Updated September 23, 2026
Video interview tips: setup, eye contact, mistakes to avoid
Get the camera, light and audio right before the interview starts, then keep your eyes on the lens and your notes just out of frame.
Set your camera at eye level, roughly an arm's length away, and look at the lens rather than the screen when you're speaking. Test your lighting, sound and internet connection at least ten minutes before the call, using the same device and the same room you'll use for the interview. Keep one page of notes near the camera, not on a second screen, so your eyes don't wander mid-answer. Close every other tab and app, and silence your phone completely.
Most candidates don't lose the job over what they say, they lose it over how the call feels. A half-second audio delay makes you talk over the interviewer, a low camera angle makes you look like you're being interrogated from below, and a dim room makes you look tired before you've said a word. None of this is hard to fix, but it has to be fixed before the call, not during it. The rest of this guide gives you a setup you can run through in the fifteen minutes before you join, plus the specific mistakes that quietly cost candidates the job.
Camera position and eye contact
Position your webcam at eye level by stacking books or a stand under your laptop; a camera looking up your nose or down from above changes how confident you look before you've said anything. Sit far enough back that your head and shoulders fit in frame with some space above your head, not a close-up that fills the whole screen. When you answer, look at the camera lens itself, not at the interviewer's face on the screen, because that's what reads as eye contact on their end. It feels unnatural for the first few minutes and then becomes automatic.
Glance at the screen between answers if you need to check the interviewer's reaction, then return to the lens when you start talking again. Frame yourself in the top third of the video window, not centred with a lot of ceiling above you. If you're on a platform with a small self-view window, move it directly under your camera so your eyeline drifts as little as possible when you check it.
- Raise the laptop with books or a stand until the camera sits level with your eyes.
- Sit an arm's length from the screen so your head and shoulders fill the frame.
- Look at the lens when you speak, and at the screen only between answers.
Light, sound and the audio delay problem
Face a window or a lamp rather than sitting with your back to one, since backlighting turns you into a silhouette. A soft light in front of you, even a desk lamp behind your laptop pointed at your face, fixes most lighting problems in a rented room or a shared flat. Test your microphone with a short recording, not just a video call with a friend, because recordings reveal echo and background hum that a live call sometimes hides. Wired headphones with a built-in microphone usually beat both a laptop microphone and Bluetooth earbuds, which can introduce a slight audio delay.
That delay is the single biggest cause of awkward video interviews: you finish your sentence, there's a beat of silence, and you both start talking at the same time. If your connection is unstable, ask the interviewer at the start whether the call is on wifi at their end too, and agree to pause for a second before replying so you don't talk over each other. Close streaming apps, backups and cloud sync running in the background, since they quietly use bandwidth you need for the call.
- Put a light source in front of your face, never a bright window behind you.
- Use wired headphones with a microphone instead of your laptop's built-in one.
- Pause a beat before answering, so a short audio delay doesn't make you talk over each other.
Notes, background and the mistakes that cost the job
Keep a single printed page of notes taped just beside your camera: your key stories in STAR method shape, the questions you plan to ask at the end, and the name of the person interviewing you. Reading from notes on a second monitor is the most common mistake, because your eyes visibly move sideways every time you check them and the interviewer notices even if they don't say so. A plain wall or a tidy shelf behind you works better than a virtual background, which can glitch around your hair and hands on a slow connection. Turn off notifications on every device in the room, including a smartwatch, since a buzz mid-answer breaks your concentration and shows on your face.
The mistakes that actually cost candidates offers are rarely dramatic: joining two minutes late because the link didn't open first time, a dog or a doorbell in the middle of an answer, or answering from a phone propped against a mug so the camera shakes every time the table moves. Log in five minutes early on the actual platform the interviewer will use, not a similar one, and have a backup way to join, such as a phone number, in case the video fails. If a technical problem happens anyway, say so plainly and ask for a minute to fix it rather than continuing while distracted.
- Tape a single page of notes beside the camera instead of reading from a second screen.
- Choose a plain, tidy background over a virtual one on a slow connection.
- Join the actual platform five minutes early with a backup number in case video fails.
Treat the setup as part of your preparation, not an afterthought: camera at eye level, light in front of you, wired audio, and one page of notes taped beside the lens. Test everything, on the exact device and in the exact room, at least ten minutes before you join. Once the technical side is sorted, you can put your full attention into the answers themselves.
Put it into practice