Remote interviews are now the default first stage almost everywhere. They are also harder than they look, because the medium strips out most of the ordinary cues people rely on, and small technical problems consume attention that should be going to your answers.
Fix the technical basics in advance
Test your camera, microphone and connection on the actual platform the day before. Join a test call and look at what you look like.
Use a wired connection if you can, close everything that consumes bandwidth, and have the number to dial in as a fallback in case video fails.
Sound matters more than picture
Interviewers forgive a mediocre image and struggle with poor audio, because bad sound makes listening genuinely tiring. Wired headphones with a microphone are better than laptop speakers and better than most wireless earbuds.
Choose a room with soft furnishings if you can. Bare rooms echo.
Get the framing and light right
Camera at eye level, not looking up at you from a desk. Head and shoulders in frame with a little space above your head.
Light in front of you, not behind. A window behind you turns you into a silhouette. A cheap lamp beside the screen fixes it.
Look at the camera at the right moments
Looking at the face on your screen means appearing to look down. Looking at the lens creates eye contact but means you cannot read their reaction.
The practical compromise: look at the camera when making your key point, and at the screen otherwise. Move your video window directly under the camera to narrow the gap.
Adjust for the delay
Latency means interruptions happen constantly. Leave a beat after the interviewer stops speaking before starting.
If you do talk over each other, stop, let them go, and continue. Handled calmly it is unremarkable; handled awkwardly it eats time.
Use notes carefully
The advantage of video is that you can have notes to hand. The risk is obvious reading, which is immediately visible.
Keep them to a few bullet points, positioned near the camera. Prompts, not scripts.
Compensate for the flattened signal
Energy that reads as normal in a room reads as flat on video. Slightly more animation, slightly more vocal variation, clear nodding while listening.
This feels exaggerated while doing it and looks normal on the other end.
Control the environment
Tell the household you are unavailable, silence phone and desktop notifications, close the door, remove anything distracting from the background. Plain is better than interesting.
Have a plan for failure
If the connection drops, having already agreed a fallback makes it a thirty-second inconvenience rather than a crisis. Mention at the start that you will dial in if video fails, and have the number ready.