Willo interviews, and the timer that does not stop for you
Three things about Willo that are not obvious until they have already cost you something, taken from Willo's own knowledge base.
Willo is the recording platform your employer chose. You answer their questions into a webcam on your own time, and nobody is watching live.
The thing to know before you click start: the timer does not stop for you. Willo's knowledge base says the thinking timer counts up, keeps counting until the question is answered and submitted, and that the recorded time includes any retakes. It also says that a candidate invited by email, SMS or an ATS integration cannot reset it by restarting the interview, closing the browser, or refreshing the page.
The three things that catch people out
- Retakes are not free. Willo's documentation is explicit that the time recorded includes the time taken to answer and any retakes. Re-recording four times does not hide the four attempts. Whether that matters is your employer's call, but assume it is visible.
- You cannot reset the clock by leaving. Closing the tab, refreshing, or restarting does not stop the timer for candidates invited by email, SMS or an ATS integration. Do not open the interview to "have a look" unless you are ready to take it.
- There is a twelve-hour deadline once you begin. Willo's candidate guidance says that once you have answered the first question you must complete and submit the whole interview within twelve hours. Starting one question at midnight commits you to finishing by noon.
What your employer set
- Time to answer — Willo lets the employer set a maximum between one and five minutes per question. You do not have to use all of it.
- Number of retakes — the employer may cap it, though Willo's own guidance recommends leaving it unlimited. Yours may not be.
- Thinking time — allocated per question, and displayed to you when the question appears.
As everywhere else in this section, those are settings and not laws. Your invitation and the screen in front of you are the only authority on your own numbers.
If your invitation names a different vendor
- Whether your employer capped your retakes. Willo recommends unlimited; recommending is not requiring, and the cap is not published to you in advance.
- Whether your employer sees the timing data. Willo records elapsed time including retakes. What the employer is shown, and whether anyone looks, is not something Willo's candidate documentation states.
- How many questions you will get, and how long you have before you start. The twelve-hour rule begins at your first answer; the deadline to begin at all is set by the employer.
- How your answers are evaluated. Willo documents the recording; scoring is the employer's.
Sources
Every factual claim above comes from one of these, and each is Willo's own material. All were read on 29 August 2026. Where a vendor does not publish something, this page says so rather than borrowing another vendor's number.
- Willo, Thinking time (Knowledge Base). Undated. Willo's own article, and the source of the counts-up and cannot-be-reset behavior.
- Willo, Time to answer (Knowledge Base). Undated. The one-to-five-minute range and the retake cap.
- Willo, Interview in 5 Easy Steps (Knowledge Base). Undated. Willo's candidate walkthrough, and the source of the twelve-hour completion window.
NailedIt.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Willo or any employer using it. Willo is a trademark of its owner and is used here only to describe the product this page is about. Nothing here is legal advice, and practicing an interview does not change whether you get hired.