Why setup counts more when the interviewer is software
In a live call, a person can tell you that your sound is breaking up. In a recorded AI interview, nobody tells you. If the microphone is muffled, the transcript may miss words, and the words are most of what gets evaluated. If your face is in shadow, the human who later watches the recording sees a dark shape.
None of this needs special equipment. A laptop or phone, a window or a lamp, and a quiet room are enough if you arrange them well. Our routine for one-way video interviews covers the speaking side; this post is about the room.
Camera: eye level and a little distance
Put the camera at the height of your eyes. On a laptop that usually means raising it on a stack of books so you are not looking down into it. A phone works too; use a stand or prop it against something steady, in landscape unless the platform asks otherwise.
Sit far enough back that your head and the top of your shoulders fill the frame, with a little space above your head. An arm's length from a laptop camera is about right.
Eye contact with a camera feels strange. The trick is to look at the lens when you start and finish an answer, and not worry about the middle. A small sticker or a dot next to the lens gives you something to look at. If you have notes, put them right under the camera, not on the desk.
Light: in front of you, not behind
The most common problem is a bright window behind you, which turns your face into a silhouette. Turn around so the window is in front of you or slightly to one side. Daylight through a window is the best free light you have.
If you are recording in the evening, put a lamp behind the screen, pointing at your face, and turn off the main ceiling light if it makes harsh shadows. A white lampshade or a sheet of paper in front of a bare bulb softens it. Avoid mixing very warm and very cold light on your face if you can.
- Window or lamp in front of you, not behind.
- Ceiling light alone tends to shadow your eyes.
- Plain wall or tidy shelf behind you; a blur filter is fine if the platform allows it.
- Test at the same time of day you will record.
Sound: the part that matters most
Clear audio helps the transcription and the reviewer. Pick the quietest room you have, and close the door and windows. Rooms with soft things in them, such as a bedroom with curtains and a rug, echo less than a kitchen or a bare office.
Wired earphones with a built-in microphone usually sound better than a laptop microphone, because the microphone is closer to your mouth. Wireless earbuds are fine if they are charged and already paired. Turn off fans and notification sounds. Tell the people you live with when you will be recording.
A ten-minute test the day before
Open your phone or laptop's camera app and record yourself answering one practice question for a minute, in the exact spot and lighting you will use. Watch it back once with the sound on.
- Can you see your eyes clearly?
- Is your head near the top third of the frame?
- Can you understand every word at normal volume?
- Is anything behind you distracting?
- Does the platform's own practice question work on this device and browser?
Fix what is wrong and record once more. Then leave everything in place, plug in the charger, and stop adjusting.
Then practice talking to it
A good setup removes distractions, but answering a camera with no one reacting still takes getting used to. Our post on rehearsing for recorded interviews has drills for the silence and the timer, and the earlier post in this series on the STAR method shows how to fit a full answer into the time limit.
To rehearse speaking your answers to an interviewer that asks about your own résumé, you can use Hmmlo on a phone, tablet or browser, with a coach review afterwards.
