30 questions to ask on a video call, grouped into six sets, with why each one is worth asking and what a strong answer sounds like, plus a 1 to 5 scorecard. Written for the employer running the interview, not the candidate preparing for it.
The first time I ran a full hiring round over video, I finished five calls in four days and could not have told you which candidate said what. In a room, each interview leaves something physical behind. On a screen they arrive through the same window, in the same forty minutes, and by Thursday they had merged into one composite person with good lighting.
That is the real problem with online interviews, and it is not the technology. The questions barely change. What changes is how much of the signal survives the call, and how quickly your memory of it decays. Both are fixed the same way: the same questions for everyone, real follow-ups, and a score written down before the next call starts.
At FirstHR, we build for small businesses that hire without an HR department, where the founder sends the link, runs the call, and makes the decision. This page gives you 30 interviewer questions in six sets, with why each one is worth asking and what a strong answer sounds like, plus a downloadable 1 to 5 scorecard.
TL;DR
Strong online interview questions cover six areas: opening and role fit, communication and clarity, behavioral questions scored with the STAR pattern, a live work sample over screen share, follow-up probes that test whether the answers are the candidate’s own, and a scorecard. Ask the same core set of every candidate, follow up three levels deep, and score within 10 minutes of the call. Download 30 questions and the rubric as DOCX.
What an Online Interview Changes
An online interview changes the signal, not the standard. The questions that predict performance in a room predict it on a call, so the job is to protect the evidence you would otherwise lose and to use the two things the format gives you: screen share and easier scheduling.
Most of what disappears is informal. There is no walk from reception, no small talk while the laptop wakes up, and no read on how someone carries themselves. What replaces it, unless you plan otherwise, is camera quality. A candidate with a good microphone and a quiet room will out-interview an equally strong candidate on a phone in a parked car, and that is a hiring error waiting to happen.
What changes online
What to do about it
The informal minutes disappear
Open with 60 seconds of housekeeping and one warm-up question, deliberately
Delivery reads as substance
Follow up three levels deep on the strongest claim in every answer
Body language is mostly gone
Test communication directly instead of sensing it
Calls blur together by Thursday
Score on a rubric within 10 minutes of hanging up
Setups vary wildly between candidates
Standardize the questions, and never score the room
Screen share is available
Use a short live work sample you could not run in a room
Two of these deserve emphasis. Confident delivery is easy to mistake for substance when a face fills the frame, which is why follow-ups matter more online than in person. And the second, scoring immediately, is the single habit that separates a comparable hiring round from a set of impressions.
One distinction before the questions: this page is about interviews conducted online, whatever the job. If the job itself is remote, you also want the competency questions on our remote job interview questions page, which cover async communication, self-management, and time-zone overlap. The two sets pair well, and plenty of small businesses need both.
The Six Question Sets
The 30 questions below are grouped into five sets plus a scorecard. Each set targets something the format either threatens or enables, so a strong candidate should hold up across all of them rather than only in the areas they have rehearsed.
Opening and Role Fit
Set the frame
Housekeeping, then motivation and fit. On video you lose the walk to the meeting room, so the first two minutes have to do that work deliberately.
Communication and Clarity
Test it, do not sense it
A call strips out the signals you read in a room, so clarity gets tested head on: explaining, channel judgment, and how they deliver bad news.
Behavioral and Situational
Past behavior, scored
STAR questions on missed deadlines, hard problems, and disagreement. The same core set for every candidate, scored the same way.
Live Work Sample
The online advantage
Screen share turns the format into a strength: watch real work, react to your real material, and see how they organize a week.
Authenticity Probes
Depth, not suspicion
Follow-up questions that go three levels deep, because a rehearsed or borrowed answer survives one question and rarely survives three.
Scorecard (1 to 5)
Score, do not guess
A rubric filled in within 10 minutes of the call, with a line of evidence per score, so back-to-back video calls do not blur together.
Pick Two Sets, Not All Five, for a First Call
A 25 minute screening call has room for the opening set and one other, usually communication. Save the work sample and the deeper authenticity probes for the second round, when you have fewer candidates and more time. What must not change between candidates is which sets you use: run the same combination for everyone in the same round, then compare. Mixing formats within a round is how a hiring decision quietly becomes a comparison of who got the easier interview.
