How to look and sound good on a recorded video interview

Set the lens at eye level. A laptop on a stack of books is the usual way. A camera looking up from the desk films the ceiling and the underside of your face, and the answer has to overcome that framing.

Sit so your head and shoulders fill the frame, with a little space above your head. Too far, and you are a small figure in a room. Too close, and every glance looks large. Check the frame in a recording, not in a mirror. OneShot plays the video back in the browser so you can see the framing. The video stays on your device.

A plain wall is a fine background. If the room is cluttered, turn the chair until the clutter is out of frame. You need a face that is large enough to read.

Put the light in front of you. A window or a lamp on the same side as the screen works. A bright window behind your head turns you into a silhouette, and careful wording cannot repair a face the reviewer cannot see. If the room is dim, one lamp in front of you is enough. Turn it on and look at the recording. The room can feel fine to your eyes while the camera is still exposing for the window.

Move until both eyes are out of hard shadow. If one side of your face is black, move the lamp or move the chair. Do this before you spend time on what you will say.

In this format the lens stands in for the other person. The preview of your own face is a mirror, and talking to it looks like talking to yourself. You do not have to hold the lens for the entire answer. Look at it for the first sentence and again when you say the result. Those are the lines you most want to feel directed at someone.

If your eyes keep dropping to the preview, put a small sticky note beside the webcam, or move the preview window up next to the lens so the place you look and the camera are almost the same spot. A glance down at three written words is fine. An entire answer delivered to the keyboard is the thing to avoid.

Speak as if the person were across a table. If you lean back, or if the laptop lid aims the microphone away from you, the recording gets thin. A bare room can sound hollow. A rug, a curtain, or a sofa in the room usually softens that. Test one sentence and listen back. If you can hear the words without turning the volume up, you are close enough.

Headphones are optional. They help only if you have listened to yourself wearing them and they do not make the shot look like a phone call. The employer's instructions win if they mention audio. A tested laptop microphone is a reasonable default.

Pacing is part of how you sound. Aim to land the result with about 10 to 15 seconds left, so you are not racing the last line. A pause of a second or two, while you look at your three words, feels long to you and ordinary to the person watching. Um is the version of that pause that shows up in a transcript. Begin when the first sentence is ready. Starting the instant the timer flips, before you know that sentence, is how the ums get in.

Record a single answer in the room you will use, and at the time of day you will use if you can. Watch it once for the picture and once for the sound. Is the camera at eye level? Is the face lit from the front? Did you meet the lens at the start and at the result? Did the last sentence finish, and could you hear it? Fix the one that failed. Another gadget will not solve a lamp that is behind you.

The same checks apply on HireVue, Spark Hire, and any other one-way interview. The employer sets the timer. The framing is yours.

OneShot Interview is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by HireVue or Spark Hire. HireVue and Spark Hire are trademarks of their respective owners. Questions and sample answers in this guide are practice examples, not questions from any employer.

Run one free practice session before you open the real link. You get a question, a countdown, and a single take, then a look at whether the answer had a point and a result. Close this site before the employer's interview starts.