | Live coding platforms or take-home assignments |
| Panel Interviews | Group evaluations via video conferencing |
Key Benefits
For Companies:
- Scalability: Interview hundreds of candidates without overloading your internal teams.
- Faster Hiring: Speeds up early-stage filtering, especially for tech roles.
- Reduced Bias: Neutral third-party evaluations reduce internal bias.
- Expert Evaluation: Candidates are assessed by real industry experts.
- Saves Cost: Reduces engineering hours spent on unqualified candidates.
For Candidates:
- Faster response times
- Skill-based assessment, not resume-based
- Feedback provided in some cases
Use Cases
- Startups lacking full in-house recruitment teams
- Large tech firms during rapid scaling
- Global hiring where local time zones or language barriers exist
- Consulting firms hiring across diverse technical stacks
- Campus hiring, coding bootcamps, or hackathon filtering
Top Interview as a Service Providers
| Company | Specialty |
| Karat | Live technical interviews with real engineers |
| HackerRank Interview | Integrated coding and video interviews |
| Turing | Pre-vetted remote developers using AI and expert interviewers |
| Glider.ai | End-to-end interview automation with assessments and AI |
| Codility | Live coding, skill testing, and automated grading |
| InterviewVector | Technical interviews by vetted industry professionals |
Metrics Evaluated in Interviews
- Technical Skills (coding, architecture, debugging)
- Communication and articulation
- Cultural Fit and attitude
- Problem Solving and analytical thinking
- Team Collaboration in scenario questions
Why Companies Are Embracing IaaS
Problem:
- Engineers are spending too much time screening unqualified candidates.
- Hiring managers lack time for consistent technical evaluations.
- Difficulty in standardizing interviews across departments.
Solution:
- Use IaaS to automate and outsource early-stage interviews.
- Standardized, data-backed candidate reports.
- Better hiring decisions = lower attrition, higher productivity.
Real-World Example
A mid-sized SaaS company is scaling from 100 to 300 engineers in one year. Instead of engaging 50 developers in resume screening and 1st-round tech interviews, they use Karat or Glider.ai to filter the top 25% of candidates, saving thousands of man-hours and improving the quality of hire.
Potential Drawbacks
- Less candidate personalization than internal teams
- Over-reliance on automated scoring (if not monitored well)
- Candidate might feel like a number if interviewer quality is poor
- Some companies prefer their own brand voice in interviews
Future of Interview-as-a-Service
- Integration with AI-powered talent screening
- Real-time code review, screen-sharing, and automated proctoring
- Custom-branded interview flows for white-labeled experiences
- Deeper soft-skill evaluations via natural language processing
Final Thoughts
Interview-as-a-Service is reshaping modern hiring.
It’s not just a tool, it’s an interviewing strategy for fast-scaling companies.
Whether you’re a startup hiring your first engineer or a Fortune 500 scaling across continents, IaaS helps you hire smarter, faster, and better.
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