30 Questions and a Scorecard to Download
Download all six as a single Word document or copy individual sets. Every question comes with why it is worth asking and what a strong answer sounds like, and the final file is the scorecard. More hiring assets live in the hiring templates library.
Download All Questions and the Scorecard
Five question sets for video interviews plus a 1 to 5 scoring rubric. All in one DOCX.
Set 1: Opening and Role Fit
Housekeeping, then motivation and fit. Online applications make mass applying trivial, so testing motivation early saves everyone the other forty minutes.
Opening and Role Fit Questions
ONLINE INTERVIEW: OPENING AND ROLE FIT
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
Platform and link: __
Open with 60 seconds of housekeeping before the first question: confirm the
candidate can see and hear you, say how long the call will run, say who else
is on the call, and say whether you are recording and why.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. What made you apply for this role, and what do you already know about how
we work?
Why ask it: an online funnel makes mass applying easy, so motivation is
worth testing early. Strong answer: something specific about the job, the
product, or the customers, not a generic line that would fit any employer.
2. Walk me through the last two roles on your resume and why you left each one.
Why ask it: it sets a shared timeline you can return to, which matters more
on video where you cannot glance at a printed resume together.
Strong answer: clear dates, clear reasons, no gaps they refuse to explain.
3. What does a good week look like in your current or most recent job?
Why ask it: it reveals the actual shape of their work rather than the title.
Strong answer: concrete rhythms, real deliverables, named collaborators.
4. Which parts of this job look like your strongest fit, and which look like a
stretch?
Why ask it: self-assessment against the real job separates candidates who
read the posting from those who did not.
Strong answer: honest about a gap and specific about how they would close it.
5. What do you need from a manager to do your best work?
Why ask it: on a small team the founder is usually the manager, so the fit
is immediate. Strong answer: a realistic, specific ask (clear priorities,
weekly check-in) rather than either "nothing" or an unmeetable list.
6. What questions do you have about the role before we go further?
Why ask it: the questions a candidate has prepared are evidence of how they
think. Strong answer: questions about the work, the customers, and how
success is measured.
WHAT A STRONG SET OF ANSWERS LOOKS LIKE
Specifics beat polish. On video, confident delivery is easy to mistake for
substance, so listen for named projects, real numbers, and reasons that hold
up to one follow-up question. A candidate who answers every question at the
level of general principle is telling you something.
NOTES
[Capture specific examples, quotes, and follow-ups to revisit.]
Set 2: Communication and Clarity
A call strips out most of what you read in a room, so clarity gets tested head on: explaining without props, choosing a channel, and delivering bad news early.
Communication and Clarity Questions
ONLINE INTERVIEW: COMMUNICATION AND CLARITY
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
A video call strips out most of the signals you read in a room, so
communication has to be tested directly rather than sensed.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. Explain something you know well to me as if I have no background in it.
Why ask it: it tests clarity with no whiteboard and no props, which is
exactly the constraint of remote and hybrid work.
Strong answer: plain language, a structure you can follow, and a check to
see whether you are still with them.
2. Tell me about a time a message you wrote was misunderstood. What happened
next?
Why ask it: written misunderstanding is the most common failure mode once
work moves online. Strong answer: they noticed, they fixed it directly, and
they changed how they write. Weak answer: they blame the reader.
3. How do you decide whether something should be a message, a document, or a
call?
Why ask it: judgment about channel is a real skill on a distributed team.
Strong answer: a rule of thumb tied to urgency, audience size, and how much
context the decision needs.
4. Describe how you would tell me a project is running late.
Why ask it: bad news travels slowly online, and late-breaking surprises are
what actually hurt a small team.
Strong answer: early, with the revised date, the cause, and a proposal, not
just an apology.
5. Tell me about giving difficult feedback to someone you had never met in
person.
Why ask it: it is a normal situation now and a genuinely hard one.
Strong answer: they picked a live call over a message, prepared what to say,
and separated the behavior from the person.
6. How do you keep people informed when nobody can see you working?
Why ask it: visibility replaces presence once the office is gone.
