Interviews · 5 min read
Video interviews: the things that actually matter
Video interviews are now routine, and the advice about them tends to fixate on things that matter marginally: background choice, what to wear, whether to sit or stand. Those are worth ten minutes. The things that genuinely affect how you come across are less discussed.
There are also two distinct formats, and they need different preparation. A live video interview is a conversation. A recorded one-way interview, where you answer questions into a camera with nobody present, is a different exercise.
Live video interviews
Test the actual platform, in advance. Not your camera generally. The specific software, on the specific device, ideally logged in. Platforms have version requirements, permissions prompts and browser quirks, and discovering one at the start time costs you the first five minutes and your composure.
Have a fallback ready. Know the interviewer's phone number or have a way to reach them. Technical failures happen and are completely forgivable. Being unreachable for ten minutes is less so.
Use a wired connection or sit near the router. Most video interview problems are bandwidth, and they present as you seeming hesitant or hard to follow rather than as an obvious failure.
Get the camera at eye level. A laptop on a desk films you from below, which is unflattering and makes you look like you are looking down. Raise it on some books. This is the highest-return thirty seconds of preparation available.
Look at the camera when you are making a point. Natural instinct is to watch their face on screen, which reads to them as you looking away. Watch them while they speak, look at the lens when you are saying something that matters.
Light from the front. A window behind you makes you a silhouette. Face the window, or put a lamp behind the screen.
Close everything else. Notifications, other applications, and anything that might make a sound. If you are screen sharing, check what else is visible first.
The timing problem
The genuine difficulty with video interviews, and the one most people never name.
There is a small delay on every call. It is enough that the natural rhythm of conversation breaks: you both start talking at once, then both stop, then both start again. It happens repeatedly and it makes an interview feel stilted in a way neither party can quite place.
Two things help.
Leave a beat after they finish. A full second. It feels unnaturally long and it sounds normal at the other end.
Signal when you have finished. Not verbally, just tonally. Landing your voice at the end of a sentence tells the other person the floor is free. Trailing off leaves them unsure whether to speak.
Notes are the actual advantage
The one genuine benefit of a video interview: you can have notes on screen or beside you and nobody knows.
Keep them minimal. A page of prompts, not a script, because reading is audible and obvious. Useful things to have: your questions for them, the three points you want to make regardless of what is asked, the names and roles of the people you are meeting, and a few numbers from your own experience you might otherwise forget under pressure.
Put them near the camera so your eyes do not travel.
Recorded one-way interviews
Increasingly common as a first round, and widely disliked. You record answers to set questions with nobody present, and a person reviews them later. Some are scored with AI assistance first.
They are strange to do, and it is worth knowing that everyone finds them strange, including the people reviewing them.
Do a practice recording on the platform if it allows it. Watch it once. You will immediately see one or two things to fix, and then stop watching, because more analysis makes you more self-conscious.
Check whether you get retakes before you start. Many platforms allow one or two. Some allow none.
Check the preparation and answer time limits. Frequently thirty seconds to think and two minutes to answer.
Treat it as a conversation anyway. Speak to the camera as though someone is there. Flat delivery into a lens is the most common problem and the easiest to fix by simply imagining a person.
Keep to the time. Being cut off mid-sentence is worse than finishing slightly early.
Do not over-polish. Six takes of the same answer produces something that sounds recited. Your second or third attempt is usually your best.
If a recorded interview is genuinely not possible for you, for a reason such as a disability or a condition it would disadvantage, ask for an alternative. Employers should offer one, and asking is reasonable.
What to expect from an AI interview covers the scoring question specifically.
What matters less than people think
Your background, as long as it is not distracting. Tidy is enough. Virtual backgrounds can glitch around your outline, which is more distracting than an ordinary room.
Dressing formally below the waist. Dress as you would in person from the waist up, and be aware that standing up unexpectedly happens.
Being in a perfect space. If you have caring responsibilities or share a home, interruptions occur. Mention it briefly at the start if it is a risk, and carry on. Interviewers are people with homes too.
Common questions
How should I prepare for a video interview?
Test the specific platform in advance, raise the camera to eye level, light yourself from the front, close everything that might notify, and have the interviewer's number as a fallback.
Should I look at the camera or the screen?
Watch the screen while they are speaking, and look at the lens when you are making a point. Constant camera-staring is uncomfortable for both of you.
Can I use notes in a video interview?
Yes, and it is the main advantage of the format. Keep them to prompts rather than a script, and place them near the camera.
What is a one-way video interview?
A recorded interview where you answer set questions with nobody present, reviewed later by a person. Check retakes and time limits before you start, and speak as though someone is there.
What if my internet fails during an interview?
Have the interviewer's number ready and call them. It happens regularly and is not held against you. Being uncontactable is the part that causes a problem.
The short version
Test the actual platform, get the camera to eye level, light from the front, leave a beat before answering to handle the delay, keep notes as prompts near the lens, and for recorded interviews check your retakes and stop after the third take.