Instant Interviews: Find the Right Match Faster

Finding the right match—whether you're a marketplace client or freelancer—can take way more time and work than you’d like. And even then, things don’t always work out.

That’s why Upwork created instant interviews. It’s a faster, fairer way to connect skilled freelancers with great projects.

What are instant interviews?

Instant interviews are pre-recorded video interviews facilitated by Uma™, Upwork's Mindful AI. They help streamline the proposal process and better align a freelancer’s skills with a project’s needs.

For clients:

No more sorting through a stack of proposals and spending hours screening calls. Uma handles the legwork by conducting a quick video interview of each freelancer when they submit a proposal. Freelancers answer a few questions (curated by you) and Uma analyzes the responses using the same job-specific metrics for each interview. This helps you to fairly evaluate freelancers for the skills you need.

You receive the video recording plus an interview rating for the professional with an insightful summary that highlights key skills, like project understanding. From there, you can quickly and clearly pick who to schedule for a one-on-one interview.

“It’s a simple, straightforward initial assessment that saves time while still giving you a good idea of how the candidates perform. And you get better quality too—because you're not spending time on candidates that don’t suit your needs." - Sharaf Goussous, Founder, Skills Leap Australia

For freelancers:

Forget spending time writing cover letters wondering if they’re even read. Instead, spend a few minutes recording a video answering the client’s questions. Uma then highlights your expertise and fit.

Uma helps showcase your strengths in a way that goes beyond what’s in a cover letter and profile. So clients get a real sense of what you bring to the table.

How it works

For clients:

1. Create your project and and turn on instant interviews
2. Uma suggests 4–5 interview questions based on your project description (edit or add your own)
3. Freelancers submit short video interviews with their proposals
4. You get an interview score, summary, video, transcript, and any attached work samples
   

For freelancers:

1. If a client enables instant interviews, you must complete one to submit a proposal
2. Record your answers to their questions in a five to 10-minute video
3. Submit your proposal—no cover letter needed
4. Clients review your interview along with your full proposal

Why it works

For clients:

• Save hours by skipping manual reviews and screening calls
• Get deeper insights than cover letters and profiles can offer
• Assess every freelancer fairly and consistently

For freelancers:

• Submit proposals faster—no cover letter required
• Show skills that go beyond your profile
• Get reviewed fairly alongside all other freelancers

Instant interviews use AI to help clients find the right freelancer faster—and give freelancers a quicker, fairer way to showcase their skills.

Ready to try it? Look for instant interviews on your next job post or application.