Candidate Experience vs. Strict Proctoring: Finding Balance

Companies are tightening proctoring rules to reduce AI misuse and proxy interviewing.
But heavy-handed monitoring can:

• Increase candidate anxiety

• Lower engagement

• Harm employer brand

• Reduce access for non-native speakers or neurodivergent applicants

The best approach is not total surveillance or total trust.
The best approach is a balanced integrity model that:

• Verifies identity

• Ensures authorship is real

• Keeps the interview human and respectful

Sherlock AI enables this approach by maintaining integrity quietly in the background.

Why This Balance Matters Now

Remote interviewing changed the hiring environment.

What candidates worry about:

• Feeling distrusted

• Being judged on communication or accent

• Proctoring feeling invasive or adversarial

What companies worry about:

• Proxy interviews

• AI-fed answers during problem solving

• Inaccurate hiring decisions

• Compliance and audit risks

Both concerns are valid.

So the solution cannot be:

• Strict surveillance

• No integrity controls

The solution must protect both fairness and trust.

The Two Extremes That Fail

1. Over-Proctoring

Examples:

• Mandatory face scans every few minutes

• Forced 360-degree room scans

• Continuous screen recording with alerts

• Disallowing any silence or thinking time

Impact:

• Candidates feel policed

• Anxiety increases

• Strong candidates walk away

• Employer brand suffers

2. No Oversight at All

Examples:

• Zoom interviews without identity or authorship checks

• Whiteboarding without real-time observation

• Take-home tasks without verification

Impact:

• Proxy interviews slip through

• Scripted answers appear convincing

• Hiring signal collapses

• High performer trust declines

Read more: Proxy Interviews Explained - How They Work & Why They’re Rising

What “Balanced Integrity” Looks Like

A balanced model has three parts:

This model:

• Does not monitor the candidate aggressively

• Does not assume deception

• Does not require discomfort or surveillance

Integrity becomes quiet, fair, and consistent.

Candidate Experience Should Feel Like This

Candidates should feel:

• Respected

• Calm enough to think clearly

• Evaluated on how they solve problems, not how they perform scripts

• Confident the interviewers are prepared and attentive

This happens when:

• Interviewers listen deeply instead of typing notes

• Scorecards measure reasoning and decision-making

• Expectations are communicated clearly upfront

Sherlock AI automates the administrative and monitoring layer, so the human interaction stays human.

What to Communicate to Candidates (Exact Language)

Use simple and transparent messaging:

We use light identity and authorship verification to ensure the interview reflects your own thinking.
This protects you and ensures fairness across all applicants.
There is no surveillance. No penalties for pausing, thinking, or asking questions.

Candidates respond well to:

• Transparency

• Respect

• Predictability

Not rules.
Not pressure.

Why This Balance Drives Better Hiring

A balanced integrity model improves:

• Offer acceptance rates

• Interview completion rates

• Candidate trust in fairness

• Quality of hire

• Team performance alignment

It also reduces:

• Rework and false-positive hires

• Interviewer fatigue and note-taking overload

• Legal and compliance vulnerability

Balanced integrity is not just ethical.
It is efficient.
It improves outcomes.

Conclusion

You do not have to choose between:

• A great candidate experience
  and

• Strong fraud prevention

You can have both by:

• Verifying identity quietly

• Evaluating reasoning rather than polish

• Supporting interviewers with automated structure

• Communicating expectations openly

Sherlock AI is the trust layer that makes this possible.

It protects fairness.
It protects candidates.
It protects hiring quality.