Strong answer: a habit they already run (a weekly update, a shared board)
rather than a promise to communicate more.
WHAT A STRONG SET OF ANSWERS LOOKS LIKE
Look for someone who over-communicates by default and who has already been
burned once by not doing so. The best answers include a specific habit with a
cadence attached. Watch for candidates who go quiet under pressure on the call
itself, then over-explain when pressed, which is the same pattern that shows up
later in the job.
NOTES
[Capture specific examples, quotes, and follow-ups to revisit.]
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Past behavior scored with the STAR pattern: Situation, Task, Action, Result. This is the set that stays identical for every candidate, in the same order, every time.
Behavioral and Situational Questions
ONLINE INTERVIEW: BEHAVIORAL AND SITUATIONAL
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
Evaluate every answer with the STAR pattern: Situation, Task, Action, Result.
Ask the same core questions of every candidate so the comparison is fair.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. Tell me about a time you missed a deadline. What did you do?
Why ask it: it tests ownership and the recovery process, not perfection.
Strong answer: they flagged it early, named the cause, and describe what
they changed afterward.
2. Describe the hardest problem you solved in the last year, start to finish.
Why ask it: it is the single highest-yield question in most interviews.
Strong answer: a real situation, the specific actions they personally took,
and a measurable result.
3. Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager. How did it end?
Why ask it: it shows whether they can push back without becoming a problem.
Strong answer: they made the case with evidence, then committed to the
decision either way.
4. Give an example of something you improved without being asked.
Why ask it: initiative is what you are buying on a small team with no layer
of supervision. Strong answer: a concrete improvement with a before and
after, however small.
5. Tell me about a time you had to learn a new tool or system quickly.
Why ask it: the tool stack changes constantly, so learning speed outlasts
any specific software on the resume.
Strong answer: a method (documentation, a test project, asking a specific
person) and a timeline.
6. Describe a mistake that was clearly yours. What changed afterward?
Why ask it: candidates who cannot name a real mistake usually cannot learn
from one either. Strong answer: a genuine mistake with a consequence, told
without deflection.
WHAT A STRONG SET OF ANSWERS LOOKS LIKE
The reliable follow-up is "what was the result?" A strong candidate has the
number or the outcome ready. A weaker one retreats to what the team generally
did. Past behavior predicts future behavior better than stated intentions, so
weight these answers heavily and score them the same way for everyone.
NOTES
[Capture Situation, Task, Action, Result for each answer.]
Set 4: Live Work Sample and Screen Share
The advantage the format gives you. Watch real work, react to your real material, and see how someone organizes a week, none of which needs a room.
Live Work Sample and Screen Share Prompts
ONLINE INTERVIEW: LIVE WORK SAMPLE AND SCREEN SHARE
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
Tell the candidate in the invitation that part of the call involves sharing
their screen, so they can close personal tabs and prepare. Ask them to redact
anything confidential from a previous employer before showing it.
PROMPTS TO USE
1. Share your screen and walk me through a piece of work you are proud of.
Why ask it: an online interview is the one format where you can watch real
work without booking a room.
Strong answer: they navigate their own material fluently and explain the
choices behind it, not just the finished surface.
2. Here is a short scenario. Take five minutes off camera, then talk me through
your approach.
Why ask it: it tests thinking under mild time pressure the way the job
actually applies it. Strong answer: they state assumptions, pick an
approach, and say what they would check first.
3. Open the tool you use most and show me how you organize your week.
Why ask it: self-management is the competency that decides whether an
unsupervised hire works out.
Strong answer: a real system in real use, with last week visible in it.
4. Here is a rough version of something we actually produce. What would you
change and why?
Why ask it: reacting to your real material predicts the job far better than
a generic puzzle. Strong answer: two or three specific changes with reasons,
and a question about context before committing.
5. Talk me through how you would spend your first two weeks in this role.
Why ask it: it exposes whether they have thought about your business or only
about getting hired. Strong answer: learning first, one early deliverable,
and named people they would want to talk to.
6. What part of that task would you want help with, and from whom?
Why ask it: knowing where your own limits are is a senior trait at any level.
Strong answer: an honest boundary and a plan for crossing it.
