Tell candidates it’s AI, and tell them early.

Candidates can handle an AI interview. What they don’t handle well is a surprise. Someone who clicks a link expecting a form and finds a camera asking them questions feels tricked, and that feeling colors everything after. Telling people clearly, early and more than once costs you a few sentences and saves you drop-offs, complaints and awkward emails. Some places also have rules about telling candidates when AI is used, so check what applies where you hire.

What candidates need to know

Every candidate should know five things before they start.

1. It’s an AI interview. Say it plainly. “Interview with our AI interviewer”, not “digital assessment” or “smart screening”.
2. What it involves. How many questions, roughly how long, whether it’s video or audio-only, and which language.
3. That it’s recorded and reviewed. Say who looks at it: a person on your team.
4. That people make the decisions. The AI asks the questions and prepares notes. Your team decides who moves forward.
5. What happens next, and when. “You’ll hear from us within a week” beats silence.

Everything else can go in a candidate guide you link to.

When to tell them

Say it at three points, briefly each time.

In the job ad. One or two lines near the “how to apply” section. This is where candidates decide whether to start, so it’s where honesty matters most.

In the invitation. If you invite people by email or message, repeat the essentials and give a deadline.

On the interview screen itself. A good tool tells candidates again before they begin, and asks them to agree. That’s the last check, not the only one.

Sample wording for a job ad

Keep it short and put it where people look for how to apply.

How to apply. Click the link to take a short first-round interview with our AI interviewer. It takes about 15 minutes, works on your phone, and you can do it any time before Friday 30 October. You’ll answer six questions out loud, in English or Hindi. The interview is recorded and a member of our hiring team reviews every one. We’ll reply to everyone within a week.

For more lines to copy, see the job post template.

Sample wording for an invite email

Subject: Your first-round interview for Customer Support Associate

Hi Priya,

Thanks for applying. The next step is a short interview you can take whenever suits you before Friday 30 October.

It’s run by our AI interviewer, which will ask you six questions about how you handle customers. It takes about 15 minutes and needs only a microphone, so your phone works fine. You can answer in English or Hindi.

The interview is recorded. A person on our hiring team reviews every one and makes the decision, and we’ll reply within a week either way.

If you’d like to know what to expect, this guide helps: [link to candidate guide]

Start here: [interview link]

Neha, Talent team

There are more versions in the AI interview invite email template.

Answering common worries honestly

Candidates ask the same few questions. Answer them straight. If you don’t know an answer about your tool, find out before you tell candidates anything.

“Is a robot deciding whether I get the job?” Say who decides. For example: “The AI asks the questions and writes up notes. A person on our team reviews your interview and makes the decision.” Only say this if it’s true of your process.

“Will it judge my accent, my face or my background?” Find out what your tool actually evaluates and say so. If it scores the words of your answers only, tell them that. If it analyzes video, you need to tell them that too.

“What if my English isn’t perfect?” If the job doesn’t need polished English, say so, and offer the interview in the language the job is done in. If English is a real requirement, say that it is.

“What if my internet drops?” Tell them what happens: whether they can resume, and who to contact if something goes wrong. Give a real email address.

“Will I get feedback?” Be honest about what you can offer. “We reply to everyone, but we can’t give detailed feedback on first-round interviews” is better than a promise you’ll break.

“Can I talk to a person instead?” Decide your answer before someone asks. If you can offer an alternative for candidates who need an adjustment, say how to request one.

Mistakes that cost you candidates

• Hiding it. Calling it an “assessment” and letting people discover the AI on screen.
• Overselling it. “Our advanced AI will find your true potential” is a claim you can’t back up, and candidates can tell.
• No deadline. Links with no closing date get left for later, then forgotten.
• No reply. Candidates who finish and hear nothing tell their friends.

Link to a candidate guide

A short page that explains the experience answers most questions before they’re asked. If you use LessRounds, you can link candidates to our guide for candidates, which explains how the interview works, what they’ll see, and how to prepare. Candidates confirm their email with a code, take the interview in their browser, and are told again before they begin that it’s run by AI and recorded. They never see a score, so what they hear afterwards comes from you.