> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.equip.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# One-Way vs Conversational AI Interviews

> The two AI interview types, when to use each, and what they cost.

<Tip>
  Choose a **One-Way Interview** when you need to screen a large pool with the same fixed questions, and a **Conversational Interview** when you want a live, adaptive voice interview that digs deeper with follow-ups. One-way costs 1 credit per candidate for up to 20 questions, or 2 credits for 21 to 40; conversational costs 2 or 3 credits depending on its length.
</Tip>

## The Two Interview Types

Equip offers two families of **AI Interviews**, both attached to a job opening and both graded by AI.

A **One-Way Interview** presents a fixed set of questions. Candidates see all questions at once, answer them in any order within a single session, and respond with **video, audio, or text** depending on the format you set per question. One-way interviews are built from reusable templates, so you can run the same interview across multiple openings.

A **Conversational Interview** is a live, spoken interview with the **Equip AI Interviewer**. The AI asks questions out loud, listens to the candidate's answers, and asks follow-up questions based on what it hears, much like a human interviewer would.

|                           | One-Way Interview                   | Conversational Interview                                   |
| ------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Format**                | Pre-set questions, recorded answers | Real-time voice conversation                               |
| **Adaptive follow-ups**   | No                                  | Yes, the AI adapts to each answer                          |
| **Response types**        | Video, audio, or text per question  | Spoken; optional written or code answers via the Workspace |
| **Built from**            | Reusable question templates         | A job description, from which Equip drafts topics          |
| **Questions**             | Up to 40 per interview              | Quick: 5 to 10; Comprehensive: 10 to 25                    |
| **Grading**               | AI-graded per question              | AI report with recommendation, strengths, and topic scores |
| **Credits per candidate** | 1                                   | 2 (Quick) or 3 (Comprehensive)                             |

<Note>
  Conversational interviews come in two formats: **Quick** runs about 15 minutes with 3 to 5 topics, while **Comprehensive** runs about 30 minutes with 5 to 10 topics. You pick the format when creating the interview.
</Note>

## When to Use Each

The right type depends on where the candidate sits in your pipeline and how much depth you need.

Use a **one-way interview** for high-volume screening, typically when you have 30 or more candidates. Because every candidate answers the same questions, results are easy to compare side by side, and candidates can complete the interview whenever it suits them.

Use a **conversational interview** for deeper evaluation, such as a second-round or L2 interview. The AI explores each topic in its own words and asks up to 5 follow-ups per topic. It can also present **Scenarios**, reference material shown in a side panel for the candidate to respond to; Scenarios are rolling out gradually and may not be available to every team yet.

| Situation                                           | Recommended type               |
| --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------ |
| Screening a large applicant pool                    | One-Way                        |
| Comparing candidates on identical questions         | One-Way                        |
| Evaluating communication with video responses       | One-Way                        |
| Second-round or in-depth evaluation                 | Conversational (Comprehensive) |
| A short, focused screen with follow-ups             | Conversational (Quick)         |
| A spoken interview in a language other than English | Conversational                 |

<Note>
  Conversational interviews can be conducted in 15 languages, including English (US, India, UK), Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Spanish (Spain, US), French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Italian. See [Interview Languages](/interview-languages) for details.
</Note>

## Credit Costs

AI Interviews use Equip's **credits** (1 credit = \$1, or ₹95 in India), included in your subscription plan's monthly allowance. Credits are deducted per candidate submission.

| Interview type                             | Credits per candidate |
| ------------------------------------------ | --------------------- |
| **One-Way Interview**                      | 1                     |
| **Quick Conversational Interview**         | 2                     |
| **Comprehensive Conversational Interview** | 3                     |

<Tip>
  If a candidate never starts the interview, you can reclaim the credits. See [Reclaim Unused Credits](/reclaim-credits).
</Tip>

## What Candidates Experience

Both interview types start with the same three-step **pre-interview wizard**:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Review the format">
    Candidates see what the interview involves before anything is recorded.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Test camera and microphone">
    A 5-second recording with playback confirms that both camera and microphone work. Conversational interviews add a read-aloud microphone calibration so the AI can hear the candidate clearly.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Start the interview">
    Candidates confirm they are ready and the interview begins.
  </Step>
</Steps>

In a **one-way interview**, candidates work through the question list at their own pace within one session. For audio and video questions they get up to 5 retakes, depending on the settings you choose, and for text questions they write within the word limits you set.

In a **conversational interview**, candidates join a live video-call layout with the Equip AI Interviewer, a self-view, and a real-time transcript. If their network drops, Equip reconnects automatically with clear status banners, so brief disconnects do not end the interview.

<Warning>
  Once a candidate submits a conversational interview, it cannot be resumed or retaken from the same invitation. You can optionally allow candidates to restart an unfinished attempt, in which case only the submitted attempt is graded.
</Warning>

The same [proctoring options](/proctoring-settings) available for assessments apply to AI interviews, and candidates see the active measures and consent before starting.

## Related Resources

* [Create a One-Way Interview](/create-one-way-interview) - Set up templates, questions, and answer formats
* [Create a Conversational Interview](/create-conversational-interview) - Generate interview topics from a job description
* [Taking an AI Interview](/taking-an-ai-interview) - The candidate experience from invite to submission
* [How Credits Work](/how-credits-work) - Pricing, purchases, and volume discounts