WHAT A STRONG SET OF ANSWERS LOOKS LIKE
Keep live exercises under 20 minutes and never ask a candidate to produce work
you intend to use. The point is to watch the thinking, not to collect free
output. Score the reasoning, the questions they ask before starting, and how
they respond when you change one constraint mid-task.
NOTES
[Capture what they showed, how they reasoned, and what you changed mid-task.]
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Depth rather than suspicion. A prepared or borrowed answer survives one question and rarely survives three, so these probes go deeper on what the candidate already said.
Authenticity and Follow-Up Probes
ONLINE INTERVIEW: AUTHENTICITY AND FOLLOW-UP PROBES
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
Online interviews make it easier for an answer to come from somewhere other
than the candidate: a second screen, a prepared script, or a person off camera.
The fix is not suspicion, it is depth. Rehearsed answers survive one question
and rarely survive three.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. You mentioned that project. Which part did you personally do, and who else
was involved?
Why ask it: it separates the person from the team achievement.
Strong answer: a clear boundary around their own contribution and easy
credit to others.
2. What would you do differently on that project now, and why?
Why ask it: hindsight is hard to fake and impossible to look up mid-call.
Strong answer: a specific decision they would reverse, with the reasoning.
3. Take me one level deeper on the part you just described.
Why ask it: the third follow-up is where a borrowed answer runs out.
Strong answer: more detail, more comfort, and correct vocabulary that was
not in the job posting.
4. Which time zone would you be working from, and how does that overlap with
our core hours?
Why ask it: overlap is a genuine job requirement for a distributed team.
Ask it about the schedule, never about where someone is from.
Strong answer: a clear schedule and a realistic view of the overlap.
5. Who from that project could speak to your work, and what was their role?
Why ask it: it sets up a reference check and quietly tests the story.
Strong answer: names a real person and a real relationship without
hesitation.
6. If you used any tools or notes to prepare for today, what were they?
Why ask it: asked openly and without accusation, it usually gets an honest
answer and tells you how they prepare.
Strong answer: preparation they are happy to describe.
WHAT A STRONG SET OF ANSWERS LOOKS LIKE
Depth stays constant as you push. A candidate with real experience gets more
specific under follow-up questions, not less. Long pauses before every factual
answer, eyes tracking a second screen, and detail that evaporates on the third
question are worth noting, though none of them is proof on its own. Verify with
references and a work sample rather than with a hunch.
NOTES
[Capture where the depth held and where it ran out.]
Set 6: Online Interview Scorecard (1 to 5)
Six competencies, one line of evidence per score, filled in within 10 minutes of the call. This is the asset most question lists leave out, and the one that makes the rest work.
Online Interview Scorecard (1 to 5 Rubric)
ONLINE INTERVIEW SCORECARD
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
Role: __
Score each area from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). Write one line of evidence from
the interview next to every score. Fill this in within 10 minutes of the call
5 Exceptional: specific, verifiable examples; depth increases under follow-up.
4 Strong: solid concrete examples with minor gaps.
3 Adequate: meets the basics; some examples, some generalities.
2 Weak: mostly general answers; little evidence behind the claims.
1 Poor: cannot answer, or the answer contradicts the resume.
SUMMARY
Total score: ______ / 30
Overall recommendation: [ ] Strong yes [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Strong no
Key strengths: __
Key concerns: __
Technical issues that affected the call: __
Interviewer signature: __
Note: if the connection dropped or audio broke up, write it here. Score the
candidate on what you could assess, and offer a second call rather than
penalizing someone for a bad line.
How to Run the Call
Running an online interview well is mostly logistics and discipline: a clear invitation, a tested setup, a fixed question order, and a score written down immediately. The routine below takes about five minutes of preparation once you have saved the templates.
Before the call
Send the link, the length, and the names of everyone joining
Test camera, microphone, and screen share on the actual platform
Have a phone number ready as the fallback if video fails
During the call
Say up front whether you are recording, and why
Look at the camera when the candidate is speaking, not at your notes
Leave a beat after each answer so nobody talks over the lag
Right after
Fill the scorecard within 10 minutes, before the next call
Write one line of evidence per score, not a general impression
Send the next step and a date, even if the answer is no
When tech breaks
Switch to audio or phone rather than fighting the video
Offer a second call instead of scoring a broken one
Note the issue on the scorecard so the score reads in context
Two details are worth building into your habit. Look at the camera while the candidate is speaking rather than at your notes, because on their screen your eyes are the only feedback they get. And leave a beat after each answer, since network lag makes people talk over each other and the candidate usually loses that exchange.
