Video Interview Tips: How to Ace Your Remote Interview in 2025
Video interviews are now the default first step in hiring processes across the UK, US, Canada, and Australia. According to a 2023 LinkedIn Global Talent Trends report, 86% of talent acquisition professionals say video interviews have become a permanent fixture — not a temporary adaptation. For candidates, this means that performing well on screen is now as fundamental a job-search skill as writing a compelling CV.
Yet most candidates underestimate how different the video interview experience is from an in-person conversation. Technical failures, poor lighting, distracting backgrounds, and the absence of physical energy all create friction that well-prepared candidates eliminate entirely. This guide gives you the complete preparation framework: technical setup, behavioural performance, and the cultural nuances that differ between the UK, US, and Australian markets.
The Video Interview Landscape in 2025
The dominant platforms in 2025 are Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. Knowing which platform your employer uses — and installing and testing it before the day — is a basic competency that still trips up a meaningful number of candidates.
Beyond the live interview, asynchronous video assessments are growing rapidly. Platforms like HireVue, Spark Hire, and Karat ask candidates to record responses to pre-set questions, with no live interviewer present. These are particularly common in graduate recruitment, volume hiring at large UK banks and consultancies, and US retail and consumer goods companies. The preparation for asynchronous video differs from live video in important ways — this guide covers both.
According to a 2024 survey by Talent Board, 74% of candidates said a poor video interview experience — technical issues, unclear instructions, or awkward platform UX — negatively affected their perception of the employer. The reverse is equally true: a candidate who handles the technical side smoothly and presents professionally on screen creates an impression of competence before they have answered a single question.
Recruiter perspective
A senior recruiter at a London-based investment bank noted in the 2023 CIPD Recruitment Outlook: "We see candidates who are clearly well-qualified fail to make the shortlist because their video setup looked unprofessional — poor lighting, background clutter, audio problems. It communicates a lack of preparation for what is now a completely standard format."
Technical Setup: What to Check Before the Interview
Technical failures during a video interview are preventable. The preparation takes 30 minutes. Do it the day before, not the morning of.
Camera: Your built-in laptop webcam is acceptable for most interviews. An external HD webcam (Logitech C920 or similar, available for around £70 / $80) produces noticeably better image quality and is a worthwhile investment if you are doing frequent video interviews. Position the camera at eye level — never looking up at you from below, which is an unflattering angle. If you need to raise your laptop, a stack of books works perfectly.
Lighting: This is the most impactful single change you can make to your on-screen appearance. Position a light source — a desk lamp, a ring light, or simply your desk positioned facing a window — in front of you, not behind you. Backlighting (a bright window behind you) turns you into a silhouette. Good frontal lighting makes your face clearly visible, your expressions readable, and your overall presence more confident.
Audio: Poor audio is more damaging than poor video. If your room echoes, close-fitting headphones with a built-in microphone (standard earbuds with a mic work well) dramatically reduce echo and background noise. Test the audio in the platform before the interview day.
Background: A plain wall, a tidy bookshelf, or a simple virtual background (use a professionally neutral image, not a beach or a cartoon) works well. Avoid backgrounds with movement (windows to the street, doors to busy rooms), visible clutter, or personal items that may distract the interviewer.
Internet connection: If possible, use a wired ethernet connection rather than Wi-Fi. If you must use Wi-Fi, sit as close to the router as possible and close all applications not needed for the interview. A dropped connection mid-interview is fixable (explain calmly, reconnect, continue) but adds stress you do not need.
Pro tip
Do a full technical test — camera, audio, platform login, background — at the same time of day as your interview, ideally 24 hours before. Internet speeds, daylight, and ambient noise all vary by time of day. What works at 9am may not work at 7pm.
UK, US, and Australian Etiquette Differences
Video interview etiquette is not universal. Cultural norms around formality, directness, and relationship-building vary enough between markets to affect how your behaviour is interpreted.
United Kingdom: UK interviewers generally expect a degree of formality in the opening exchange — some small talk ("How are you? Did you find the link easily?") but a relatively quick move to the substance. British interview culture tends to reward measured, considered answers over high-energy enthusiasm. Humility in self-presentation is culturally valued: in the UK, saying "I'm extremely talented" or leading heavily with self-promotion without a follow-up example is often perceived as overconfidence. Frame achievements as "the team delivered X" with your specific contribution clearly noted, rather than "I single-handedly achieved X."
First names are generally fine in most UK video interviews by 2025, but reading the tone of the interviewer's opening is sensible. If they use formal language and their full name, match that register initially.
