The Hiring Tug-of-War: Old vs New
For most companies, hiring still looks the same as it did 10 years ago.
- Recruiters source candidates
- Internal teams interview them
- Feedback gets delayed
- Candidates vanish
It works — until it doesn’t.
When you’re scaling, building fast, or managing 10+ open roles across functions, the traditional model starts to crack. And that’s where Interview as a Service (IaaS) steps in.
Let’s compare both approaches side by side and help you figure out what’s best for your hiring goals.
What Is the Traditional Interview Model?
The traditional model depends on internal panels — your engineers, product managers, leads, and founders — to conduct interviews. Scheduling, assessment, feedback — all of it sits within your org.
It’s organic. But it’s also:
- Time-consuming
- Inconsistent
- Heavily dependent on bandwidth
- Not built for scale
This model works well when you’re hiring 1–2 people a month. But for fast-growing teams, it becomes a bottleneck.
What Is Interview as a Service?
Interview as a Service (IaaS) is a modern hiring model where expert interviewers — usually external and trained — handle your interviews for you. You get structured evaluations, detailed feedback, and faster decisions, all without burning out your internal teams.
At InterviewDesk, for example:
- We’ve completed 50,000+ interviews
- Across 450+ unique skill sets
- With 2,000+ vetted interviewers
- Delivering reports in under 48 hours
Let’s Break It Down: Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Traditional Interviews | Interview as a Service |
| Who runs the interview? | Internal panel | Trained external experts |
| Scalability | Limited to team availability | Instantly scalable |
| Consistency | Varies by interviewer | Rubric-based, standardized |
| Time-to-feedback | Days to weeks | 24–48 hours |
| Bias control | Subjective decisions | Structured scoring |
| Candidate experience | Depends on panel load | Smooth, prompt, well-paced |
| Internal effort | High | Low |
What the Data Says
Companies who moved to IaaS with InterviewDesk reported:
- 40–60% reduction in time-to-offer
- 3x higher consistency in evaluation reports
- 67,500+ hours saved across engineering and product teams
- 90% candidate satisfaction, especially in tech hiring
And most importantly — zero missed feedback loops.
Real-World Example: Choosing IaaS Over Internal Chaos
A product-based fintech startup needed to close 35 roles in 6 weeks.
Their traditional model meant:
- Waiting 5–7 days just to schedule first interviews
- Interviewers spending 15–20% of their week on calls
- Unclear evaluation standards across panelists
After switching to InterviewDesk:
- First interviews were completed within 48 hours
- Candidate feedback was shared within 24 hours
- Final round success rate improved by 28%
The Talent Head told us:
“We realized we were holding up our own hiring pipeline. Externalizing interviews was a game-changer.”
When Should You Stick to Traditional Interviews?
To be fair, internal panels still make sense in some cases:
- Final decision rounds with cultural fit assessments
- Strategic hires where stakeholders want a personal view
- Extremely niche roles with sensitive domain context
The key is to choose your battles — not every interview needs to happen internally.
When Interview as a Service Makes More Sense
✅ When your interview panel is at capacity
✅ When hiring volume spikes suddenly
✅ When time-to-hire becomes critical
✅ When you want unbiased, structured evaluation
✅ When your internal teams need to refocus on delivery
How to Blend Both Approaches
You don’t have to choose one or the other. The smartest teams combine both.
Here’s a hybrid model that works:
- Round 1-2: Handled by InterviewDesk (skill + technical evaluation)
- Final Round: Done internally (cultural + strategic alignment)
This way, you shorten the funnel, improve quality, and make better use of your team’s time.
InterviewDesk Makes the Transition Easy
- No long onboarding. Just share the JD and let us assign the right panel.
- 450+ skill rubrics already mapped.
- Custom questions? We’ll include them.
- Candidate reports delivered in 24–48 hours.
- Support for coding, system design, QA, behavioral, product, support, and more.
We’re here to run your interviews. You stay focused on hiring decisions.
Final Word: It’s Not About Replacing, It’s About Optimizing
The choice isn’t “either/or.” It’s “where does each model fit best?”
Interview as a Service helps you scale faster, make smarter decisions, and give candidates a smoother experience — all without overloading your teams.
If your traditional interview process is slowing you down, maybe it’s time to give IaaS a seat at the table.
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