Send the invitation itself from a saved template so nothing gets forgotten under time pressure. Our interview invitation email templates cover the wording, and the interview evaluation form gives you a scoring sheet if you want one separate from the questions.
Red Flags on a Video Call
The red flags that matter online are about the content of the answers, not the quality of the connection. Bad audio tells you nothing about a candidate. An answer that gets thinner every time you push tells you a great deal.
Depth disappears on the third follow-up
Real experience gets more specific as you push. An answer that thins out under follow-up questions was prepared rather than lived, so probe the same story from a different angle before you decide.
Every answer arrives at the level of general principle
On camera, a fluent delivery is easy to mistake for substance. If no answer contains a named project, a number, or a person, you have heard a philosophy, not a track record.
Refuses any form of live work sample
Reasonable candidates negotiate scope and timing. A flat refusal to show any work, even a redacted sample they already own, usually means the resume outruns the experience.
Cannot describe how they keep anyone informed
Visibility replaces presence once the office is gone. A candidate with no update habit and no cadence will go quiet in week three, and you will find out from a missed deadline.
Be careful with the flags that are really just environment. A barking dog, a small room, a phone camera, or a child walking through frame predict nothing about job performance, and scoring them is how bias enters an online process. Keep your notes on the answers. There is a fuller list of behavioral warning signs in our guide to interview red flags.
Fair, Legal, and Structured Online Interviewing
A good online interview is fair, legal, and structured, and the three reinforce each other. Asking every candidate the same job-related questions keeps you compliant, reduces bias, and produces better information at the same time.
The camera does not widen what you may ask
Federal anti-discrimination law, enforced by the EEOC, prohibits basing hiring decisions on protected characteristics, and a video call puts several of them on screen whether you want them or not. You may see a candidate’s home, their family, their religious items, or their approximate age. None of that becomes fair game because it appeared in frame, and none of it belongs in your notes or your scorecard. Keep every question and every written comment tied to the job. If something visible raises a genuine job-related question, ask the job-related version of it instead. This is general information, not legal advice.
Ask the same core questions, in the same order
A structured interview means every candidate answers the same predetermined questions and every answer is rated on the same scale. That consistency is what makes an online interview comparable at all, because the format varies so much between candidates: one has a quiet office and a good camera, another has a phone and a coffee shop. Standardizing the questions is the part you control. It also reduces the chance that a hiring decision rests on rapport, camera quality, or whoever happened to interview best on the day. The six sets on this page are built to be run the same way every time.
Say you are recording before you record
Federal wiretap law generally permits recording a call when one party consents, but a number of states require the consent of everyone on the line, and a candidate may be sitting in a different state than you. The practical rule is simple: announce the recording at the start, say what it is for and who will see it, and get an audible yes on the record. If a candidate declines, take written notes instead. Store any recording with the rest of the hiring file and apply the same retention rules. Confirm the specifics for your state with a qualified advisor. This is general information, not legal advice.
Offer accommodations before the call, not after
The ADA requires reasonable accommodation in the job application process, and an online interview creates needs an in-person one does not: captions, a screen reader that works with your platform, extra time on a live exercise, or a phone call instead of video. Put one line in the interview invitation inviting candidates to tell you what they need, which is easier for everyone than handling a request mid-call. You may ask whether someone can perform the essential functions of the job. You may not ask about a medical condition or a disability. This is general information, not legal advice.
Same Questions, Same Order, Same Rating Scale
The federal government defines a structured interview as an assessment that measures job-related competencies by systematically asking about behavior in past experiences or proposed behavior in hypothetical situations, where all candidates are asked the same predetermined questions in the same order and all responses are evaluated using the same rating scale, which is what lets candidates be assessed accurately and consistently (U.S. Office of Personnel Management). Online, that consistency is doing even more work, because everything else about the setting varies between candidates.
