Video Interview Tips: Setup, Presence and Delivery That Actually Matter
Updated 2026-09-17 · Interview Buddy team
Whether it's a live Teams call with a hiring manager or a recorded one-way interview, video changes the rules: your lighting is your handshake, your camera angle is your posture, and technical glitches eat directly into your credibility. Most advice stops at 'dress professionally' — this guide covers the details that actually shift outcomes.
The setup checklist (15 minutes, once)
1.
Camera at eye level — stack books under the laptop. Looking down at a lens reads as looking down at the interviewer.
2.
Light in FRONT of you: face a window, or put a lamp behind your screen. A window behind you turns you into a silhouette.
3.
Frame yourself from mid-chest with a little headroom, centred. Not a forehead close-up, not a distant figure.
4.
Background: plain and tidy beats fancy. A blurred background is fine on live calls; on recorded interviews prefer a real tidy wall — blur artefacts distract.
5.
Audio beats video. If you have earbuds with a decent mic, use them; echoey laptop audio tires listeners fast. Close windows, silence phone AND desktop notifications.
6.
Hardwire or sit near the router. If your connection is shaky, turn off your camera's virtual background — it consumes bandwidth.
Ten minutes before
•
Test the exact platform (Teams, Zoom, HireVue) — updates love to install at the worst moment.
•
Close every other app. A fan spinning up mid-answer means your laptop is struggling.
•
Water within reach, notes on paper beside the screen (never on-screen where reading is obvious).
•
Have the interviewer's phone number or email handy so a dropout becomes a 20-second recovery, not a catastrophe.
Presence on camera
•
Look at the LENS when speaking, the screen when listening. It feels wrong and reads as eye contact — practise until it's habit.
•
Slow down about 10%. Compression and latency make fast talkers hard to follow on video.
•
Pause half a second before answering on live calls — it prevents talk-over from latency and reads as thoughtfulness.
•
Gesture within frame. Hands visible occasionally reads as open and engaged; total stillness reads as nerves.
•
Sit forward slightly. Leaning back reads as detached on camera even when it feels relaxed in the room.
When things go wrong
Glitches are expected; recovery is what's assessed. If audio drops, say what you heard last and ask them to resume from there. If the call dies, rejoin calmly and don't over-apologise — one 'sorry, my connection dropped; you were asking about…' and move on. On a recorded interview, if you stumble badly and a retake is offered, take it once; if not, finish the answer strongly — assessors weight the content of your recovery more than the stumble.
Practise in the actual medium
Reading tips changes nothing; reps do. Record yourself answering two questions and watch it back once — you'll fix the biggest issues (eye line, pace, filler words) immediately. Then do full mock interviews on camera with Interview Buddy: it asks, listens to your spoken answers, and scores your communication and confidence so you can watch those scores climb before the interview that counts.
Frequently asked questions
What should I wear for a video interview?
One notch below what you'd wear in person at that company, in solid mid-tone colours — busy patterns and pure white strobe or blow out on camera. Dress fully; standing up mid-call in trackpants is a classic story for a reason.
Is it okay to use notes during a video interview?
Brief paper notes beside your screen are fine — glance, don't read. On-screen notes shift your eyes visibly and make you look like you're reading, which undermines everything else.
Where should I look during a video interview?
At the camera lens while you speak — that's what creates eye contact for the viewer — and at the interviewer's video while they speak, so you catch their cues. A small sticky-note arrow next to the lens helps retrain the habit.
What’s the difference between a live and a one-way video interview?
Live interviews are conversations over Teams/Zoom with real-time interaction. One-way (recorded) interviews give you a question on screen and record your timed answer with no interviewer present — often scored first by AI. The setup advice is identical; the delivery tactics for recorded interviews are covered in our AI interview guide.
Put it into practice
Reading only gets you so far. Run a realistic mock interview with Interview Buddy's AI coach — tailored to the company you're targeting — and get scored feedback on every answer.
Start a practice interview
Related guides
→ How to pass an AI interview→ Common interview questions in Australia→ Graduate interview tips for Australia© 2026 Interview Buddy · AI Interview Preparation Australia