Three things are different
Recorded interviews, whether a one-way video or a live AI interviewer, remove the parts of an interview most of us rely on without noticing. There is no face to read. You get no feedback while you speak, and usually none afterwards. And there is often a timer.
People feel all three. "I got cut off in the middle of answers and it didn't respond to my questions. A terrible, depressing experience," one person wrote under a video about AI interviews. Another, on a workplace forum, found it "very annoying that it would cut you off while you're answering its question."
You can rehearse each of the three on its own. The drills below take them one at a time, and the one-week plan at the end puts them together.
- No face
Talk to one friendly person you picture behind the lens.
Drill: the empty chair - No feedback
Signpost, end clearly, and get one outside opinion before the day.
Drill: build your own - A timer
Answer, one example, the result, a closing line.
Drill: the 90-second shape
No face: the empty-chair drill
"I just wanna have a face to face interview with a real human," one commenter wrote, and many people feel the same. With no face in front of you, your energy tends to drop and your answers drift. The fix is to give yourself someone to talk to.
- Picture one specific, friendly person behind the lens, such as a former manager who liked you or a friend who asks good questions, and talk to them.
- Start each answer with a small smile and a clear first sentence, which sets the tone for the rest.
- Raise your energy slightly above normal, because on camera ordinary energy reads as tired.
- Practice by answering three questions to an empty chair with your phone recording. Then watch: did you sound like you were talking to someone?
No feedback: build your own
Without nods or follow-up questions you can't tell how an answer is landing, and you may hear nothing afterwards. In a May 2026 Greenhouse survey, 51% of people who completed an AI interview never heard back, and 39% wanted a clear explanation of what the AI was measuring. You can't change that. You can make your answers easy to follow, and you can get feedback before the real interview.
- Signpost out loud with phrases like "There are two parts to that" or "The result was..." Signposts help any listener, and they help a transcript make sense.
- End each answer with a closing sentence such as "That's how I handled it", so a person or a system knows you have finished.
- Check whether your first two sentences answer the question. If they don't, move the answer to the front.
- Ask a friend to watch one clip and tell you the single clearest moment and the single least clear one.
- For "tell me about a time" questions, the STAR method keeps the story easy to follow.
The timer: practice with the clock as well as the words
"Seeing the timer count down just makes me so anxious," wrote one person, and another noticed candidates who were "too focused on the timer and not being able to be comfortable with their answers." The clock is easier to live with once you have an answer shape that fits inside it.
- A 90-second answer can have four parts: one sentence that answers the question, about 60 seconds on one example, one sentence on the result and a closing line.
- Have your first sentence ready before the countdown ends, because starting is the hardest moment.
- Practice with a visible timer every time, so the clock fades into the background.
- If time runs out, finish your sentence if you can. A clean final sentence counts for more than covering everything.
- If you finish early, stop talking and let the silence sit; it is better than repeating yourself.
Live AI interviewers: turn-taking and interruptions
Live AI voice interviewers add one more difficulty: knowing when it is your turn. Some systems treat a pause as the end of your answer. Leave a short breath after the question before you start, bridge long silences mid-answer with a phrase such as "and the second thing was...", and close clearly. If you are cut off, finish in one sentence if you can. If it keeps happening, note it and tell the recruiter afterwards; one large study recorded technical problems in about 7% of AI interviews.
A one-week rehearsal plan
Six short sessions, one condition at a time, then a full run in your real setup:
- Day 1Empty chair
Three questions to the camera. Watch once.
- Day 2Five stories
Bullet notes, then each one out loud with STAR.
- Day 3The clock
Five questions against a visible timer, no retakes.
- Day 4Outside opinion
Someone watches two clips. Fix the least clear moment.
- Day 5Surprises
New questions with follow-ups, from a friend or a practice tool.
- Day 6Full run
Your real setup, start to finish. Then rest.
After the interview
Write down the questions you were asked while you still remember them; they make good practice for the next one. If you have a recruiter's name, a short thank-you note is still worth sending. If you hear nothing after a week or so, a brief, polite follow-up is reasonable. If you have concerns about how recorded interviews are assessed, read what candidates report and what the research says.
Give yourself the feedback the format doesn't
The point of all this drilling is to make speaking in these conditions feel ordinary, so you sound like yourself on the day. As a careers expert at Indeed told the Associated Press, "You need to practice out loud." If you want a practice round that talks back, you can try a recorded practice interview on Hmmlo: an interviewer asks follow-ups about your own résumé, and afterwards you see notes on each answer, including your pace and pauses. The page on how we score explains what those numbers mean and where they fall short.
