Thinking time is our way to allow for our customers to set a time for candidates to prepare for an answer. This resolves a persistent issue where some candidates read the question and then take a long time to formulate an answer and then reply.
Thinking time can be set for all types of questions on hirevire
For answers that need a recording we show a time at the top of the screen which counts down the time available and then starts the recording automatically.
This time starts when the question is first seen. This timer continues even if the page is closed, or the candidate moves to the next question. The recording must start within the allotted thinking time. If the recording cannot start (let's say the candidate has closed the window and then comes back to the question after the thinking time has elapsed) - the question is locked and the candidate is asked to move to the next question.
This answer shows as skipped in the application view.
The recording when stopped, enables a 30 second timer on the "Next" button - so that the next question question is visible without any feedback from the user.
Standard response type questions (Single-line text, links, numbers, dates, multiple choice) can now have thinking time as well.
One thinking time shows for all questions - since they're all on one page.
The colour of the timer is a dimmer version of the button colour set in the company branding options in Hirevire.
For text entry or file upload type questions - thinking time is actually answering time - where the answers should be given within the time allotted.
We've mentioned thinking and answering time as different
We've been slowly working on improving thinking time since the last release - details of the existing featureset is here https://hirevire.canny.io/changelog/thinking-time-v05
We'll continue to improve it based on feedback.