Instant interviews on Upwork are pre-recorded video interviews facilitated by Uma™, Upwork's mindful AI, designed to streamline the proposal process. Freelancers answer job-specific questions from the client at their convenience, showcasing their skills without scheduling a live meeting. Once recorded, clients view the video, transcript, and an AI summary to make faster hiring decisions.
Want to speed up your hiring process and find the right freelancers faster? Instant interviews help you quickly identify freelancers who may be right for your project by using Uma™, Upwork’s Mindful AI, to ask your questions, record responses, and provide insights — all before you reach out. You’ll get structured summaries, video recordings, and full transcripts to help you choose among the freelancers who submit proposals for your job post.
Instant interviews are only available on some job posts. You’ll see the option to opt in if they’re available.
How do instant interviews work?
When you opt in to instant interviews for a job post, Uma™ — Upwork’s Mindful AI — will:
- Interview freelancers – AI asks the project-specific questions you choose or provide
- Review – Uma™ checks how the work experience and skills that the freelancer describes in the interview match the skills and experience you’ve indicated are important for the project
- Provide interview insights – You’ll see an interview rating (great, good, or fair) with an AI summary of the interview
- Record the interview – You’ll get an AI summary for each response, a video recording with timestamps, and a transcript. If the freelancer adds notes or work samples, you’ll find those on their proposal page
Note: If you opt in, freelancers must complete the instant interview to submit a proposal for that job post.
How do I use instant interviews?
Opt in to instant interviews
You’ll need to opt in before posting, since freelancers will then have to use instant interviews as part of their proposals.
- After you select Finalize job post, if you’re offered instant interviews, choose Continue
- You’ll see suggested questions. You can:
- Edit or delete questions by hovering and using the icons (save by clicking outside the box or pressing Enter)
- Get more suggestions by selecting Suggest more questions and choosing the ones you want
- Add your own questions by typing them into the text box
- Reorder questions by selecting and dragging them
- You'll see a time estimate in the top right — aim for 5–10 minutes and ask questions that help freelancers show what they can do
- Select Continue and finish posting your job. AI will ask freelancers your questions when they submit a proposal
Review proposals and interviews
- Go to Hire talent > Job posts and proposals
- Select the Review proposals tab
- You’ll see all the freelancers who completed the interview, each with an interview rating (great, good, or fair). Hover over the rating to learn more
- Select a freelancer to see the interview summary, a video recording with timestamps, and a question-by-question transcript
- From there, you can message, interview, or hire freelancers who may be right for your project
Frequently asked questions
No, they’re optional.
Possibly, since freelancers must complete an AI interview to submit a proposal when you enable the feature. Some may choose not to, while others may prefer the interview to writing a cover letter, seeing it as a faster way to share their qualifications with you.
Yes, they’ll still complete an instant interview as part of their proposal.
Yes, you can still review all proposals, message freelancers, and hire as usual. You’re in control of who to consider — instant interviews just provide additional insights.
No — you can only opt in or out before you publish your job post. After that, your selection is locked in.
If you change your mind, you can delete the job post and create a new one without instant interviews. If you still want to consider freelancers who’ve already submitted proposals with an instant interview, you can invite them to resubmit or send an offer from the new job post.
We take steps to help maintain authentic interviews. For example:
- Uma™ suggests project-specific questions that you set up, so the freelancer won’t know exactly what the questions will be ahead of time.
- The interview module design makes it hard to copy and paste questions.
- You can watch the video recording.
- You can also review the freelancer’s profile, including their JSS score, work history, and client reviews, to help you decide whether the freelancer is right for your project.
No. Instant interviews focus on how well the skills and experience shared by the freelancer match the skills and experience you need for your job — not on how polished they sound.