The legal line does not move because the interview is on a screen. Basing a decision on a protected characteristic is prohibited under the rules the EEOC enforces, and that includes anything you happened to see on the other side of the call. Our guide to illegal interview questions covers the specific traps and what to ask instead.
Two format-specific points round it out. The ADA requires reasonable accommodation in the job application process, so invite accommodation requests in the invitation rather than handling them mid-call. And on recording, federal law generally allows it with one party consenting, while several states require everyone on the line to agree, so announce it and get an audible yes. This is general information, not legal advice.
Running Online Interviews Without HR
At a large company, a coordinator books the call, sends the link, and collects the scorecards while a panel splits the questions. At a small business the owner does all of it, usually between other work. Here is how to make one founder's video call as rigorous as a full hiring team's.
You are the founder, the interviewer, and the person running the link
At a large company a recruiter schedules the call, sends the platform link, tests the room, and collects the scorecards. At a small business the owner does all of it between other work, which is why online interviews so often start five minutes late with somebody on mute. The fix is a fixed routine: one saved invitation template, one saved question set, one scorecard, and the same order every time. The question sets above are written to be picked up and run without preparation.
Back-to-back video calls blur together by Thursday
In-person interviews leave physical memory: the room, the handshake, the walk out. Five video calls in a week leave a single composite impression, and the candidate you remember best is usually the one with the best camera. Scoring within 10 minutes of each call, with one line of written evidence per score, is the whole defense. It costs three minutes per candidate and it is the difference between comparing evidence and comparing recollections.
The interview is step one; the offer and the paperwork are where it gets real
Once you pick someone from a set of video calls, nothing else about the hire is in person either: the offer, the signatures, the tax forms, and the first day. FirstHR covers that side for a small business without an HR department: send the offer for e-signature, run new hire paperwork and the onboarding workflow, and keep the signed documents and interview records on the employee profile. To be clear on scope, FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a video conferencing tool. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
The habit that pays for itself fastest is scoring immediately. Three minutes per candidate, written down, and by Friday you are comparing evidence instead of trying to remember which one was the confident speaker. If you want the broader process around the call, see our walkthrough of how to conduct an interview and the case for structured interviews at a small company.
From Interview to Hire
The interview is step one. Once you choose someone, the rest of the hire is usually online too: the offer letter, the signatures, the tax forms, and a first day that has no hallway to walk down. Plan that sequence before you make the call, because a strong candidate cools off fast in a silent week.
Send one clear invitation
Platform, link, length, who is joining, whether there is a screen share, and an open line about accommodations.
Run the same question set
Pick your sets, ask them in the same order for every candidate, and follow up three levels deep on the strongest claim.
Score within 10 minutes
Fill the 1 to 5 rubric with a line of evidence per score before the next call starts and the answers blur.
Offer and e-sign
Confirm role, pay, and start date in writing, signed electronically, since nobody is coming in to sign anything.
Onboard from day one
Accounts, paperwork, and first-week goals ready before the start date, because a remote first day has no hallway.
Two practical notes for a remote hire. Document verification has its own rules, covered in our guide to remote I-9 verification, and hiring across state lines brings the employment rules of that state with it, which is worth deciding before you post rather than after you offer. If the role itself is remote, the playbook for hiring remote employees covers the rest.
FirstHR connects the offer, the paperwork, the e-signatures, and the onboarding workflow in one place, and keeps the signed documents and interview records on the employee profile, so a small business can run the whole hiring-to-onboarding path from one system without an HR department behind it. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
An online interview changes the signal, not the standard: ask the same job-related questions you would ask in a room.
Cover six areas: role fit, communication, behavioral evidence, a live work sample, authenticity probes, and a scorecard.
Follow up three levels deep on the strongest claim, because a rehearsed answer survives one question and rarely survives three.
Use screen share for a short work sample, which is the one thing the format does better than an in-person interview.
Score on a 1 to 5 rubric within 10 minutes of hanging up, with a line of evidence per score, before the calls blur together.
Never score the room: bad audio, a small apartment, or a child in frame predicts nothing and scoring it invites bias.
Announce any recording and get an audible yes, and invite accommodation requests in the interview invitation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What questions should an employer ask in an online interview?
