What is a video interview? Types, formats, and what to expect

A video interview is a job interview conducted over video instead of in person. It can be live, with an interviewer on a call like Zoom, Teams, or Meet, or recorded, where you answer set questions to a camera on your own time and a hiring team watches later. Most are an early screening step before a deeper round.

The phrase covers more ground than it first sounds like. A quick recruiter call on Zoom is a video interview. So is a recorded set of questions you answer alone at 9pm with no one on the other end. So is an interview where AI transcribes your answers for a hiring team. Which one you get changes how you should prepare, and the invitation does not always make it obvious. This page defines the term, separates it from the words it gets confused with, lays out the four formats you will actually meet, and shows you how to tell which one is in front of you.

What counts as a video interview

A video interview is any interview where you and the employer connect over video rather than sitting in the same room. The common thread is the camera, not a particular tool or stage. It might be the first screen in a process or the last conversation before an offer. It might last ten minutes or an hour. As long as the interview happens on video, it counts.

Employers moved to video for practical reasons, and most have stayed there. Remote screening cuts the travel and scheduling cost of bringing people in, and it tends to shave time off the hiring process. It also lets a team interview people anywhere, which widens the pool well beyond commuting distance. For candidates the upside is real too. No travel, no half day off work, and with recorded formats, often more say over when you do it.

It is worth being honest that not everyone prefers it. In one national survey from the American Staffing Association, about 70 percent of job seekers said they would rather interview in person, and only around 17 percent preferred video. That preference is real and worth naming. It does not make the format bad. It mostly means the experience depends on how well it is run, which is something both sides can influence.

Video interview vs virtual interview vs phone screen

These three terms get used loosely, and the overlap causes most of the confusion. Here is the clean version.

A virtual interview is the widest term. It means any interview held remotely instead of in person, by any channel, which includes phone, video, and web conferencing. A video interview is the slice of that done on camera. So every video interview is a virtual interview, but a phone-only screen is a virtual interview that is not a video one. In everyday speech people swap the two words freely, and for preparation it rarely matters which one the invitation uses.

A phone screen is the lightest remote format. It is usually a short call to confirm the basics, availability, salary range, and location, before anyone spends time on video. It shows the least, which is exactly why it tends to come first. If you are weighing one against the other, phone screen vs video interview lays out when employers use each and what each one tests.

If you want the umbrella view rather than the camera-only one, what a virtual interview is covers the same ground one level up.

The four types of video interview

Most video interviews fall into one of four formats. The first two are by far the most common. Knowing which one you are facing tells you almost everything about how to prepare.

Live video interview

A real-time call with one or more interviewers on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or similar. It works like an in-person interview moved to a screen. You can read the interviewer, ask follow-up questions, and react in the moment. These run anywhere from a short recruiter screen of fifteen to thirty minutes up to a panel of forty-five to sixty minutes or more.

Prep here is about your setup and your presence. Good light on your face, the camera at eye level, a quiet room, and looking at the lens rather than at your own image on screen. The platform-specific guides, like Zoom interview tips and the Microsoft Teams interview guide, cover the small differences, but the habits carry across all of them.

One-way or pre-recorded interview

Here you record answers to set questions and no interviewer is present. You typically see each question once, get a short window to think, often somewhere around 30 to 90 seconds, then record a timed answer, commonly 60 to 180 seconds, across a set of 3 to 5 or 5 to 8 questions. A hiring team reviews the recordings later, often several candidates in a row.

This is the format that trips people up, because there is no one to nudge you along or ask a follow-up, so structure has to carry the whole answer. It is also the recorded format the rest of this site goes deepest on. If you have been sent one, start with the one-way interview explained for the mechanics, and how to pass a one-way video interview for recording well under a timer. The same format is also called an asynchronous or on-demand interview, with the emphasis on doing it whenever you like within a window. The full definition lives on the asynchronous video interview page.

AI-scored video interview

This is not a separate stage so much as a layer on top of a recorded interview. The questions and the recording work exactly like a one-way. The difference is that software helps process what comes back. In most setups it transcribes your answers, pulls out themes, and gives reviewers a summary or a match against the role’s criteria. The tool surfaces, people decide.

It is worth understanding this calmly rather than fearing it. Modern systems are built around content, your words and examples, not your face. HireVue, one of the largest vendors, discontinued facial analysis back in 2021. Some jurisdictions add protections too. Under Illinois law, an employer using AI analysis on a video interview must disclose it and, on request, delete the recording within 30 days. The practical takeaway is simple. Answer clearly, speak in specifics, and structure your stories, because that reads well to a person and to a transcript alike. For more, see how to prepare for an AI interview and do AI interviews use facial recognition.

Chatbot or text interview

The outlier in the group, because it often is not video at all. Some employers run an early screen through a chat or messaging flow, where a bot asks questions and you type your answers, sometimes followed by a short recorded clip. It is fast and low-friction, and it usually screens for the basics before a real conversation. People still group it with video interviews because it sits in the same early-screening slot and frequently runs on the same hiring platforms. If your invitation points to a chat rather than a camera, that is what you are looking at. Is it an AI interview helps you read the signals.

How a video interview works, step by step

Strip away the format and almost every video interview follows the same four steps.

1. Invite. You get an email or message with the details. For a live interview that means a date, a time, and a link to the meeting. For a recorded interview it means a link and a window, often a few days, in which to complete it. Read this message closely, because it usually tells you the format, the rough length, and what you will need.
2. Complete. You join the call or you record your answers. A live interview is a normal back-and-forth conversation over a screen. A recorded interview shows you questions one at a time, gives you a short window to think, then records a timed answer to each. There is no one to react to you in that version, which is the part that feels strange the first time.
3. Review. A hiring team looks at what came back. For a live interview that is the interviewer’s notes and impression. For a recorded one, reviewers watch your videos later and compare them against the same questions everyone answered. This consistency is exactly why companies hiring at volume reach for recorded formats.
4. Decision. Based on the review, you move forward, get held, or get passed on. A video interview is rarely the final word. More often it is the gate to a longer conversation, a live round, or an in-person meeting.

How to prepare based on which type you got

The format decides the prep. For a live video interview, your job is setup and presence. Test the link and your camera ahead of time, light your face from the front, and treat it like the in-person meeting it stands in for. For a recorded, asynchronous, or AI-scored interview, the same setup matters, plus you have to carry the answer alone. Open with your point in the first ten seconds, keep stories specific, and stop when you have made it. A tight 90-second answer beats a rambling three-minute one every time. For a chatbot or text screen, answer plainly and completely, the way you would in a thoughtful email.

If you are not sure which type you have, the invitation almost always says. A meeting link and a fixed time means live. A link with a window of days and instructions about recording means one-way or asynchronous. A link to a chat means text. Whichever one it is, how to prepare for a virtual interview walks the whole setup in four passes, and virtual interview tips covers the on-camera habits that carry the most weight.

Where to go next

Now that the term and the formats are clear, pick your path. For the umbrella view one level up, read what a virtual interview is, and to see all the delivery modes side by side, the three types of virtual interview. If you have a recorded interview coming up, the one-way interview guide and how to prepare for an asynchronous interview are the practical next reads. And if all you want to know is how long the whole thing takes, how long a virtual interview lasts sets your expectations by stage.