United States: US interviewers — particularly in technology, sales, and consumer-facing industries — tend to expect and respond to more energy and assertiveness in self-presentation. Enthusiasm for the role is not seen as unprofessional; it is expected. Concrete, data-driven achievement statements ("I increased revenue by 22% in Q3") are the gold standard. The relationship-building portion at the start of a US interview tends to be warmer and longer than in a UK context.
In US video interviews, eye contact with the camera (not the screen) is particularly important. American interviewers tend to be more alert to eye contact cues as an indicator of confidence and engagement.
Australia: Australian interview culture combines UK formality in structure with US friendliness in tone. Informality is accepted early — using first names from the start, a relaxed opening — but substantive answers are expected to be clear, specific, and well-structured. Australians tend to be particularly alert to what they call "tall poppy syndrome" — excessive self-promotion can be received negatively. Lead with the outcome ("the project was delivered three weeks early") before the individual contribution.
Watch out
In all three markets, avoid checking your phone, looking away from the screen for extended periods, or appearing distracted. In a live video interview, these behaviours are even more visible than in person — the close framing of the camera makes attention gaps obvious.
Body Language and On-Screen Presence
The absence of a physical presence in video interviews creates a specific challenge: you cannot project energy through posture, handshake, or room-filling presence the way you can in person. You have to do more work with your face, voice, and eye contact.
Eye contact with the camera, not the screen. This is the single most important on-screen technique. Looking at the video feed of the interviewer's face feels like eye contact to you, but it appears to them as if you are looking slightly below the camera. Looking directly at the camera lens appears as direct eye contact to the viewer. This takes conscious practice — most people find it uncomfortable initially because you cannot see the person's reactions while you do it. Practise during video calls with friends or colleagues until it becomes natural.
Sit slightly forward in your chair. Leaning back signals disengagement. Sitting slightly forward — approximately 70–80% upright, not rigidly straight — signals attentiveness and engagement. Leave your hands visible on the desk or in the frame; hands entirely out of frame can look uncomfortable and creates a stiff, passport-photo quality.
Control your speaking pace. Video calls create a slight audio processing delay (even at low latency). Speaking slightly slower than you would in person reduces the chance of talking over the interviewer and makes your speech clearer. For non-native English speakers in the UK or US market, slightly slower and more deliberate pacing is consistently better received.
Facial expressiveness. The camera naturally flattens emotional expression. Slightly amplify your natural expressiveness — smile more readily when appropriate, nod to indicate understanding, react visibly to what the interviewer is saying. The goal is to prevent the "flat" effect that video can create, not to perform exaggerated emotion.
Example
Yuki, a marketing manager based in Bristol, practised her video interview technique by recording three mock interview sessions and watching them back. She was surprised to discover that she rarely made eye contact with the camera, her facial expression appeared neutral even when she was engaged, and she frequently looked down at her notes. She spent a week practising camera-focused eye contact in video calls. Her next two interview processes both resulted in offers — she attributed part of that to feeling genuinely comfortable on camera for the first time.
Preparing for Asynchronous Video Interviews
Asynchronous video interviews (HireVue, Spark Hire, Karat, Montage) are increasingly common for first-round screening, particularly in graduate recruitment, volume hiring, and US and UK retail, financial services, and FMCG roles.
The format: you receive a set of questions (typically 4–8), have a brief preparation time for each (15–90 seconds), and then record your answer (typically 1–3 minutes per question). You submit the recording and a human or AI system reviews it.
Specific preparation points for async video:
Use your full preparation time. The 30–90 second window before recording is not a delay — it is preparation time. Use it to note your key STAR points on a sticky note just out of frame, take a breath, and frame your opening line.
Get to the point within the first 10 seconds. Reviewers are watching many recordings. If your first sentence does not address the question, the reviewer's attention is already drifting. Lead with the answer, then explain the context.
Do not exceed the time limit. Recordings that run over the allocated time are cut off. Practise answering within the limit beforehand — a 2-minute answer should take no more than 1 minute 45 seconds in practice, to give yourself buffer.
Dress and background as for a live interview. Some candidates treat async video interviews more casually, assuming no one is watching closely. This is a mistake. The recording is reviewed, often by multiple people, and your appearance signals the same things it would in a live session.
For guidance on managing the stress of video interviews, see our article on interview anxiety tips. For guidance on what to wear specifically for video interviews in different sectors, see our guide on what to wear to a job interview.