Ask the same job-related questions you would ask in person, plus a few that the format makes possible or necessary. A practical set covers six areas: opening and role fit, communication and clarity, behavioral questions scored with the STAR pattern, a live work sample over screen share, follow-up probes that test whether the answers are genuinely the candidate’s own, and a scorecard to rate all of it. The format changes how you run the call, not what makes a question legitimate. Keep every question tied to the job, ask the same core set of every candidate in the same order, and follow up at least three levels deep on the strongest claim a candidate makes. The six downloadable sets on this page are built to be run exactly that way.
How is an online interview different from an in-person one?
The questions stay the same; the signal quality changes. You lose the informal minutes before and after, most body language below the shoulders, and the shared physical context that makes small talk easy. You gain screen share, which lets you watch real work without booking a room, and easier scheduling across time zones. Two practical consequences follow. First, confident delivery is easier to mistake for substance on camera, so follow-up questions matter more than usual. Second, five video calls in a week blur together, so scoring immediately after each call is the only reliable way to compare candidates. Build the interview around structure and evidence rather than around impressions.
How long should an online interview be?
Plan 45 to 60 minutes for a full online interview and 20 to 30 minutes for a first screening call. That is enough for a short opening, two or three questions from each set you have chosen, real follow-ups, and time for the candidate’s own questions. Video fatigue is real, so a 90 minute call usually produces worse information than a 50 minute one. If you need a live work sample, keep the exercise under 20 minutes and either extend the call slightly or book it as a separate session. Depth beats breadth: three questions with genuine follow-ups reveal more than a rushed list of fifteen.
Can I record an online interview?
Often yes, but announce it first and get consent on the record. Federal wiretap law generally permits recording when one party to the communication consents, while several states require the consent of everyone on the call, and a candidate may be sitting in a different state than you. Announce the recording at the start of the call, say what it is for and who will see it, and get an audible yes. If the candidate declines, take written notes instead and do not hold it against them. Treat any recording as part of the hiring file: store it with the same access controls and retention rules as the rest of the candidate’s records. Confirm the rules for your state with a qualified advisor. This is general information, not legal advice.
What questions are illegal to ask in an online interview?
The same ones that are off limits in person: questions that probe characteristics protected under federal law, which the EEOC enforces, including age, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy or family plans, disability, and genetic information. A video call adds a specific trap, because you may see a candidate’s home, family members, or religious items on screen. Nothing you happen to see becomes fair to ask about or to write in your notes. Do not ask where someone is originally from, whether the children in the background are theirs, or about anything visible in the room. You may ask whether they can perform the essential functions of the job and, when overlap matters, which hours they would work. This is general information, not legal advice.
How do I know a candidate is answering the questions themselves?
Use depth rather than suspicion. A rehearsed, scripted, or borrowed answer usually survives the first question and rarely survives the third, so pick the strongest claim in each answer and go three follow-ups deep on it: what part did you personally do, who else was involved, what would you do differently now. Real experience gets more specific under pressure, while a borrowed answer thins out. Add a short live work sample over screen share, since it is very hard to outsource in real time. Then verify with references before the offer. Long pauses or eyes tracking a second screen are worth noting, but none of them is proof on its own, so never make a decision on that alone.
Should a small business use video interviews instead of in-person ones?
For the first round, almost always. A 25 minute video screen costs you a fraction of what a scheduled office visit costs both sides, it widens the pool beyond commuting distance, and it lets you run the same structured questions with every candidate. Many small businesses then keep the final round in person when the role is on-site, and keep it online when the role is remote or hybrid. The important part is consistency: if some candidates get a video call and others get an office visit for the same round, you are comparing two different experiences. Pick one format per round and run the same question set in it.
What tools do I need to run online interviews at a small business?
Less than you would expect. You need a reliable video platform that works without a download for the candidate, a calendar invitation that includes the link and the length, one saved question set, and one scorecard. A phone number as a fallback matters more than any feature, because the most common failure on an interview call is audio. Everything after the interview is where a small business usually loses time: the offer, the signatures, the tax forms, and the first week. FirstHR handles that side, with e-signature offers, new hire paperwork, and an onboarding workflow in one place. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
