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A Scenario puts reference material in front of the candidate during a conversational interview. The candidate sees it in a panel on screen while the AI asks them about it, so you can test how someone works with real material, not just how they talk about it. Scenarios suit technical and non-technical roles alike. A developer can debug a code snippet, a designer can critique a screen, a support hire can reply to an upset customer, and a salesperson can handle a prospect’s objection.
Scenarios are rolling out gradually and may not yet appear in your Add item menu.

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Example Scenarios by Role

Here is what a Scenario looks like for four different roles. In each image, the left side is what you enter and the right side is what the candidate sees.

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1. Software Developer

Paste a short snippet with a bug in it and ask the candidate to find and fix it. The AI context tells the AI what the bug is, so it can probe and grade against it.
Left, a Scenario item in the editor with a Candidate view titled Why does this crash containing a three-line Python average function, an AI context naming the ZeroDivisionError, and Answer format Written. Right, the candidate's screen with the rendered heading, code block and question, and a code answer box set to Python

Software developer: a Python function that crashes on an empty list

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2. Product Designer

Show a screen design as an image and ask what the candidate would change. The AI cannot see images, so the AI context describes what the screen shows and which problems to look for.
Left, a Scenario item in the editor with a Candidate view linking to an image of a mobile sign-up form, an AI context describing the form's eight fields and vague error, and Answer format Spoken. Right, the candidate's screen showing the sign-up form image and the question, with no answer box because the answer is spoken

Product designer: a mobile sign-up form most people abandon

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3. Customer Support

Quote a short customer email and ask the candidate to write a reply. The AI context sets out the right outcome and what a strong reply sounds like.
Left, a Scenario item in the editor with a Candidate view quoting an email from Dana about being charged twice, an AI context describing a strong reply, and Answer format Written. Right, the candidate's screen showing the rendered email as a quote and a text answer box with a reply being typed

Customer support: an email about a double charge

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4. Sales

Describe a prospect and their objection, then ask the candidate to respond as they would on a call. With a Spoken answer, you hear how they handle pushback in real time.
Left, a Scenario item in the editor with a Candidate view titled Handle the price objection listing the prospect and their objection, an AI context describing a strong answer, and Answer format Spoken. Right, the candidate's screen showing the rendered heading, two bullet points and the question, with no answer box because the answer is spoken

Sales: a prospect says the product costs too much

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Adding a Scenario

1

Open the interview's settings

From the AI Interviews dashboard, open your conversational interview and go to the Topics & questions section.
2

Add a Scenario item

Click Add item and choose Scenario.
3

Write the candidate view

Enter the material the candidate should see, in Markdown. Start with a heading, add the material, and end with the question you want answered.
4

Add AI context (optional)

Describe anything the AI cannot read from the candidate view, such as an image, and the points a strong answer should cover.
5

Set difficulty, follow-ups and answer format

Pick a Difficulty, the number of Follow-ups (0 to 5), and an Answer format if the Workspace is on.
During the interview, each Scenario appears as a numbered tab (Q1, Q2 and so on) above the candidate’s answer area. The AI switches tabs as the conversation moves on.

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What You Can Put in the Candidate View

The candidate view is written in Markdown, a simple way to format text with symbols. These elements are supported: The candidate view and AI context can each hold up to 50,000 characters.
Images are added by URL only; you cannot upload them. Host the image somewhere the candidate’s browser can open it without signing in, or it will not appear.

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Writing AI Context

When you fill in AI context, the AI reads it instead of the candidate view. The AI also uses it when it evaluates the candidate’s answer. The candidate never sees it.
Because the AI reads AI context in place of the candidate view, include a short summary of what the candidate sees. Otherwise the AI will not know what is on the candidate’s screen.

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Choosing an Answer Format

The Answer format decides how the candidate responds. It appears only when the Workspace is turned on for the interview.