Karat’s Interview Integrity features help you maintain a fair interview process by identifying and flagging suspicious behavior or potential violations during candidate interviews.
How Interview Integrity Works
When candidates engage in behavior that may compromise the integrity of the interview, it can affect process fairness and hiring quality. At Karat, we actively work to prevent, identify, and report any such misconduct without disrupting the interview experience. Here’s how it works:
Observation & Documentation
Karat Interview Engineers (IVEs) are trained to identify suspicious behavior or potential instances of misconduct during the interview. If an instance is detected, the IVE discreetly documents and timestamps the behavior without disrupting the interview.
Quality Control & Flagging
After the interview, an automated integrity review provides an independent second pass on the session. This review confirms what the IVE observed or surface patterns the IVE didn't catch. When both the IVE and automated review flag the same suspicious behavior, an integrity flag is applied. If only one layer flags a suspicious behavior within the interview, it is escalated to Karat's Quality Control (QC) team, who reviews the recording and makes the determination.
Example of a "flagged" interview result where an integrity review is required
3. Hiring Team Integrity Review
The banner on the results page alerts your team that this interview has been flagged for potential integrity violations. Your team can review the flagged behavior by using the integrity check timestamps within the video recording.
We strongly recommend that your team review the interview recording and code playback to assess the reported behavior prior to determining next steps.
4. Confirming Integrity Violations
Based on your review, you will use the “Yes / No” buttons to confirm whether violations did or did not occur. Please note that this decision is final and cannot be changed. If you select “Yes”, the flag and banner will update from “Integrity Risk” to “Violations Confirmed.” If you select “No”, the flag, banner, and timestamps will be removed.
Example of an interview result where interview integrity violations have been confirmed
At no point will Karat notify candidates of integrity flags or confirmations. Your team will determine how to proceed with the candidate based on the review.
Filtering for Integrity Flags
In addition to the notification banner on the results page, you are able to filter for integrity flags in various pages across Karat Central — including your active funnel, the interviews page, and when viewing or exporting analytics.
When filtering for interview integrity flags, you will see 3 options:
No Flags: No integrity concerns were detected during the interview.
Integrity Risk: Suspicious behavior has been flagged. Review is recommended before proceeding.
Violations Confirmed: Integrity violations have been reviewed and confirmed by your team.
Example of flagged interviews in your Active Funnel
Configuring your Integrity Flags
Throughout the interview, Karat records any potentially suspicious behaviors and assigns one or more integrity reason codes to provide context about the behaviors observed. With Integrity Risk Categorization, your organization can define which candidate behaviors are flagged for review, automatically confirmed, or classified as posing no risk. For each reason code, there are three options:
- Confirmed Violation: Behaviors your organization considers unacceptable.
- Review Required: Behaviors that require additional context or manual review.
- No Risk: Behaviors that are classified as posing no risk and don't warrant an integrity flag.
How Integrity Risk Categorization Works
When Karat identifies potentially suspicious behavior during an interview, it assigns one or more integrity reason codes based on the behavior observed. Your organization can categorize those reason codes to determine how each behavior is handled within the Karat integrity review process.
The assigned category determines the next step:
- Confirmed Violation → The interview is automatically marked as "Interview Integrity Violations Confirmed".
- Review Required → The interview is flagged as "Interview Integrity Review Required", your team is encouraged to review the result and interview recording before determining next steps.
- No Risk → The behavior is categorized as not representing an integrity risk and does not trigger an integrity flag.
Handling Multiple Integrity Reason Codes
Some interviews may include more than one integrity reason code. If reason codes from different categories are present in the same interview, Karat prioritizes outcomes in the following order:
- Confirmed Violation
- Review Required
- No Risk
This ensures higher-confidence integrity concerns take precedence when multiple behaviors are observed.
Managing Integrity Risk Categorization
Integrity Risk Categorization can be managed within Central by navigating to: Settings → Integrity Risk
Because categorization decisions may vary based on organizational preferences, flagged interview volume, and integrity review needs - we recommend working with your Karat associate to determine an initial setup aligned with your organization’s preferences.
FAQs
Does Karat inform candidates about integrity flags?
No. Karat does not notify candidates about flags or any integrity concerns.
Does Karat stop the interview if cheating is suspected?
No. The interview proceeds as normal, with any suspicious behavior documented for later review.
Does Karat automatically disqualify flagged candidates?
No. The flag serves as an alert for your team to review the candidate’s interview before making any further decisions.
Does the flag affect the candidate’s score?
No. The candidate’s score remains unchanged regardless of any integrity flags.
By using the Interview Integrity feature, you can ensure that every candidate is evaluated fairly while maintaining the high standards of your hiring process. If you have any additional questions or need further assistance, please contact our support team.