Why Questions Matter More in Async Interviews
In a live interview, you can probe deeper with follow-up questions. In an async video interview, your questions need to stand on their own. A well-crafted question elicits a revealing answer on the first try. A vague question wastes everyone's time and tells you nothing useful about the candidate.
Schmidt & Hunter (1998) showed that structured interviews are 2x more predictive of job performance than unstructured ones. The foundation of a structured interview is a consistent, well-designed question set. Here is how to build one.
The Behavioral Framework
Behavioral questions ask candidates to describe real past experiences. They are based on the principle that past behavior predicts future performance. For async interviews, frame them clearly so candidates know exactly what you are looking for:
- "Tell us about a time you had to manage a project with a tight deadline. What was the situation, what did you do, and what was the outcome?"
- "Describe a situation where you disagreed with a colleague on a work decision. How did you handle it?"
- "Share an example of when you had to learn a new skill quickly to complete a task. What was your approach?"
These questions work well in async because they give candidates a clear structure (situation-action-result) to follow in their response.
Situational Questions
Situational questions present a hypothetical scenario and ask how the candidate would handle it. They are useful for roles where past experience may be limited:
- "Imagine you discover a significant error in a report that has already been shared with a client. What would you do?"
- "If you were assigned to a team where members had conflicting priorities, how would you approach getting alignment?"
Role-Specific Knowledge Questions
These test technical competence or domain knowledge relevant to the role. Keep them focused and avoid trick questions:
- For sales roles: "Walk us through how you would approach a cold outreach campaign for a new product. What steps would you take in the first week?"
- For engineering roles: "Describe your approach to debugging a production issue that you cannot reproduce locally."
- For customer success: "How would you handle an onboarding call with a client who seems frustrated with the implementation timeline?"
The Motivation Question
Always include one question about motivation. Understanding why a candidate wants this specific role at your specific company separates genuine interest from mass applications:
- "What about this role and our company made you want to apply? What are you hoping to accomplish in your first six months?"
Questions to Avoid in Async Interviews
- Yes/no questions: They kill conversation. Always use open-ended prompts.
- Overly broad questions: "Tell me about yourself" is too vague for async. Candidates do not know what angle to take.
- More than 5 questions: For a screening interview, 3-5 questions is the sweet spot. More than that and completion rates drop significantly.
- Gotcha questions: These create stress without revealing useful information. Aamodt et al. found that unstructured, high-pressure interview tactics are 2.5x more biased.
Building Your Scorecard
Design your scorecard before you write your questions. Decide what competencies you are evaluating (communication, problem-solving, domain knowledge, motivation) and map each question to a specific competency. This ensures every question earns its place and every answer is evaluated against clear criteria.
With 82% of employers now using virtual interviews (B2B Reviews, 2025), the quality of your question design is a competitive differentiator.
Start a free trial of StormInterview and use our question library to build high-signal async interviews in minutes.