Online Interview Tips: The Zoom, Teams & Google Meet Checklist
Everything to set up before a video interview on Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet — camera, audio, lighting, screen sharing, coding environment and backups — as a checklist you can run through the night before and ten minutes before.
A surprising number of online interviews are lost before the first question: the microphone that won't connect, the screen share that exposes forty browser tabs, the Wi-Fi that dies halfway through a coding problem. None of it says anything about your ability — but all of it eats into the time you have to show it.
Here's a checklist for Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, split into what to do the day before and what to do ten minutes before.
The day before
1. Use the exact app and account
Check the invite: Zoom, Teams or Meet, and whether it needs the desktop app or runs in the browser. Install and update it now — a forced update five minutes before the call is a classic disaster. Sign in and set your display name to your full name.
2. Camera: eye level, light in front
- Raise your laptop so the camera is at eye level (a stack of books works).
- Put your main light source in front of you, not behind — a window behind you turns you into a silhouette.
- Choose a plain background, or a subtle blur. Avoid novelty virtual backgrounds.
3. Audio matters more than video
Interviewers forgive a grainy camera; they struggle with bad audio. A wired headset or a simple USB microphone beats a laptop mic. Test it in the meeting app's settings — Zoom offers a test meeting at zoom.us/test, Teams has Test call in device settings, and Meet has a green-room preview before you join.
4. Rehearse the screen share
Technical interviews usually include screen sharing, and many interviewers ask for your entire screen rather than one window. Practise it:
- Start a meeting on your own (or join from your phone as a second participant).
- Share your entire screen and look at what arrives.
- Turn off notifications (Windows: Focus Assist / Do Not Disturb), close chat apps and personal tabs, and clear your desktop.
If you use any helper tool during interviews, this is also the moment to confirm what it looks like on the share — see how to hide an app from screen share.
5. Prepare your coding environment
For coding rounds, ask beforehand which environment they'll use — a shared editor like CoderPad, a HackerRank link, or your own IDE. If it's your IDE: increase the font size, close unrelated projects, and make sure the language runtime works. Brush up the common patterns in 15 DSA patterns for coding interviews.
6. Plan a backup
- Phone hotspot enabled and tested.
- The meeting link and the interviewer's email saved on your phone.
- Laptop charger plugged in.
Ten minutes before
- Restart the computer if it's been running for days, then open only what you need.
- Close notifications, email, chat, and music apps.
- Open the meeting link, your coding environment, and a single notes document if allowed.
- Place the interviewer's video window directly under your camera so looking at them looks like eye contact.
- Water nearby, phone on silent and face-down.
- Join a couple of minutes early.
Add a safety net to the checklist
InterviewPilot sits above your meeting and coding windows, transcribes the interviewer, and reads on-screen problems — on an overlay the screen share doesn't carry. Include it in your day-before rehearsal and check the share yourself.
During the interview
- Narrate while you think. On video, silence feels longer than in person. Say what you're considering: "I'm thinking about using a hash map here."
- Ask before you share. "Would you like my entire screen or just the editor?"
- Handle glitches calmly. If audio cuts, say so, rejoin, and carry on. Nobody fails for a dropped connection; people struggle when they panic about it.
- Look at the camera when making key points.
After the interview
Send a short thank-you within 24 hours referencing something specific you discussed, and note down every question you were asked — the next company will ask some of the same ones.
Platform-specific quick tips
| Zoom | Microsoft Teams | Google Meet | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Test your setup | zoom.us/test | Settings → Devices → Test call | Green-room preview before joining |
| Share one window | Share Screen → pick the window | Share → Window | Present → A window / A tab |
| Blur background | Background & effects | Background effects | Apply visual effects |
Related reading
Frequently asked questions
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